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“Shell aims to be a good neighour...
...and believes that it has a social responsibility towards the community in which it operates,” says Nerine Elwy, Communications Manager and Head of Shell Egypt’s Social Investment Programme.
To achieve this, Shell Egypt has conducted, and continues to roll out, a range of social initiatives for the benefit of the people of Egypt. “Shell in the Middle East’ goes to Cairo to talk to Nerine about Shell Egypt’s commitment to local communities and to meet some of the beneficiaries of the company’s social projects. We also talk to Augustine Igbuku, Shell Egypt’s HSE Manager, who focuses on the importance of Shell’s operational safety programmes in the company...
Over the years Shell Egypt has implemented a range of social investment initiatives. Nerine Elwy, Communications Manager and Head of Shell Egypt’s Social Investment Programme, says, “As local capacity building lies at the heart of our activities, Shell Egypt has been working both individually and in collaboration with other international oil companies [IOCs] to develop graduates from universities to compete more strongly in the job market.
“For example, Shell signed a protocol with the Faculty of Science at Cairo University to develop its laboratories and encourage intensive research. Shell also co-operates with other IOCs to deliver Al-Amal [The Hope] project, which offers mentoring and training for talented technical students to have a better competitive edge in the labour market. This initiative is also aimed at helping IOCs find a higher quality of qualified graduates, so helping Egypt to face the current and future development needs of its oil and gas industry,” she says.
“Since 1998 we have been involved in supporting Government schools as part of our continued interest in education and in the development of human resources. We have contributed to upgrading laboratories, providing books and educational material, we have renovated classrooms and we have trained teachers to obtain ICDLs [International Computer Driving Licences] as part of our Train the Trainer programme here in Egypt,” she says.
Road safety is a major national concern for everybody in Egypt and is very high on both the agenda of the Government and of Shell.
“Human lives have the highest value in any society,” says Nerine, “and statistics show that poor driving standards and bad behaviour on the roads are the main cause of death and serious injuries in road accidents in Egypt. In fact, road accidents are now the second highest cause of death in Egypt. So there is an urgent need to improve driving behaviour and for more safe practices in general on the roads of Egypt.
“Shell Egypt is co-operating with the General Authority for Road, Bridges and Land Transport to support its road safety efforts. Shell has provided the Authority with two vehicles for training staff and affiliated organisations, as well as sponsoring the manufacture and installation of over 100 road signs on 34 exits of the Cairo ring road. These are reflective signs, which can be seen from a distance at night.
“In co-operation with other IOCs Shell Egypt has also initiated a national road safety campaign to minimise road accidents. The campaign will be communicated through television and radio air time and on billboards along the highways.”
Nerine goes on to say, “We also recognise that school bus drivers take the future of the country, our children, into their hands every day so they must be equipped and trained to be guardians of our children’s lives.
“As a result, Shell Egypt has to date provided training for bus drivers, focusing on defensive driving techniques, at 12 different schools in Cairo and has so far trained over 415 school bus drivers.
“Shell Egypt has co-operated with the British Council in a road safety awareness programme for children called Go4English, which is delivered in English and so serves the purpose of enhancing English education, whilst at the same time teaching road safety awareness.
“Shell has sponsored six schools in Alexandria and Cairo and so far over 300 children have participated in this interactive programme, which we will be rolling out in even more schools in 2008. This training is delivered in close co-ordination with Shell Egypt’s HSE [Health, Safety and Environment] Department,” she says.
Unemployment is another major issue in Egypt and Shell has offered assistance to the Government to help train skilled craftsmen in the production of traditional handicrafts, which is a major industry in Egypt, supplying the country’s enormous tourist trade. These handicrafts are endangered and Shell is trying to help revive and keep alive this important part of Egypt’s culture.
“We have trained a group of 68 young Egyptian people to produce a range of traditional products using locally-sourced raw materials, such as palm tree wood, marble, stone and leather,” says Nerine.
Shell’s Intilaaqah programme – a scheme which supports young entrepreneurs in setting up their own businesses - is now in its fifth year in Egypt and has been a success, with 549 people participating in 2007 alone.
