Eligibility: The Twinning Contest (the “Contest”) is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) states of the United States and District of Colombia, United Kingdom, Japan[BN1]  (must reside in or have a business located in either Tokyo and/or Osaka), and Mexico  (“Eligibility Area”) representing a Small Business (as defined below) located in the Eligibility Area, and who (i) are at least 18 years of age and the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence as of date of entry,  (ii) either own an eligible Small Business or have the authority from a Business Owner to submit an entry on behalf of such Small Business, (iii) use Microsoft 365 [BN2] as their Small Business’ primary computer operating system, and (iv) have been actively operating for at least twelve (12) months.  “Small Business[BN3] ” is defined as a business with no more than 250 employees (excluding franchisees, licensees and independent owner/operators of larger business entities), which is located and operating in the Eligibility Area with revenue over the previous twelve (12) months of less than $50M USD, and such business must not have raised more than $3,000,000 in investment capital. Valid e-mail account and Internet access required. All other persons (i.e., members of the general public) are NOT eligible. In addition, to be eligible, the Small Business must (1) be in good standing under the jurisdiction whose law it is incorporated/organized: (2) NOT be a party to any existing or pending litigation; and (3) NOT be engaged in certain trades or areas as set forth in Exhibit A. Moreover, and without limitation, employees, officers and directors of Sponsor, Administrator, any companies fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Contest, or supplying the prize (or any portion of the prize), and/or their respective parent companies, or subsidiary, affiliated and successor companies (collectively, the “Promotion Entities”), and the immediate family and household members of any of the foregoing individuals, are not eligible to enter a business in the Contest. “Immediate family members” shall mean parents, legal guardians, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses, regardless of where they live. “Household members” shall mean people who share the same residence at least three (3) months a year, whether legally related or not. Potential Small Business winners will be required to provide proof of eligibility in order to receive prize; if an individual who submitted an entry in the Contest is not the owner of the corresponding Small Business (“Business Owner”), such proof of eligibility will include written authorization from the Business Owner permitting such individual to enter the underlying Small Business in the Contest. Void outside the Eligibility Area and where prohibited or restricted by law. Participation constitutes entrant's full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and to Sponsor and its Administrators’ decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.

Winners of the 2023 Lenovo Evolve Small Grant Contest and the Lenovo 2025 Evolve Small AI Grant Contest are not eligible to participate in this Contest.

Further, in order to be eligible, Entrant, Business Owner (whether or not he/she/they actually submitted the Entry, defined below) as well as the Small Business itself must not (a) commit or have committed any act which brings Small Business or Sponsor into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, or ridicule, or which reflects unfavorably upon the reputation of Sponsor, (b) take or have taken any action against Sponsor or make/made any statements in derogation of Sponsor and/or its products or services, and such statements are made known to the general public, or (c) be or have been charged with a felony or a crime of moral turpitude (collectively, “Unbecoming Conduct”). By entering or authorizing someone to enter the Small Business into this Contest, Business Owner and Entrant (if not the same person) understand and agree that, if his/her/their Small Business is determined a potential winner, he/she/they will be required to consent to a background check on him/her/themselves personally and on their Small Business to verify eligibility; and, failure to sign such consents and authorizations and/or to furnish all required information will result in disqualification. In addition, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion, to disqualify a potential winning Small Business if the results of such background check reveal that such potential winning Small Business (or the Business Owner or Entrant, personally) is not eligible to participate in the Contest or has engaged in Unbecoming Conduct, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.