23 Louisiana Businesses Selected for Shell's 2025 Accelerator

Shell LiveWire Louisiana empowers local entrepreneurs to create economic growth and positive impacts within their parishes

NEW ORLEANS, April 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Shell USA, Inc., in collaboration with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC), named the 23 businesses selected from 13 Louisiana parishes who comprise the 2025 Louisiana cohort of Shell's flagship enterprise development program, Shell LiveWire. The global program, now in its third 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 2025 Louisiana cohort features a diverse class of entrepreneurs, whose businesses span a range of industries: 3D printing, cleaning, consulting, fashion, financial services, food and beverage, health, legal services, marketing, media, retail, wellness, and more.

Meet the 2025 Shell LiveWire Louisiana Cohort.

"Building your own venture demands bravery, particularly when navigating unknown circumstances. This is what truly inspires me about this year's LiveWire entrepreneurs—they engage with their communities, showcasing passion, resilience, and innovation," remarked Emma Lewis, Shell EVP Chemicals. "Our commitment is to empower those creating positive change in their local areas, and I am incredibly proud to support these driven individuals in south Louisiana."

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, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. 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.

"Every business in this cohort reflects a bold vision and deep commitment to their local communities," said Heidi Melancon, Associate LSBDC State Director. "Through our partnership with Shell LiveWire, we're able to deliver more than education—we're helping shape the future of small business in Louisiana. This program empowers entrepreneurs not just to launch, but to lead sustainable and lasting growth across the state."

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 2024, Shell LiveWire trained more than 2,700 people around the world, creating more than 1,600 jobs, sustaining more than 2,400 jobs and creating 426 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 3,880 plus small businesses, creating over $67.2 million in capitalization, starting nearly 200 businesses, creating over 700 jobs, and training nearly 5,500 businesses.

Cautionary Note
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release 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''; "aspire", "aspiration", ''believe''; "commit"; "commitment"; ''could''; "desire"; ''estimate''; ''expect''; ''goals''; ''intend''; ''may''; "milestones"; ''objectives''; ''outlook''; ''plan''; ''probably''; ''project''; ''risks''; "schedule"; ''seek''; ''should''; ''target''; "vision"; ''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 press release, 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, including climate change; (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 tariffs and 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, regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East, and a significant cyber security, data privacy or IT incident; (n) the pace of the energy transition; and (o) 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 press release 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, 2024 (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 press release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, April 15, 2025. 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 release.

SOURCE Shell USA, Inc.