“We hope that this figure will rise in 2008,” she says. “The success of the Intilaaqah programme can be measured by the number of graduates who have started new businesses and this number grew from 55 in 2006 to 123 in 2007.”
Shell Egypt supports a number of charities and the work of NGOs [non- Government organisations], providing practical back-up as well as purchasing the products they manufacture. Shell Egypt’s Eid cards for 2007, for example, were designed and produced by El Bedaya charity.
“Shell Egypt also supports Egypt’s HIV/Aids programme,” says Nerine, “as well as encouraging staff to donate blood to the Children’s Cancer Hospital.
“So Shell Egypt is trying to be a good neighbour, contributing to the community whenever it can. I am very proud of what the company has done in the community and I sincerely believe that Shell Egypt is a socially responsible company. It cares for the people of the country and stands ready to help promote their health and welfare,” Nerine concludes.
“Shell Egypt organised the Go4English road safety awareness training campaign for our children and for our school bus drivers to drive more safely,” says Suhair El Sayed, Headmistress of the Taha Hussein Primary School.
“The children enjoyed it so much that they all want to go again. Shell has also provided the school with the materials and people to paint the classrooms and Shell has given us three computers.”
Student Yasser Gamel says, “I didn’t actually want to go on the course at first but was so happy that I did. I knew nothing about road safety but now know how important it is and make all my family wear seat-belts in the car.”
Esraa Esmail says, “Before going on the Go4English course my father did not have seat- belts in the car. I made him put them in and now everyone in the family wears them. The course was very good and we learned the three most important road safety rules, which are not to speed, not to talk on the phone while driving and always, always to wear a seat-belt.”
TRAINING
El Amal, or “The Hope’ in English, programme was established to bridge the gap between university and a full-time job in the oil and gas business for students studying geo-sciences at Egyptian universities. Some of the brightest geo-science students were selected to undergo two months of specialist training to prepare them for a future in oil and gas. The programme was initiated by the Egyptian Geophysical Society and sponsored by Shell Egypt and other international oil companies (IOCs) who supplied volunteers to teach the trainees.
“After graduating I was approached by my professor at the University of Alexandria, where I was studying geology, to see if I was interested in joining the programme,” says Marwan Nassar, Trainee Geo-chemist with Shell Egypt’s Exploration Department.
“I had always wanted to work in the oil and gas sector so the chance to learn about it in detail whilst participating in field trips and working with practising specialists was very exciting.
“There were 33 graduates but only 20 of us, from all over Egypt, were chosen. A main feature of the programme was to train us how to interact with each other, how to work together as a team, as this was not taught to us at university,” says Marwan.
Kareem El Din, Trainee Petro- physicist with Shell Egypt’s Exploration Department, says, “The programme also taught us about the practical and scientific sides of working in the field. The teaching came from volunteer oil and gas industry specialists working in the field for a range of IOCs here in Egypt, including Shell, to explain different aspects of the business to us.
“We were able to work with real data. We went on field trips to visit operating onshore drilling rigs. We also studied rock outcrops to learn how field geologists determine sub-surface formations from these outcrops as they are often a reflection of sub-surface formations.
“Following the course, both Marwan and I were offered jobs at Shell Egypt in the company’s Exploration Department,” he concludes.
To date, of the 20 students who took part in El Amal programme, 19 have been offered jobs in the oil and gas industry.
EMPLOYMENT
One of Egypt’s biggest employers has always been its traditional handicraft business which, over the years, has been supplying the tourist trade with replicas of the pyramids and the sphinx, of papyrus scripts in ancient hieroglyphics, as well as a wide range of leather, brass, copper, marble, glass and wooden items, all made by hand and using locally-sourced materials.
This business is being threatened by cheap machine-made replicas coming in from China and India.
“We have to stop the destruction of our inherited traditional handicraft business as it is an important part of Egypt’s heritage,” says General Ibrahim El-Shayeb, Head of Egypt’s Handicraft Co-operative Products Organisation.
“Many young people today no longer want to work with their hands and the handicraft business is very much a father-to-son type of business, where the skills and training are handed down from generation to generation.
“Egypt has a high unemployment problem so we have sought help from the private sector to provide motivation and training in the manufacture of traditional handicrafts for some of our unemployed young people.
