By Tara Chklovski
We’re so excited to share that Salesforce is partnering with Technovation for 2017-2018! We’ve been working with Salesforce for years, and are proud to partner with them for the upcoming season, expand the program, and inspire young women to see their power as creators and entrepreneurs. Check out the announcement from Salesforce, and read on for our CEO Tara’s perspective on our ongoing work with Salesforce.
Diversity and Inclusion wasn’t a term a few years ago as you can see from the Google Trends depiction of interest in this term from 2004 to now.
It is exciting to see the growing attention around engaging and supporting underrepresented groups in engineering and technology. And we can and should aim really high in these efforts. But there is also room for innovation here. The idea of “Shared Value” developed by Michael Porter (the leading authority on business strategy and competitiveness) is an intriguing challenge to explore here. What are the most innovative ways in which corporations can integrate social responsibility into their value chain? My favorite example is that of the Toyota Prius. Through the Prius, Toyota was able to move ahead as an environmentally conscious corporation, while also launching a hugely successful, innovative product.
Another notable example is that of CVS and its strategy to stop the sale of all tobacco products in 2014, foregoing $2 billion in sales revenue. Instead they launched a comprehensive smoking cessation program in stores and established themselves as thought leaders among health retailers.
Porter says that businesses acting as businesses (not just as charitable givers or compliance to corporate citizenship), opens up strategic opportunities to create competitive advantage, while driving the next wave of innovation, productivity, and economic growth.
That’s why I am drawn to the problem of how best to create “Shared Value” while thinking about Diversity and Inclusion — especially for the technology industry, where the value chain is focused mostly around human capital. One notable example has been Salesforce and their integrated 1-1-1 commitment to communities. We started working with Salesforce employees in 2014, engaging them as mentors in our 100-hour technology entrepreneurship program for girls – Technovation. Salesforce mentors supported teams of middle and high school girls to identify a problem in their community, develop a mobile app and launch a startup. 58% of mentors increased their technical skills around mobile computing, design thinking and product development, 67% increased their knowledge about entrepreneurship and 73% learned to be effective mentors.
