Pilipinas Shell’s leadership program pushes boundaries despite pandemic

Young professionals and leaders are out to make the future of the country brighter. Even with the ongoing pandemic, the participants of the Shell Young Leaders Program (SYLP) pushed forward to hone their talents for the pilot run of the program.

Pilipinas Shell’s SYLP

Pilipinas Shell’s SYLP began last year with tapping leaders in campuses to participate in an eight-month program for building leadership skills. Various senior Shell leaders were onboarded to provide workshops and mentorships to train leaders and innovators in the energy, engineering, and business segments.

The initiative was done in partnership with the Philippine Business for Education, a non-profit organization founded by the country’s top CEOs to create partnerships for quality education and competitiveness in the business community.

Fifteen organizations from seven universities in Metro Manila qualified to send their representatives to learn from top business leaders. The seven qualifying organizations from the University of the Philippines Diliman include Aggregates Inc., Chemical Engineering Society, Engineers without Borders, UP Career Assistance Program for Engineering Students, UP Circuit, UP Gears and Pinions, and UP Industrial and Engineering Club.

University of Santo Tomas (UST) and De La Salle University (DLSU)

In fact, two organizations each were chosen from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and De La Salle University (DLSU). These are UST’s Operations Research Society of the Philippines and the Thomasian Junior Association for People Management and DLSU’s EconOrg and the Industrial Management Engineering Society.

Furthermore, four more organizations were chosen, namely Adamson Chemical Engineering Students Society, De La Salle Benilde’s Export Management Society, Far Eastern University’s Association of Civil Engineering Students, and Mapua Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Student Council.

“At Pilipinas Shell, we look to the campuses because we know that there are student leaders brimming with talent and ideas that could help our company become even more efficient and innovative,” said Pilipinas Shell president and CEO Cesar Romero. “The Shell Young Leaders Program was created with the vision of powering future-ready professionals who can contribute towards nation-building with us at Shell,” he added.

Leadership initiative

The two-month enhanced quarantine in Metro Manila did not stop the young innovators from making the most out of the leadership initiative. In fact, it fueled their creativity early on in finding ways and means to safely go through the program without breaking protocols of health and safety.

“SYLP was meant to put the focus on leadership, extracurricular activities and out-of-classroom learning experiences, to help shape the students to become future-ready Filipinos,” said Carlo Zandueta, Vice President for Human Resources at Shell Philippines. “This is very apt, especially during this challenging time, where we were able to see the participants ingenuity, all to see the program through from start to end.”

This July 27, 2020, the initiative is set to end with a presentation of program. Moreover, winners will be rewarded with corresponding cash rewards to better improve the activities and address the necessities of their respective organizations.