A delegation of Shell’s senior leadership comprising Mr. Roger Moulding, Vice President, Global Lubricants Marketing and Vice President Sales EMEA; Mr. Amr Adel, CEO, Shell Vivo Lubricants and Cluster General Manager, Lubricants Middle East South Africa and Pakistan; Mr. Haroon Rashid, Business Manager Lubricants Pakistan and Director, Shell Pakistan Limited and Mr. Taha Magrabi, Country Sales Manager B2B Lubricants Pakistan and LNG Marketing Lead, Pakistan, visited Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on May 4, 2017 for an enlightening engagement with the University’s senior leadership, student body and faculty.
The core objective behind this engagement was to showcase Pakistan’s talent, learn more about their aspirations and how they view opportunities in the country. The esteemed guests were greeted by Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, Vice Chancellor LUMS, Dr. Jawad Syed, Dean, Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) and the distinguished faculty and staff members of the School, representatives from the Office of Marketing and Communications and MBA students.
The session started with a presentation by Ms. Minhal Sheikh, Assistant Manager Marketing, Office of Marketing and Communications, about LUMS, its schools, the diversity of programmes it offers and a special focus on LUMS’ recruiting partners, the University’s international student and faculty linkages as well as the continued financial support for talented students.
Following this, Dr. Naqvi shed light on the rationale behind introducing a new school, School of Education at LUMS, the standard of education and merit followed by each of the School, the comprehensive curriculum, the diversity of the student body and how at the end of the education, each LUMS graduate is an individual who is responsible, and armed to lead constructive change in the world. “LUMS is strongly focused on research, it’s a place where students and faculty from different disciplines engage to create a truly interdisciplinary experience,” added Dr. Naqvi.
The Shell leadership was invited to share their views on the challenges faced by the organisation to develop energy and dispel the myths about the company being solely responsible for CO2 emission around the globe. “We are gradually moving towards a company that looks at avenues like solar and wind resources,” said Mr. Moulding.
Mr. Adel then addressed the students saying, “We are delighted to be here at LUMS and look at the future. We have experienced top-notch talent from this country”. He then put forward a direct question to the students, “Do you want to be part of a business case or be the case?”
The floor was then open to the eager students, who cross questioned the guest panel about CPEC and whether Shell’s plan to look into this as an opportunity to expand its operations in Pakistan. Another student asked about the company’s outlook on research in the sector of lubricants or expanding its portfolio to produce automobiles through partnerships. Serious issues like asset efficiency and growth rate of the company’s financial footprint and global impact of decisions of not selling downstream business were also discussed in detail.
One of the students questioned the leadership, “What made you join Shell and stay there to date?”
“I have worked for Shell for 34 years and I love the work I do. The reason is that Shell has a set of values it upholds every day. It is a company that is hard to beat. It challenges you intellectually. We have 48 nationalities, half are women and Shell people give more than their 100 percent,” answered Mr. Moulding.
“What has kept me in Shell for the past 25 years is its people. We are a genuinely a good bunch of individuals with diverse backgrounds. The DNA of Shell talks to my value of integrity. It puts a heart to the corporate culture,” added Mr. Adel. The distinguished guests were then shown around the campus.