Shell and the British Council host the sixth annual Shell Intilaaqah event

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 2016 – Shell and the British Council host the annual Shell Intilaaqah event and graduating 1,200 entrepreneurs, in the presence of His Excellency Simon Collis, The British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Eng. Mazen Al Dawod, acting president of the small and Medium Enterprise Commission. This year’s event was extra festive as Shell celebrates 75 years of doing business in the Kingdom.

Shell Intilaaqah strengthens young people’s career options by enabling them to switch from being an employee to becoming an employer. Over the past years, our trainees have set up 1,100 businesses – and we advised another 500 existing small and medium businesses. Together, they created well over 3,000 jobs.

Patrick Van Daele, VP and country chairman of Shell in Saudi Arabia said: “I congratulate today’s graduates and all the men and women who came before them. The success stories I heard, make me proud of every entrepreneur we have been training since 2010 for taking the brave but sensible step to start a business. The ingenuity, intelligence and innovation power of entrepreneurs form the foundation of the economy of the future.”

His Excellency Simon Collis, The British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said: “The new generation will play a major role in the development of the Kingdom’s economy.  I applaud the commitment of Shell to support entrepreneurship through its Intilaaqah programme, and we have seen live results today at the exhibition. The qualities of the featured business are outstanding and made me optimistic about the future. It pleases me to see the British Council participating in this project. I appreciate the Saudi government and its leaders for introducing and supporting initiatives to build small and medium enterprises as entrepreneurs are the future of the Kingdom. The United Kingdom, through our partners, establishments, embassy and government are committed to participate in this project and wish you all the best in your forthcoming plans.”

Eng. Mazen Al Dawod, acting president of the small and Medium Enterprise Commission said: “I am extremely happy about all the entrepreneurs attending today, and I thank Shell which didn’t just sponsor the Intilaaqah programme financially or cared only about placing its logo, but in fact made the success of the programme one its priorities and have been part of it since the very beginning. We wish that such a programme is duplicated in several international companies in the Kingdom, as the Saudi youth are the real treasure of the economy.”   

Since 2010, Shell’s Intilaaqah programme trained well over 10,000 Saudis – the majority of which were women. All free of charge.

Shell Intilaaqah’s success wouldn’t be possible without the support from its partners: the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, the British Council, the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and the Saudi Credit Bank.

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ABOUT SHELL INTILAAQAH SAUDI ARABIA

The Intilaaqah programme is part of Shell’s global LiveWire initiative, first launched in 1982 to address youth unemployment in Scotland. Since its inception, the programme has grown rapidly to become one of the industry's largest organizations for young entrepreneurs in the world, with a social network of more than 100,000 members. The Intilaaqah programme, a breakthrough in more than 8 countries in the Middle East, has successfully provided support and guidance to young entrepreneurs for nearly 25 years. Launched in 2010, Intilaaqah Saudi Arabia demonstrates Shell’s commitment to contribute to the sustainable development of the community. In association with partners, Intilaaqah provides free of charge workshops and training sessions.

Learn more about Intilaaqah programme

For media enquiries:

Mr. Nureddin Wefati
Head of Media Relations for Middle East & North Africa
Shell EP International
Tel: +97147055347
Cell: +971562162409
Nureddin.Wefati@Shell.com

Mr. Ali Khan
Spokesperson Middle East & North Africa
Shell EP International Ltd
Tel: +971 4 405 4563
Cell: +971 501 897 480
Ali-nasir.khan@shell.com

Mr. Fahad Bahdailah
External Relations Manager – Saudi Arabia & Bahrain
Cell: +966 540 088 444
Fahad.bahdailah@shell.com

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT SHELL IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Shell in Saudi Arabia is active in refining, in the manufacture of petrochemicals, in the blending and marketing of lubricants, and in aviation refuelling.

Together with local partners, Shell has investments of more than $8 billion in the Kingdom. We employ more than 2,000 staff, the vast majority (80%) of whom are Saudi nationals.

We actively contribute to society at large.

We work together with the Spanish football team FC Barcelona as part of our ‘FutbolNet’ initiative, using sport to teach essential lessons about teamwork, respect and responsibility.

Shell’s Road Safety awareness programme partners with our road safety ambassador prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal. Recently, he interviewed victims of car accidents so that they can tell their heart wrenching stories with the hope of preventing others from having to deal with the same problems.

For the first time, Saudi universities participated in the Shell Eco-marathon this year. This competition challenges young engineers to design ultra-efficient vehicles of the future that consume the least amount of energy. The King Saud University clocked an impressive 99.6 km on one litre of fuel while the Al Faisal University scooped the coveted “Perseverance Award”.