Shell and the British Council hosted the annual Shell Intilaaqah event and graduating 1,200 entrepreneurs in the presence of Simon Collis, 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." [caption id="attachment_39081" align="alignleft" width="300"] Patrick Van Daele, VP and country chairman, Shell in Saudi Arabia and Simon Collis, British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia listen attentively to a Saudi female entrepreneur as she explains her start-up business[/caption] 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." Collis 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 program, 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." Al Dawod said: "I am extremely happy about all the entrepreneurs attending today, and I thank Shell which didn't just sponsor the Intilaaqah program financially or cared only about placing its logo, but in fact made the success of the program one of its priorities and have been part of it since the very beginning. We wish that such a program 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 program 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.
