2.0 Introduction: Enterprise solutions to poverty
2.0 Introduction: Enterprise solutions to poverty
introduce the Shell Foundation and its way of
working. The second is to offer up insights drawn
from our experience as a contribution to the wider
debate on how the private sector and the International
Development Community (IDC) can
most effectively catalyse equitable, self-sustaining
development in poor countries (see annex 1).
The Shell Foundation is new – established by
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies as a UK
charity in June 2000 – and a little different. Unlike
many corporate foundations, the Shell Foundation
focuses on social issues aligned to the core
characteristics of our founder – an energy major
and a multinational group of companies (MNC).
Thus we address social problems arising from the
links between energy and poverty, energy and the
environment and the impact of globalisation on
vulnerable communities.
In addition, while set up as a grant-making charity,
the Shell Foundation believes the application of
business principles and business thinking can be
very useful in tackling social problems, especially
the challenges of overcoming poverty in developing
countries. Hence we tend to act more like an
investor in deciding where and how to allocate our
commitments of time and money. We also expect
our partners to act more like entrepreneurs and
businesses in the pursuit of their social and
charitable objectives.
Finally, and because of our focus on energy issues,
we’re exploring ways of harnessing what we call the
‘value-creating’ assets of one of the largest international
energy majors, the Shell Group, to advance
our charitable objectives. We could not do this if
our issues were traditional corporate philanthropy
concerns of health, education or culture.
Moreover, because the Shell Group has long been
present in many developing countries, we have
ready access to practical experience and ‘local’
knowledge on enterprise–poverty issues simply not
available to the majority of IDC actors – donors in
particular. Taken together this means we are able to
bring ‘more than money’ to the table when seeking
strategic partners and working with them to
develop and implement viable, scalable solutions to
the social problems we target.
Of course, the Shell Foundation is still young and
our track record relatively limited. However, our
work to date tackling poverty in developing
countries is throwing up intriguing challenges –
not only for the Foundation Board and its staff,1
our founders, the Royal Dutch/Shell and our
partners – but more widely for practitioners
concerned with international development and
corporate social responsibility (CSR).
In Section 1 we set the stage for exploring these
challenges by reinforcing a case for putting ‘propoor
enterprise’ more at the heart of the efforts
by the IDC and big business to help poor people
escape poverty (see annex 1). In Section 2, we
describe the core features of the approach taken by
Shell Foundation to pursue this goal. Section 3
uses case study material to illustrate our way of
working and the outcomes being achieved. Finally,
in Section 4, we distil our experience into a set of
propositions for wider debate and consideration by
the international development and business
communities.
20 Introduction Enterprise solutions to poverty - To learn more about this author, visit Shell Foundation's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
This paper has two objectives. The first is to
introduce the Shell Foundation and its way of
working. The second is to offer up insights drawn
from our experience as a contribution to the wider
debate on how the private sector and the International
Development Community (IDC) can
most effectively catalyse equitable, self-sustaining
development in poor countries (see annex 1).
The Shell Foundation is new – established by
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies as a UK
charity in June 2000 – and a little different. Unlike
many corporate foundations, the Shell Foundation
focuses on social issues aligned to the core
characteristics of our founder – an energy major
and a multinational group of companies (MNC).
Thus we address social problems arising from the
links between energy and poverty, energy and the
environment and the impact of globalisation on
vulnerable communities.
In addition, while set up as a grant-making charity,
the Shell Foundation believes the application of
business principles and business thinking can be
very useful in tackling social problems, especially
the challenges of overcoming poverty in developing
countries. Hence we tend to act more like an
investor in deciding where and how to allocate our
commitments of time and money. We also expect
our partners to act more like entrepreneurs and
businesses in the pursuit of their social and
charitable objectives.
Finally, and because of our focus on energy issues,
we’re exploring ways of harnessing what we call the
‘value-creating’ assets of one of the largest international
energy majors, the Shell Group, to advance
our charitable objectives. We could not do this if
our issues were traditional corporate philanthropy
concerns of health, education or culture.
Moreover, because the Shell Group has long been
present in many developing countries, we have
ready access to practical experience and ‘local’
knowledge on enterprise–poverty issues simply not
available to the majority of IDC actors – donors in
particular. Taken together this means we are able to
bring ‘more than money’ to the table when seeking
strategic partners and working with them to
develop and implement viable, scalable solutions to
the social problems we target.
Of course, the Shell Foundation is still young and
our track record relatively limited. However, our
work to date tackling poverty in developing
countries is throwing up intriguing challenges –
not only for the Foundation Board and its staff,1
our founders, the Royal Dutch/Shell and our
partners – but more widely for practitioners
concerned with international development and
corporate social responsibility (CSR).
In Section 1 we set the stage for exploring these
challenges by reinforcing a case for putting ‘propoor
enterprise’ more at the heart of the efforts
by the IDC and big business to help poor people
escape poverty (see annex 1). In Section 2, we
describe the core features of the approach taken by
Shell Foundation to pursue this goal. Section 3
uses case study material to illustrate our way of
working and the outcomes being achieved. Finally,
in Section 4, we distil our experience into a set of
propositions for wider debate and consideration by
the international development and business
communities.
20 Introduction Enterprise solutions to poverty - To learn more about this author, visit Shell Foundation's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Shell's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Memorandum Template 1 Profitable Blog Guide Manners, Positivity, Heroics Internet Marketing Campaigns Managing Growth |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
Top 50 Debt Blogs
Learn To Get Out Of Debt | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
