Dow Develops Leaders While Addressing World Challenges

This week, The Dow Chemical Company, a subsidiary of DowDuPont (NYSE:DWDP), is kicking off its fifth annual Leadership in Action (LIA) program. In 2017, 43 employees from across the globe are collaborating with six strategic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities in Hanoi and Hai Phong, Vietnam to address issues related to water quality and access, environmental cleanup, education and career readiness.

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This year’s projects also include a special partnership with Ocean Conservancy to research and recommend waste solutions for non-biodegradable rural waste and to raise awareness of opportunities for the improvement of rural waste management issues globally. As part of this year’s program, Dow LIA, Ocean Conservancy and Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) are teaming up on International Coastal Cleanup Day to help clean Vietnam’s coastlines. Additionally, Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics business remains a key collaborator in continuing the Company’s commitment to combat marine plastic through its 30-year partnership with Ocean Conservancy – identifying main sources of marine debris and donating resources for the cause such as plastic trash bags made from 100 percent recycled barrier film scrap and Dow RETAIN™ modifiers that are being used to clean up beaches during the International Coastal Cleanup.

“At Dow we know that we do well when we do good. We pursue game-changing collaboration opportunities to set a higher bar for social and environmental progress. We aim to advance the well-being of humanity by helping lead the transition to a sustainable planet and society,” said Andrew Liveris, executive chairman of DowDuPont. “Leadership in Action is a key example of how we use our top talent, our skills, our expertise and our science as the bridge between ideas to application, and possibility to progress.”

This year’s selected projects directly align to local needs defined through close partnership with various public sector groups. After five months of virtual consulting, employees will spend one week in country as the pinnacle of their collaboration on the following local solutions:

1. Reducing environmental engineering program and industry gaps to support graduates to easily get jobs in both local and domestic companies without further training courses.

2. Revising university curricula and developing new subjects relating to green growth and sustainable development.

3. Restoring and protecting the ecosystem of West Lake aided by the development of a comprehensive baseline database for West Lake’s depth, water quality, ecosystem health and water pollution sources.

4. Encouraging greater participation of local people in the citizen science model in water resources monitoring; ultimately receiving greater and more accurate data to better inform the local government and future policy as well as to better address pollution and flood issues, along with disaster preparations.

5. Creating sustainable solutions for rural waste reduction in partnership with Ocean Conservancy.

6. Enhancing university training capacity on soft skills in an effort to increase student career readiness through the development of short courses on leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills that boost student confidence and English skills.

To date, LIA has engaged 202 employees who have worked with 35 NGOs to benefit communities in the Philippines, Ghana, Ethiopia and Indonesia. For Dow, the benefits of these projects intersect its global citizenship, sustainability, business and employee development efforts, including:

• Advancing Human Progress: Through courageous collaboration, Dow is investing in communities around the world. The LIA program stems from the DowCorps initiative, the company’s conduit to meeting the world’s most basic needs. Through DowCorps, the company and its employees engage in delivering significant and lasting impact to society, helping to create sustainable communities while also supporting and furthering business success.
• Redefining The Role of Business in Society: Through Dow’s 2025 Sustainability Goals, the company is working to improve the wellbeing of humanity by helping lead the transition to a sustainable planet and society. Within these goals, Dow engages all employees for impact, especially its top talent and future leaders, with the aim to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people in the next 10 years.
• Influencing Market Growth: LIA participants become visionaries for new business development in emerging geographies as they learn from experience about the market realities of global communities. In addition, leaders establish strong in-country relationships to pave the way for business opportunities and market growth, while addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
• Leading Courageously: Leadership in Action is a cutting edge approach to skills-based employee engagement and leadership development.

“An essential part of Dow’s leadership development philosophy is action learning. The Leadership in Action program continues to be one of our flagship programs, and has proven to help transform the way we develop superior leaders by introducing them to real world challenges, giving them learning experiences that test their ability to lead courageously, collaborate effectively, and deliver innovative solutions that generate value,” said Johanna Soderstrom, Dow senior vice president and chief human resources officer.

Follow this year’s journey on the web or via Twitter at #DowLeads.

About Dow in Vietnam

Dow has been to Vietnam since 1995. From that year forward, Dow has been a partner in Vietnam’s progress and development and has always been committed to contributing to Vietnam’s industrial growth for the long term to add value to most of the country’s advanced manufacturing industries that continue to create jobs and revenues for the local economy. Currently, Dow products are essential inputs to many downstream and supporting industries in Vietnam and has been providing products and solutions to Vietnamese manufacturers who are involved in electronics, appliances, drinking water and waste water treatment, home and personal care, communications, alternative energy, health, and nutrition businesses, as well as in transportation and construction.

As an integral part of Dow’s business operations in Vietnam is the Company’s corporate citizenship activities. Dow’s signature citizenship projects in Vietnam include donating more than 30 water purification devices to schools and hospitals in Vietnam to provide safe drinking water to thousands of pupils, patients and people in need, donating an emergency water purification mobile unit to the Vietnam Red Cross; empowering more than 2,500 Small and Medium Enterprises nationwide with knowledge in cleaner production and waste management, as well as promoting the circular economy concept for sustainability and environment protection for Vietnamese enterprises. Significantly, in 2017, for the first time, Dow has launched hands-on STEM education program for chemistry students to develop future chemical industry workforce in collaboration with Chemical Society of Vietnam. Accordingly, Dow organised 7 field trips for more than 400 of the country’s best chemistry students all over Vietnam to arouse their passion for chemistry occupation and offering them an opportunity to access to Vietnam chemical industry. In addition, a workshop on human resources development was also organized with the participation from chemistry lecturers, chemical manufacturers and managers to share experience on industry workforce training, green chemistry nurturing as well as the sustainable development of Vietnam chemical industry.

About DowDuPont Materials Science Division

DowDuPont Materials Science, a business division of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), combines science and technology knowledge to develop premier materials science solutions that are essential to human progress. The division has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in the industry, with robust technology, asset integration, scale and competitive capabilities that enable it to address complex global issues. DowDuPont Materials Science’s market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of advanced materials, industrial intermediates, and plastics businesses deliver a broad range of differentiated technology-based products and solutions for customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, industrials, and consumer care. DowDuPont intends to separate the Materials Science division into an independent, publicly traded company. More information can be found at www.dow-dupont.com.

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