Today’s business relations do not boil down to the exchange of goods and services. You can keep such relations strong by sharing non-material goods, like knowledge. That is the goal of Chemistry of Life.

For us, the word “chemistry” expands beyond its scientific meaning to interpersonal chemistry, career chemistry, money chemistry. According to Karina Ogloblina, Chief Expert of Functional Development at SIBUR, the project was initiated by Pavel Lyakhovich, Managing Director, and the Corporate University.

“The Corporate University is meant to develop the ecosystem, i.e. not only teach SIBUR’s employees, but share the knowledge externally and interact with partners and customers,” says Karina Ogloblina. “And for our customers, it is both supplier relations and cooperation with the company that stimulates further growth.”

Gareth Johnston, an international strategic and marketing expert, spoke to SIBUR's employees about the customer-centric future of the oil and gas companies.

The project consists of three parts. The first one includes taking some of the Corporate University’s courses (for instance, an MBA module, or other classroom or online courses). Then there is a lecture hall. Every month, SIBUR’s corporate centre in Moscow will host 1.5 h lectures with free admission for the Company’s clients and partners. The lectures are announced on Facebook and YouTube to reach out to a wider audience.

“The lectures will cover different topics,” says Karina Ogloblina. “We are aiming to engage a diverse audience by having a mix of petrochemical topics and others, related to various spheres of life. In late September, for instance, Alexey Shchavelev, a professional coach, spoke about how to tackle work-related stress and manage your resilience. The next lecture, held on 29 October, was devoted to the future of petrochemistry and customer-centric approach. On top of listening to the speakers, the visitors can enjoy a coffee and chat with SIBUR’s managers.”

The third part is TDI Forum, regular TED talks with 10-minute speeches on a given topic. While the lectures focus on external experts, the Forum gives floor to employees of SIBUR, and our partners and customers. The agenda here will stick to professional matters.

Pavel Lyakhovich,
member of the Management Board and Managing Director at SIBUR, said:

“Apart from the lecture hall, Chemistry of Life features some other events. We will invite our employees, customers and partners, and share what we know, what we think is important and interesting. We want to have like-minded people both within the Company and around us, to speak a common language with our customers and understand each other instantly. The Chemistry of Life was launched to create such ecosystem and share the knowledge, concerns, plans, and challenges.

The project has just been launched and still requires fine-tuning. “We are developing individual offers for our strategic partners,” said Karina Ogloblina. “In future, the customer portal will offer customisable educational packages. If a company is interested in growing its employees, it can clearly see what SIBUR has to offer in that regard.”

He believes that the lecture hall also has a growth potential. After every event, the organisers collect feedback to find out what topics resonate the most with the audience. In turn, TDI Forum will focus on giving the stage to the customers. Notably, SIBUR’s experts help the speakers prepare their talks, which gives the customers an opportunity to boost their employees’ skills of public speaking.

“Ultimately, we need to form educational product lines,” summed up Karina Ogloblina, “and give our partners access to ready-made solutions for training their employees together with us or by themselves. They could be package offers receiving publicity at the expos and social nets, and having profiles to feature their news and communicate with potential students.” Svetlana Girfanova, Head of Terephthalic Acid and Acrylates Production: “Chemistry of Life is a great project as growth is always about developing and learning, and consistently moving forward is a must in the modern world. We appreciate that SIBUR goes beyond teaching its own employees and is eager to share the knowledge with our customers and partners, which, in turn, will expand our cooperation and establish new points of contact. The lectures are popular among our colleagues, and I hope to see them win the hearts of our partners”.

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