IN 2014, ACTRESS AND CELEBRITY Emma Watson addressed the United Nations on gender equality. In launching the UN’s HeForShe global campaign, Watson called on both men and women to fight for gender equality.
“The more I’ve spoken about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man hating,” Watson said. “If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop. For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.”1
Watson could not be more right—feminism is about equality of the sexes, an issue that obviously should concern both men and women. The need to care about this topic is so obvious that I’m shocked when I’m questioned on my fervent support for women in energy. Even more, I’m saddened that I often feel I have to defend my right to care about this issue because I’m a man.
In this chapter, I want to make it clear that leaving women behind is a detriment to good business and society as a whole. Here, I hope to properly illustrate that women are vital for the success of Africa’s oil and gas sector.
The energy sector is notorious for its struggle to attract female employees. Women in the oil and gas industry face an array of challenges—inadequate (or nonexistent) maternity leave, a lack of female mentors, pay inequality, higher rates of sexual harassment, and a working culture that can devalue women and femininity as a whole. A 2018 study by the University of Massachusetts,2 for example, found that oil and gas had the highest rate of sexual harassment charges of any industry in the United States.
It is no wonder, then, that women make up so little of the global energy sector. Women represented about 22 percent of its global workforce in 2017, and participation dropped to 17 percent at senior and executive-level roles. Only 1 percent of the CEOs in oil and gas were women.3 What’s more, in many cases, the women who work in this field earn less than their male counterparts. A study released at the 2016 World Economic Forum, “The Future of Jobs,” reported a 32 percent pay gap in the oil and gas industry globally.4
Africa is no exception. While it has been difficult to find hard data on female participation in Africa’s oil and gas industry, anecdotal evidence shows that women are vastly underrepresented. I believe this is unacceptable, short-sighted, and, frankly, a real stumbling block to African countries that want to realize the full socioeconomic benefits that a thriving oil and gas industry can provide. If you truly want your nation to thrive, why wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help half of your population participate in one of your most lucrative industries?
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has described sub-Saharan Africa as one of the most gender-unequal regions in the world, largely due to “perceptions, attitudes, and historic gender roles.” More women have limited access to health care, education, and economic opportunities here than anywhere else.5 The lack of economic opportunities alone costs the countries of sub-Saharan Africa a combined total of $95 billion in lost productivity annually, UNDP estimates. The oil and gas industry has real potential to start turning this situation around, but with gender inequality pervading this sector, the beneficial economic impacts are curtailed.
I believe most men in oil and gas still don’t get it when it comes to equality in the industry. We are quick to talk about diversity. However, our work environments are still mostly male. When you speak with men, they tell you that we have to hire, promote, and give contracts to women based only on merit. Well, of course, we do! What’s the problem? Are they suggesting that there would be plenty of women working in oil and gas if there were only more qualified candidates? Are they implying that advocates for a diverse oil and gas sector are more concerned with setting and meeting quotas than in doing what’s best for the industry? Neither suggestion is accurate. What is true is that we should be harnessing the oil and gas industry’s tremendous potential to help everyday Africans, male and female.
The African Natural Resources Center and African Development Bank addressed the industry’s potential to help African women in their 2017 “Women’s economic empowerment in oil and gas industries in Africa” report. “Given that there is a large gender gap in gross national product (GNP) per capita in all surveyed African countries, women stand to gain more from economic empowerment and boosting of their incomes, be it through formal (oil and gas) sector employment or entrepreneurship,” the report stated.
But, the report went on to say, that’s not what we’re seeing. African men are getting the majority of oil and gas jobs, compensation, and business opportunities. African women, meanwhile, rarely see those benefits—but they still have to share the risks and costs associated with the industry, from displacement to economic impacts. And because women often are on shakier economic ground than men in Africa, they are actually more vulnerable to these risks.
Consider this: Farming is a major income-generating activity for African women—but when oil and gas pipelines are built, they are often built over that farmland. In addition to displacing women’s sole source of income, these changes to the environment also make it increasingly difficult for women to access simple day-to-day necessities. As Wangari Maathai, Africa’s first female Nobel Peace Prize winner, famously said, “In Kenya, women are the first victims of environmental degradation, because they are the ones who walk for hours looking for water, who fetch firewood, who provide food for their families.”6
And when oil companies offer economic compensation to households affected by their activities, the money typically goes to the male head of the household.
