Empowering 700 students to make a positive impact in their communities

Last fall, we challenged hundreds of high school students to help underrepresented business owners develop innovative solutions to their biggest challenges. Building a more inclusive world matters, and here’s why:

• 2.3% of all venture capital dollars were received by all-women companies in 2020. [1]
• 1.2% of the $147 billion raised for startups in the first half of 2021 went to Black founders. [2]
• 90% of Latinx entrepreneurs struggle to access the capital and support they need to launch and grow. [3]

As part of Intuit’s inaugural Social Innovation Challenge, students formed teams, working for months to develop ideas and programs to benefit their communities. Overall, the challenge involved a staggering 78 schools, 82 educators, and 700 students. 

Developing a real-world challenge to positively impact the world

Intuit’s Corporate Responsibility team built the challenge as a part of their effort to make a positive impact in the communities we serve and better prepare individuals for jobs by providing tools and resources to develop durable skills such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, and creative confidence. 

The team had the vision to develop a transformational, project-based learning experience that students would always remember.  “We wanted to create a program that would not only teach important life and business lessons but allow students to immediately apply the concepts,” said Nico Valencia, Senior Product Manager at Intuit. “This challenge was a great opportunity for students to practice what they learned, giving them the courage and confidence to make impactful change in their communities now and in the future.”

Students kicked off the challenge in November of 2021 by completing an online course championing Intuit’s design thinking methodology, Design for Delight. This course gave teams the fundamental lessons they’d use for the rest of the challenge: brainstorming, developing customer empathy, testing hypotheses, and innovating with agility.

Students were equipped and ready for the challenge ahead

Upon completion of the course, each group of students talked to local small business owners in their communities. They then let their imaginations run wild as they began to build out their projects. 

One team of diverse young women from Toronto, Canada created a smart toothbrush for a local Black-owned dental office. They hope that the new product will lower the barrier of access to quality dental care, which is disproportionately high for both minority patients and dentists. Students from a school in New York City developed a program to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in middle school girls through in-person, business-oriented classes. Another team from Fountain Valley, California developed a free, online forum for LGBTQ+ BIPOC entrepreneurs to provide tips, community, and opportunities for mentorship. 

Out of dozens of teams, nine were selected as finalists to move forward in the final round of the competition. On top of access to $5,000 in funds to use toward their project expansion, they were given additional resources: mentorship and guidance. Intuit team members from various departments across the company volunteered to mentor the finalist teams virtually each week, offering feedback and insight on the team’s direction. 

“The students started to understand the design process more and more,” said Felix Stekolshcik, Senior Product Designer and mentor of winning team reFAIRe. “Every time we would meet, their grasp of the product and their idea would evolve and then so would their design process.”

Intuit employees from across the company volunteered to judge the students’ final projects. As final projects were submitted in March of 2022, the judges were blown away by the students’ hard work. Two teams earned the first place prize, with each student winning a $5,000 educational grant to use toward their future education expenses and an iPad Pro. First, second, and third place runners-up were also awarded educational grants and additional prizes for their innovative ideas and dedication to improving their communities. While prizes certainly proved to be enticing incentives for participation, more students shared that the lessons they learned during their experience were priceless. 

So, what did the students learn? 

“These skills of leadership, adaptability, and learning together as a collaborative team will also help me in the real world, where I’ll need to be resourceful and to take leadership into action.” – Sufia Arshad, LJ team 

” I was wowed by my team’s community impact”, as her team, the Early Entrepreneurs, developed a curriculum to encourage entrepreneurship for middle-school girls.  -Sophia Bustos, The Early Entrepreneurs team

“To say that taking part in Intuit’s Social Innovation Challenge has inspired me would be an understatement. Throughout my time participating in this challenge, I have become less ignorant and grown more aware of the struggles that underrepresented groups endure not only in the business world but in their daily lives. I would recommend this challenge to any aspiring students who are eager to advocate for social change.” – Gavin Schuld, ReFaire team

Luckily, for both mentors and students, Intuit’s Social Innovation Challenge isn’t going away anytime soon. Not only is another challenge in the works and due to launch in October, but a modified version was also be an integral part of an in-person summer program with one of our partners, the San Diego Unified School District.

Our next social innovation challenge is coming this fall

Do you know a high school student that may want to participate in the next challenge? Intuit’s newest Social Innovation Challenge is kicking off in October 2022. Registration is now open and we’ll be accepting submissions through the end of September. Get more information at https://www.intuitinnovationchallenge.com. 

1-https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/global-vc-funding-to-female-founders

2-https://news.crunchbase.com/news/something-ventured-funding-to-black-startup-founders-quadrupled-in-past-year-but-remains-elusive

3-https://latinocf.org/latino-entrepreneurship-fund