Part of the celebration will be the identification of two innovative new start-ups that could become part of Shell’s supply chain.

In October 2014, Shell officially launched the revised LiveWIRE programme in South Africa. The programme provides four phases of support to enable young and aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their enterprising ideas into viable businesses.

From the 600 initial applications received, 50 budding entrepreneurs were selected to attend the first phase of the programme, a two-day 'Bright Ideas Workshop'. Here, participants were given the opportunity to test and refine their business ideas, and received valuable insight into the top five business opportunities within Shell's value chain.

At the end of the workshop, each entrepreneur pitched their business idea to a panel of experts, and 20 were chosen to progress to the next stage of the programme. The five day long intensive training programme was designed to equip the entrepreneurs with key business skills, including: marketing, finance, business planning, human resources and personal development. At the end of this training, ten candidates were then selected to attend the next stage, the 'Business Think Workshop'.

Bonang Mohale, chairperson of Shell South Africa Refining, says; "We are pleased with how the Shell LiveWIRE programme has been delivered. The five participants that have gone on to become entrepreneurs over the past seven months make us all very proud of the impact the programme is having. We are proud to have been able to put together a programme that addresses the issue of youth unemployment and contribute to the National Development Plan 2030’s aim to create an economy that will create more jobs by growing small and medium firms.”

Shell’s programme implementing partner and service provider, Raizcorp, was responsible for compiling the learning material used during the workshops. Raizcorp provides business support for enthusiastic, growth-hungry entrepreneurs, offering them a platform that fosters learning and guidance, which can be translated into practical business success.

Three of the five start-ups have successfully completed phase one of the programme and have developed viable business models.

Each of the five businesses will now benefit from a three-year programme of post start-up support, and have been assessed to determine where there are gaps in their strategies so that a business guide can work with them to close these gaps. The businesses will also benefit from business incubation support, including access to ICT and back office facilities at Raizcorp.

“The Shell LiveWIRE programme is a remarkable example of a programme that has been well thought-through and carefully designed,” says Allon Raiz, CEO of Raizcorp. “South Africa needs more of this type of integrated thinking. The entrepreneurs that are selected to join and complete the LiveWIRE programme, are given a real opportunity to scale their businesses and become meaningful parts of Shell’s supply chain. It is refreshing to see a large corporate so authentically passionate about diversifying its supply chain and developing young entrepreneurs.”

For more information, visit www.shell.com and www.raizcorp.com.