Shell LiveWIRE Louisiana empowers local entrepreneurs to
create economic growth and positive impacts within their
parishes
NEW
ORLEANS, April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today,
Shell USA, Inc., in collaboration
with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC), named
the 25 entrepreneurs selected from 13 Louisiana parishes who
comprise the 2024 Louisiana cohort of Shell's flagship enterprise
development program, Shell LiveWIRE. The global program, now in its
second year in Louisiana, works as
a business accelerator and aims to strengthen the local economy by
giving Louisiana entrepreneurs
free access to knowledge, skills, networks, and resources that can
help their businesses and, in turn, their communities thrive.
Shell LiveWIRE's 2024 Louisiana cohort features a diverse class
of entrepreneurs, whose businesses span a range of industries:
architecture, beauty, construction, fashion, food and beverage,
health, insurance, landscaping, hospitality, security, and
more.
Meet the 2024 Shell LiveWIRE Louisiana Cohort
"Small businesses backed by local entrepreneurs are the
foundation for economic development," notes Emma Lewis, Shell SVP US Chemicals and Products.
"Shell LiveWIRE recognizes the value and impact of homegrown
businesses. We are excited to welcome our second group of south
Louisiana self-starters who are
creating employment opportunities, delivering diverse services and
products, and contributing to the growth of their neighborhoods and
communities. A small business can make a big difference."
The program aims to connect participants to support networks
within their markets to help build and expand businesses across 13
rural parishes in South Louisiana:
Ascension, Assumption, East
Baton Rouge, West Baton
Rouge, Iberville,
Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Saint
Charles, Saint James, Saint
John the Baptist, Saint Mary, and Terrebonne.
Louisiana Small Business Development Center acts as the local
implementing partner for the program, bringing a proven curriculum
customized to meet the needs of the Shell LiveWIRE Louisiana cohort
class. The sessions are delivered by local subject-matter experts
in marketing, finance, and team management.
"The Louisiana Small Business Development is honored to
have partnered with Shell LiveWIRE to create and deliver a
high-impact entrepreneurial program to support and assist these
creative and diverse small business owners," said Heidi Melancon, Associate LSBDC State Director.
"The combination of training, business advising, and expert
resources is a winning combination for entrepreneurs to create
growth-oriented, profitable, and sustainable businesses. LSBDC will
continue to support these entrepreneurs beyond their Shell LiveWIRE
graduation. Entrepreneurship is crucial to economic growth and
prosperity, and we are appreciative of Shell's commitment to
entrepreneurs worldwide."
About Shell LiveWIRE
Shell LiveWIRE is the flagship enterprise development program of
Shell. The program strengthens local economies across the globe by
promoting entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurs.
Shell LiveWIRE's mission is to stimulate local economies through
entrepreneurship, innovation, and meaningful employment. Every
year, Shell LiveWIRE supports thousands of individuals in accessing
the knowledge, skills, networks, and resources to turn business
ideas into successful enterprises that provide sustainable incomes,
create jobs and drive innovation.
Started in Scotland in 1982,
the program is now active in 18 countries around the world. In
2023, Shell LiveWIRE trained about 3,400 people around the world
and helped create more than 1,200 jobs and 196 new businesses.
About Louisiana Small Business Development Center
(LSBDC)
The Louisiana Small Business Development Center Network (LSBDC)
is a mission and performance driven organization. The focus of
the LSBDC is to provide high quality, professional assistance
to small businesses with an emphasis on in-depth, substantive,
longer-term, outcome-oriented consulting and training. The LSBDC
has operated in Louisiana for
forty years and is a member of America's Small Business Development
Association. The LSBDC, which began in 1983, is the oldest and
largest national small business technical assistance organization.
Louisiana is organized into ten
regional centers, each hosted by a university in that region. The
core services of the LSBDC are confidential one-on-one
business consulting, impactful training programs, and expert
resources designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs. Annually,
the LSBDC assists 3,500 plus small businesses, creating over
$100 million in capitalization,
starting nearly 200 businesses, creating over 900 jobs, and
training nearly 7,000 businesses.
Cautionary note
The companies in which Shell plc
directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal
entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell Group" and "Group"
are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to
Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words
"we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Shell plc and its
subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms
are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the
particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell
subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement
refer to entities over which Shell plc either directly or
indirectly has control. The term "joint venture", "joint
operations", "joint arrangements", and "associates" may also be
used to refer to a commercial arrangement in which Shell has a
direct or indirect ownership interest with one or more parties. The
term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the
direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an
entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all
third-party interest.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within
the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and
businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future
expectations that are based on management's current expectations
and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or
events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in
these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other
things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to
market risks and statements expressing management's expectations,
beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These
forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and
phrases such as "aim"; "ambition"; ''anticipate''; ''believe'';
"commit"; "commitment"; ''could''; ''estimate''; ''expect'';
''goals''; ''intend''; ''may''; "milestones"; ''objectives'';
''outlook''; ''plan''; ''probably''; ''project''; ''risks'';
"schedule"; ''seek''; ''should''; ''target''; ''will''; "would" and
similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could
affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results
to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking
statements included in this announcement, including (without
limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas;
(b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency
fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves
estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g)
environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the
identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and
targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such
transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing
countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j)
legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including
regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and
financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l)
political risks, including the risks of expropriation and
renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities,
delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in
the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the
impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak,
regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and a
significant cybersecurity breach; and (n) changes in trading
conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments
will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements
contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk
factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell plc's
Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 (available at
www.shell.com/investors/news-and-filings/sec-filings.html and
www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and
should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement
speaks only as of the date of this announcement, April 15, 2024.
Neither Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement as a result of new information, future events or other
information. In light of these risks, results could differ
materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
Shell's Net Carbon Intensity
Also, in this announcement we may refer to Shell's "Net
Carbon Intensity" (NCI), which includes Shell's carbon emissions
from the production of our energy products, our suppliers' carbon
emissions in supplying energy for that production and our
customers' carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy
products we sell. Shell's NCI also includes the emissions
associated with the production and use of energy products produced
by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its
own emissions. The use of the terms Shell's "Net Carbon Intensity"
or NCI are for convenience only and not intended to suggest these
emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.
Shell's net-zero emissions target
Shell's operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a
ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the
current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to
see over the next ten years. Accordingly, they reflect our Scope 1,
Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell's
operating plans cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target,
as this target is currently outside our planning period. In the
future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect
Shell's operating plans to reflect this movement. However, if
society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be
significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.
Forward-Looking non-GAAP measures
This announcement may contain certain forward-looking
non-GAAP measures such as cash capital expenditure and divestments.
We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking
non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures
because certain information needed to reconcile those non-GAAP
measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is
dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of
Shell, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange
rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required
precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is
extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without
unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods
which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial
measure are calculated in a manner which is consistent with the
accounting policies applied in Shell plc's consolidated financial
statements.
The contents of websites referred to in this announcement do not
form part of this announcement.
We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this
announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our
filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the
disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC
website www.sec.gov.
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SOURCE Shell USA, Inc.