The oil and gas industry is missing a golden opportunity to empower women by partnering with and purchasing from female entrepreneurs, who could provide a vast range of services and goods—from logistics to engineering to food services. Female entrepreneurship rates in sub-Saharan Africa are the highest in the world, according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s “Women’s Entrepreneurship 2016-17 Report.” Nearly 26 percent of the adult female population in Africa is involved in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. But one of the most glaring examples of the oil and gas gender gap is the industry’s failure to work with local female-owned micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as suppliers, service providers, and partners.7
Guidance certainly is available for companies that are willing to work with female-owned SMEs. For example, BSR, a global nonprofit business network and consultancy dedicated to sustainability, recently released a video with practical steps that companies can take to promote gender equality in supply chains. The guidelines are not focused on the oil and gas industry, but they can be applied there.
“As a company, you can act by integrating a gender lens into your supply chain strategy, supplier codes of conduct, due diligence approach, and sourcing practices,” said Magali Barraja, manager at BSR, and Dominic Kotas, a BSR communications associate, in an article promoting the video. “Taking these actions is a solid first step to ensuring that women workers are visible, the specific challenges they face are better identified, and remediation measures are being designed with gender specificities in mind.”8
To be blunt, the oil and gas industry’s failure to create more opportunities for women is a travesty. Women have a mighty role to play in this sector, particularly as leaders. In fact, those who have achieved executive status have been hugely successful and impactful. You would think that the industry would learn a thing or two from the positive examples that female oil and gas leaders are setting. Their achievements should be generating excitement and inspiring more companies to look to female talent to fill managerial and executive roles.
Let’s look at Catherine Uju Ifejika, chairperson and CEO of Nigeria-based Britannia-U Group.
When Uju Ifejika was working as a junior counsel at Texaco Petroleum in the 1980s, the young attorney would have been shocked if someone told her she’d later be described as “Africa’s most successful female oil tycoon.” Or as one of the richest women on the continent. Or as the founder of the first indigenous petroleum industry E&P company in Nigeria to be headed by a Nigerian woman.
In the early days of her career, Uju Ifejika was simply trying to build a successful legal career in a fast-paced, high-pressure setting. She never set out to break new ground for women or shift from practicing law to running a major oil and gas company. But today, as president and CEO of Brittania-U, Uju Ifejika is an important role model for women.
She credits her rise to power, to some degree, to sheer determination.
“I’m not a geologist and I have never worked in exploration and production,” she said during an interview with Fascinating Nigeria. “The only thing I know is how to take something that is nothing and create something out of it that you can see and appreciate. . . Not being an engineer or a geologist was immaterial. Today, I speak the language of the geologist, I can interpret the maps, and when they bring in technical things we look at them together—because I was able to rise above my fear level.”9
Her company—which is involved in E&P, petroleum engineering, data consulting, importation of refined products, shipping, vessel operation, and subsurface engineering activities—regularly partners with other indigenous businesses, contributing to economic stability. They have also trained more than 25 people from host communities to be certified marine engineers and currently provide full-time employment for more than 20 community residents, along with nine others as contract staff.
While Uju Ifejika’s drive and accomplishments are inspiring—in part because examples of women holding executive leadership roles in the oil and gas industry are rare—women succeeding in this sphere should not be a rarity.
Indeed, there are concrete steps the industry and African countries can take to ensure women have an active stake in this industry.
I’m convinced that empowering women through the oil and gas industry would have far-reaching socioeconomic benefits.
“Women are often the linchpins of their communities, playing key roles in ensuring the health, nutrition, education and security of those around them,” stated “Oil and Gas Extraction Industry in East Africa: An African Feminist Perspective.” The 2014 paper was released by Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), a regional Pan-African women’s organization based in Kampala, Uganda.
I couldn’t agree with them more.
Companies, in particular, have a lot to gain by creating opportunities for women, including improved public perceptions, a stabilizing role on the African communities where they work and live, and an expanded talent pool at a time when the oil and gas industry is grappling with serious skills shortages.
So how can the sector better empower women? Making a strategic effort to recruit, hire, and retain them—across all levels—would make a tremendous difference.
First, companies can work with the government to eliminate barriers that make working in the industry difficult for females. It’s telling that, so far, only four countries in Africa have ratified the International Labor Union’s Convention No. 183, which provides guaranteed paid maternity leave, ensures breaks for breastfeeding and/or pumping, and protects women from discrimination.
