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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — SAP AG today announced two new initiatives aimed at unlocking the potential for entrepreneurs and small and midsize businesses to drive economic growth, innovation and job creation, which in turn is key to SAP’s long-term success. The company is working with Endeavor on analytical dashboards that clearly and powerfully illustrate the impact that high-impact entrepreneurs in Endeavor’s portfolio have on their communities. Additionally, SAP has joined with Ashoka Changemakers to launch a global competition aimed at helping emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities.

“SAP believes in the power of small business and entrepreneurs to drive the innovation and job creation the world needs,” said Eric Duffaut, president, Ecosystem & Channels, SAP AG. “We are committed to supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.”

Illustrating the Power of High-Impact Entrepreneurs Through Data With EndeavorEndeavor is leading the high-impact entrepreneurship movement by identifying, selecting, and supporting entrepreneurs in emerging markets with capacity to create jobs and generate economic growth. Together, SAP and the Endeavor Insight research team will showcase the power of these high-impact entrepreneurs to transform their communities, create thousands of high-quality jobs and generate millions in wages and revenues. Endeavor is using SAP® Crystal Dashboard Design software to examine revenue and job creation data across countries, industry sectors and company sizes to measure and demonstrate the long-term economic and social impact of its entrepreneurs.

By showcasing the success stories of high-impact entrepreneurs and their power to transform local economies, Endeavor and SAP are inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs to create businesses and engaging in a global dialogue about the power of entrepreneurship. Endeavor plans to use the dashboard for their work with universities, policy makers and thought leaders in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to demonstrate the significant difference that high-impact entrepreneurs can make in their countries.

The dashboard analysis combines internal data from the companies of Endeavor entrepreneurs with international company-level data from the Enterprise Surveys of The World Bank. Key metrics include revenue growth, job creation and the direct social effect through the quality of jobs created including job satisfaction, employee income, and employee health and education benefits.

“The net effect of Endeavor entrepreneurs is enormous. With Endeavor’s support, mentor network and targeted programs, our high-impact entrepreneurs can grow revenues more than two times faster than comparable companies. They nurture a culture that spurs investment and encourages people to innovate,” said Linda Rottenberg, co-founder and CEO of Endeavor. “The technology from SAP will help us further track the financial, human, social, intellectual and cultural capital created by high-impact entrepreneurs and demonstrate how they consistently outperform their industry peers.”

An initial data analysis with the dashboard technology from SAP shows that Endeavor entrepreneurs are creating jobs at a rate 5.4 times faster than their peers and are generating revenue at a rate 2.4 times faster than their peers. In aggregate, this accelerated growth has allowed Endeavor’s high-impact entrepreneurs to create more than 185,000 jobs and US$4.5 billion in revenue in 2011 in 12 countries throughout Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. More importantly, these entrepreneurs are creating high-quality jobs. In Argentina, for example, 65 percent of employees are more satisfied in their current job with an Endeavor entrepreneur than in their previous job and 59 percent are earning more than in their previous job.

On Tuesday, June 12, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. EDT, SAP and Endeavor will host an event to preview the technology dashboards. It will be held at the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs’ “Metrics From the Ground Up” conference at the Aspen Institute’s offices in Washington, DC, located at 1 Dupont Circle #700. The dashboards can be accessed by anyone with a browser and Internet connection at www.endeavor.org/impact/assessment.

Bringing the Power of Small to Life With Ashoka ChangemakersIn addition to its work with Endeavor, SAP has partnered with Ashoka Changemakers, a global community that explores, refines and funds social entrepreneurs’ innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social problems. SAP and Ashoka Changemakers have initiated a competition focused on “The Power of Small: Entrepreneurs Strengthening Local Economies.”

The global online competition will be launched on June 20, 2012. It seeks innovative strategies from organizations and partnerships around the world to help small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities. Proposed solutions of entries must focus on providing entrepreneurs in emerging or established markets with the infrastructure they need to reach their full potential and create a larger and sustainable impact on society.

Participants can submit entries until September 5, 2012, which will be evaluated based on the key criteria of innovation, social impact and sustainability. Four winners will each receive US$10,000, a technology donation and promotion and networking opportunities with SAP executives and customers at the SAPPHIRE® NOW conference. Winners will be announced during the event, being held November 13-15 in Madrid, Spain.

To learn more about the competition, visit www.changemakers.com/powerofsmall . For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

About EndeavorHailed by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as “the best anti-poverty program of all,” Endeavor is leading the global movement to catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. To date, Endeavor has screened more than 30,000 entrepreneurs and selected over 630 entrepreneurs leading over 430 companies in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Once selected, entrepreneurs are assigned mentors and advisory boards from Endeavor’s volunteer network of global business executives and professionals, targeted services including interns from leading MBA schools and Ernst & Young and invitations to focused programs ranging from unique investor gatherings to a specialized course at Stanford GSB.

About Ashoka ChangemakersAshoka Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and Open Growth platform, Changemakers.com is one of the world’s most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world’s most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka’s three-decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker. Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs–more than 2,500 men and women with system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems.