Other Initiatives
Catalyst
We continue to be an active Catalyst supporter. Our Honorary Chairman Mr. Feike Sijbesma continued his role on the Board of Directors and our Co-CEO Ms. Geraldine Matchett her role on the European Advisory Board.
In 2021, via our sponsorship of Catalyst’s work on Women and The Future of Work (a long-term research-led program focused on ensuring equity in future employability), we participated in regular expert group meetings, contributing to research outcomes, and products developed by Catalyst for use by its supporters. We applied these products ourselves, for example the Workplace Flexibility model, in shaping our approach to hybrid workplaces. DSM experts on Inclusion & Diversity, and Hybrid Working spoke at a Catalyst event on ‘Developing Flexible & Inclusive Teams’.
We also continue to make good use of Catalyst’s broader resources, for example on Employee Resource Groups for the development of our own approach, and the Catalyst Inclusive Leadership model within our ‘Leading Leaders’ training program.
Valuable 500
The Valuable 500 is a global NGO aimed at unlocking the social and economic value of people living with disabilities across the world. In 2021, our engagement with the Valuable 500 focused on their platform for companies looking to invest in and improve their disability inclusion programs, by sharing knowledge and best practices with one another. Through this collaboration, we defined new aspirations in the area for disability inclusion to increase the representation of people with disabilities and to improve access to our buildings and digital infrastructure.
One Young World (OYW)
The One Young World Summit gathers 2,000 young leaders from more than 190 countries and all sectors, empowering them to make lasting connections to generate positive change for sustainable development. In 2021, our 10th OYW delegation comprised 20 colleagues representing all our businesses and regions. This delegation attended the Munich Summit in July 2021 which had been delayed due to the pandemic. This year also featured the first workshop hosted by DSM at OYW titled ‘Unleash your potential in a VUCA world’ to help participants discover about intrapreneurship and partnerships, and kickstart purpose-led business projects.
Working on business development and internal engagement
The community of over 120 OYW alumni manages different business development and internal engagement projects for sustainability. Projects implemented by previous delegations include a Personal Carbon Footprint Calculator, a learning and development game called ‘The DSM Sustainable City™’, a project on Sustainable Packaging, and the Tomato Project (a development project for fortified tomato sauce). The 2021 delegation is working on projects relating to fortified water, an employee-funded foundation, modern slavery, and refugees with disabilities.