Additionally, a study by the International Labor Union found that even in those African countries that require companies to provide paid maternity leave, the laws are rarely enforced, with only an estimated 10 percent of women continuing to receive salaries while on leave.
This issue needs to be immediately addressed by both governments and the private sector. I urge governments to create responsible, sustainable laws to protect women in the workplace. Looking to countries on the continent that have already created successful maternity leave protections—like Rwanda, which provides for 12 weeks off, fully paid, and South Africa, which requires 4 months of leave—is a good start.
Companies, too, have a role to play here. And there are tangible benefits for stepping up. My company, for example, has changed its maternity leave policy over the years to become more and more generous. We now offer up to 12 months of paid leave for the primary caregiver and 3 months for the secondary caregiver, while also making payments to pensions and insurance plans. This policy, one of the most competitive in the world, creates not only a positive outcome for families and society, but also for our company and our clients. Our maternity leave policy has helped with retention, especially of highly skilled employees with specific expertise, and has therefore reduced turnover costs for Centurion. We have seen an increase in worker productivity and an improvement in employee loyalty and morale. This allows us to compete with larger firms.
Crucial in the success of these policies, however, is creating a positive environment and encouraging families to make use of the benefit. The availability of leave is irrelevant if female employees are afraid to use it.
At the entry level, companies can and should promote the wide range of jobs they offer to women, support educational programs, and make it a priority to increase the numbers and visibility of female role models within the company.
At the mid-career level, companies should make it a priority to provide women the same opportunities as men and provide sponsors who can guide and advocate for the women under their wings.
And at the senior leadership level, companies should make it a priority to have women in these positions and provide support to help them succeed.10 Targeting hiring policies are a clear path forward here.
Those are the kinds of practices in place at Kenya-based East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL), where more than 45 percent of its board of directors are women—a huge jump from a decade earlier when women made up only 16 percent of the company’s board. That change is the result of company hiring policy, said Eric Kiniti, EABL’s corporate relations director. “Before hiring at the senior management level, we ask that there must be a female candidate in all our short lists,” Kiniti said. “And if there isn’t, we ask why.”
Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company recommends four administrative goals to foster gender diversity, including female leadership, in companies:
Make gender diversity a high board and CEO priority.
Communicate relevant gender diversity policies to employees.
Confront limiting attitudes toward women in the workplace.
Implement a fact-based gender diversity strategy (use metrics and data to understand women’s contributions to the company).11
Of course, once these or similar policies are in place, they must be followed. In Africa, that’s not always the case. South Africa, for example, actually requires gender equity in state-owned institutions by law, but women only constitute 33 percent of the employees in those institutions.
Katy Heidenreich is the author of The Oil Industry’s Best Kept Secret: A Book Full of Inspiration and Advice. She points out that achieving a more gender-inclusive workforce will take more than simply welcoming women. It will also require a strategic effort to attract them to oil and gas in the first place. The industry needs to combat the idea that oil and gas is a man’s world and show women the rewarding, lucrative careers available to them.
Take offshore assignments, for example. Why shouldn’t more women pursue them?
“Life offshore is a different world,” Lindsey Gordon, a female petroleum engineer with BP, told Offshore Technology. “The platforms and FPSOs (floating production storage and offloading) are amazing feats of engineering. The camaraderie is second to none, which is important when you’re together for weeks at a time. To round it off, I get to take a helicopter to work.”12
Women also need to see that balancing work and family is doable. Caroline Gill, a lead geologist at Shell UK, described in Heidenreich’s book what works for her and her geologist husband.
“As a couple, we both have the flexibility to work at home, and we can pick up any outstanding work once our children are in bed. It’s totally an equal partnership—we both do our fair share. Even when we’re working long hours, it doesn’t impact on family life.”
In an article for LinkedIn, “Women in Energy: Oiling the Wheels of Talent,” Rolake Akinkugbe, FBN Capital’s Head of Energy and Natural Resources, points out that technology could play a role in helping women balance work and family responsibilities. “As digitalization advances, it may be possible for more types of roles in the industry to be carried out remotely, making it easier for women who seek flexibility to sustain careers in the industry over a longer period,” she said.
