Royal Dutch Shell plc, also known as Shell, is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Shell’s CSR strategy includes a number of activities, which range from promoting marketable technical and scientific skills of young people to employment promotion.
Shell launched the LiveWIRE International programme to combat the high level of youth unemployment. The project supports thousands of young people in starting their own business by providing young entrepreneurs with access to the indispensable business knowledge and by offering tailored support to transform their enterprising ideas into a possible and sustainable business.
The programme is tailored to the needs existing in different countries, and it uses a wide range of activities to interact with young people; these include workshops, training, and mentoring schemes.
In addition, Shell LiveWIRE programmes offer Internet-based business resources, discussion forums, and blogs to encourage the development of a young businesses network where the participants can advise and mentor one another.
Online business support provides a wealth of guidance and information to people who wish to start up a company. Guidance includes advice on dealing with taxes, how intellectual property works, sourcing funding, setting up a business plan, carrying out proper market research to define a product or service, identifying potential customers, determining price and planning, marketing, and developing communications skills. Guidance is also provided to people who might not have a clear idea about what kinds of business might be set up, and so brainstorming sessions to promote the generation of original business ideas take place. Additional information is offered on legal issues, networking skills, sales skills, e-commerce, exporting, doing accounts and finances, and employing people.
People who benefit from the LiveWIRE project share their experience on a blog, and their stories can be of great help to those who are thinking of setting up a business, but who fear the challenges involved.
Business can play a key role in inspiring young people to gain degrees which equip them with marketable skills of interest on the labour market. Shell works with children in primary schools to promote disciplines such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
In north-east Scotland, Shell organises Family Science Days, where children, together with their families, begin to develop and nurture a passion for scientific disciplines. Encouraging children to enjoy investigating science at an early age is the best way to raise their interest in science, which will then encourage them to pursue university degrees in this discipline.
Shell’s CSR strategy is beneficial for their business and for the employment of young people. A Family Science Day is held at the end of one-week science workshops that have taken place in primary schools. Practical science activities arranged by Shell include activities about energy transfer, forces and motion, and materials such as building straw towers, making kites, and creating jumping beans.