“Shell has provided the funds to train 68 youngsters, who have been placed in a selection of existing handicraft manufacturing units in the three Governorates of Assiout, Fayum and North Sinai, where they will undergo a six-month training period.
“Some trainees will be found employment with the manufacturers who are training them, whilst those with an aptitude for entrepreneurship will be offered the opportunity to join Shell’s Intilaaqah programme to help them start up their own businesses.
“We then hope that more young people will be encouraged to work in Egypt’s traditional handicraft business, providing jobs whilst helping to save an important part of Egypt’s heritage and culture,” concludes General El-Shayeb.
BACKING ENTREPRENEURS
Nashwa Mohamed Fouad is the creator and owner of “Funoona and Funoon’ magazine, which teaches children to paint and draw, as well as educating them about social and environmental issues. The magazine features two characters, Funoona, a girl, and Funoon, a boy, who have different adventures in every issue. It is a back-to-back Arabic and English magazine with Funoona’s adventures portrayed in Arabic and Funoon’s adventures in English. In 2007 Nashwa won the top prize at the Intlaaqah Awards Ceremony in Egypt for the development of the magazine.
Nashwa graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 2002 and says, “In 2006 I approached the FGF [Future Generation Foundation], a partner with Shell in its Intilaaqah programme for young entrepreneurs. At the FGF I underwent training for three months to obtain a BBSA [Basic Business Skills Acquisition], designed to provide students with the skills required to start out in the business world.”
Following her graduation with a BBSA, Nashwa was offered the opportunity to join the Intilaaqah programme. “It provided me with the necessary training to start my own business. The best part of the course was undoubtedly the training on marketing and I have used this knowledge to grow my business. Another important lesson was to learn about copyright registration to protect the intellectual rights to my magazine and to get it registered with an ISBN number,” she says.
In 2007 she started her business with a series of children’s books called “Dream Time’, for young children aged five to 14. She then developed her “Funoona’ magazine, to teach children to paint, draw and trace, to get them to understand the use of colour and to deliver messages about the world in which they live.
“So far we have produced four editions of the magazine and sales have risen to 10,000 copies a month in Egypt, with 35,000 copies going overseas to other Arab countries, mostly in the Gulf. The magazine now has a staff of 35 people working in writing and design, administration, sales and marketing.
“So I thank Shell and the Intilaaqah team for making my business a success,” concludes Nashwa.
HEALTH AWARENESS
“Shell is one of the few companies which has international corporate guidelines regarding HIV/AIDS and is developing a policy within the country,” says Wessam El Beih, Country Officer for UNAIDS in Egypt.
“This has been demonstrated by the help which it has been ready to give to UNAIDS campaigns, both within Egypt and the region, and by being a core founding member of the Egyptian Business Coalition for HIV/AIDS [EBC] and the Aids Business Coalition in the Arab Region [ABCAR].
“UNAIDS in Egypt received a great deal of support from Shell Egypt and other partners in organising the World AIDS Campaign 2007, which ran from the beginning of November 2007 to the end of January 2008. Shell co-sponsored much of that campaign, and the company’s support included help with the organisation of a one-day camp for young people in Upper Egypt, the production of communications and educational materials promoting HIV-related services for the general public, and the organisation of a national creative arts competition.
“Shell’s leading role in the war against HIV/AIDS has also been demonstrated by its policies for staff and by workplace HIV/AIDS awareness sessions.
“The relationship between Shell and the community here in Egypt goes back a long way. The company is involved in many different community activities and it serves as an excellent example of a company not just talking about its corporate social responsibilities but acknowledging them and doing something positive about them.
“I hope that Shell’s example will act as a wake-up call to other less active companies in the private sector and motivate them to join the battle against HIV/AIDS both in Egypt and around the world,” concludes Wessam.
HEALTH
The Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI) works to provide assistance to the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo, also known as “57357’, which is the number of the bank account the public can use to donate money. Indeed, the hospital was built solely from donations from the general public.
“The supply of blood is a major issue for the Children’s Cancer Hospital. As the general public in Egypt is not aware of the need for blood donations the AFNCI runs an awareness campaign to try to get more people to give blood,” says Sherif Mamdouh, Blood Donation Co-ordinator for the AFNCI.
“Some cancer patients need to have a lot of blood transfusions as part of their treatment and to help meet this demand for blood Shell Egypt staff have been providing blood for two years now. The company has been running a workplace campaign to get more staff to donate blood for this very worthy cause.
“The AFNCI visits Shell Egypt’s offices every six months to take blood and we are pleased with the support, especially from senior managers who are always first in line to donate blood.
“Prior to taking blood we screen all donors and their blood for contamination from such disorders as HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, syphilis and other diseases. A report is sent to each donor on their blood condition and if any form of contamination is discovered in the blood, counselling and treatment are offered free of charge.
“We, and the children who are patients at the hospital, are grateful to Shell Egypt’s staff for their contribution and Shell staff are welcome at the hospital to meet the children any time,” concludes Sherif.
ENVIRONMENT
Abu Salama is an NGO (non- Government organisation], established in 2005 to save marine mammals in the Red Sea and conduct scientific research on dolphins. Today Abu Salama has expanded its focus to the environment in general and conducts awareness campaigns for school children in the Red Sea Governorate.
“As part of our programme for 2007 we chose six schools, four in the public sector, two in the private sector, from which to select a group of 30 children, aged nine to 12, to take part in a marine environmental awareness campaign,” says Heba Shawki, Director of Abu Salama.
“We obtained support from Shell Egypt, without whom we could not have conducted the campaign. The children participated in a practical exercise which involved going to the Samadai Dolphin House Reef in the Red Sea, where they saw dolphins in their natural habitat. A marine biologist came along to answer questions.
“The trip also included a beach clean-up, during which the children collected over four tonnes of garbage from the shores of the reef, as well as some four cubic metres of driftwood.
“To evaluate the results of the exercise we asked the children to participate in a drawing competition from which we chose six winners. The results were exhibited at the First Annual Environmental Exhibition for Arts and Products, organised by the Red Sea Governorate.
“This year we will focus on Wadi Degla, a Protected Area in El Maadi, 50 kilometres northwest of Cairo. Our children will camp out and again help to clean the area, with the backing of Shell Egypt,” concludes Heba.
CHARITY WORK
El Bedaya means “the beginning’ in Arabic and is a charity set up in Manshiet Nasser, one of Cairo’s poorest districts, where inhabitants earn their living by collecting rubbish, sorting it and selling what they find.
Sanaa Tobah, Founder of El Bedaya, says, “Many children in Manshiet Nasser are forced into work, either by the needs of their families or because of the deaths of their parents. Many are bright and we try to encourage them to go to school.
“El Bedaya gives the children, some as young as ten, the chance to work in a semi-protected environment to produce handicrafts, which we buy from them and sell in local shops. In this way the children can go to school and raise the necessary money to support their families.
“Shell Egypt has helped us to market some of the products made here, such as bookmarks, gift bags and candles, and purchased 1,200 handmade Eid cards for their stakeholders in 2007.
“We receive support from Shell wives and staff, who come along to teach and train our staff. Shell has also provided funding for three children to go to college and continues to give moral support,” Sanaa concludes.
Al Ghad charity is ALSO based in Cairo, in the districts of Manshiet Nasser and Eizbet al-Nakhl, and is run by Father Luciano. Al Ghad, which means The Future in English, was established to provide education for deprived children, regardless of religion, culture or ethnicity.
Father Luciano says, “We co-operate with the Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) in Manshiet Nasser, a rubbish collectors’ district which is one of the poorest areas of Cairo. Our centre is an island of tranquillity in a sea of rubbish. Until last year we also ran a programme in one of the local schools.
“In addition, we run our programme in Eizbet al-Nakhl, another very poor district with a large community of garbage collectors, where we are hosted by the Orthodox Convent of the Sisters “Daughters of Mary’.
“The centres provide the children with education, a place to study, simple medical facilities and a daily nutritious snack. We try to teach the children how to study so that they can escape from the poverty in which they have grown up.
“Shell Egypt has donated tables, desks, a stove, a fridge and other items for use at the Eizbet al-Nakhl Centre,” Father Luciano concludes.
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