As for recruiting women, Akinkugbe said, bringing successful females in the industry to the attention of other women will carry a lot of weight. “The importance of visible representation cannot be overemphasized; women tend to be inspired by other women pursuing high-ranking careers in the oil industry, because of its historical dominant macho image. The less gender diversity there is at technical and senior levels of the industry, the less other women are likely to see themselves pursuing careers in oil and gas, and consequently, firms will find it even more difficult to recruit women. The reverse is also true.”
Another key to building gender diversity momentum is giving more women the authority to make hiring policy. An encouraging example in this area is Eunice Ntobedzi, a director of Sandico Botswana, an energy services company. She employs women engineers in the development of energy projects in Botswana. Ntobedzi also works to close the gender gap through the Botswana International University of Science & Technology, which encourages women to support sustainable development in their country.13 Talk about a win-win: These efforts help empower women and support vital efforts to bring power to everyday Africans.
Oil and gas companies in Africa should follow Ntobedzi’s lead, not only in her hiring practices, but also in her commitment to supporting women’s training opportunities. Those are just a few of the things that international mining company Asanko Gold Inc. has promised to do through its new Asanko Women in Mining Botae Pa (Good Purpose) in Ghana, West Africa. The initiative’s projects will include promoting careers in the mining sector for women and offering professional development, mentoring, networking, and community programs that focus on the needs of women and girls in the areas of education, health, and finances.14 If only more extractives-industry companies, oil and gas businesses, in particular, would do the same.
Women in government are also driving dialogue and new initiatives, including the first lady of the Republic of Angola, Ana Dias Lourenço. An economist, government minister, longstanding chair of the Southern African Development Community, and former World Bank governor, Lourenço is participating in top-level discussions on gender equality at the United Nations.
Irene Nafuna Muloni, the Cabinet Minister for Energy and Minerals in the Ugandan Cabinet, is urging for more female involvement in the energy sector. In fact, Uganda requires women to be considered part of new development activities in the industry.
Some argue Africa will not be able to address the gender gap in a meaningful way without changing cultural norms and perceptions—and that kind of change must begin with family education programs, which could be offered by governments, schools, businesses, and NGOs.
“An enabling environment has to be created at every level of society, starting within households,” wrote Gerald Chirinda, executive director of Tapiwa Capital, a company that focuses on building sustainable enterprises in Zimbabwe. “It is important for parents to invest their time and be intentional in positively influencing and encouraging their daughters. It is equally important to teach boys the importance of respecting, honoring and empowering women.”15
I agree with Chirinda, but I believe girls also need educational opportunities that give them the necessary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) foundation to take lucrative positions in oil and gas. We’re starting to see examples of educational programs like these. One is the African Science Academy (ASA), a Ghana-based secondary school for girls that specializes in advanced math and physics. Students are recruited from throughout the continent, and scholarships are available to cover students’ tuition and travels. No qualified African girl is turned away for inability to pay, the academy claims. And ASA’s top achievers get to attend a week-long study program at Oxford or Cambridge universities in the United Kingdom, which opens the door to even more educational opportunities.16
In many cases, nonprofit organizations are taking the lead when it comes to creating educational opportunities for African girls. Take the nonprofit Working to Advance STEM Education for African Women (WAAW). The organization was founded by Unoma Okorafor of Nigeria, who recently wrote about its mission for www.indiegogo.com: “In the next ten years, thousands of people throughout Africa will be impacted deeply by technology changes in our world . . . For Kenya and Nigeria to compete around the world our girls need to learn skills such as the basics of robotics, setting up multiple kinds of energy systems, coding, and the foundations of our modern scientific world.”17
WAAW operates STEM camps for teenage girls throughout Africa, along with STEM teacher training, weekend and after-school coding clubs, and mentoring, among other programs. It’s time for others, including businesses, public-private partnerships, and governments, to follow their example.
In fact, governments have a huge role to play in paving the way for more women to benefit from oil and gas industry opportunities. That should start with local content policies that address women specifically.
These policies should include mandates to:
Provide certain percentages of local women paid positions.
Work with women-owned suppliers and sub-contractors.
Require suppliers and subcontractors to employ women.
Create education and training opportunities, including STEM studies, for women and girls.
Ensure that women and men receive equal compensation, whether it’s wages, community programs, or property royalties.
Provide for sustainable, adequate maternity leave, and protections for leave when immediate family members are ill and require care.
Foreign companies would probably be more receptive to increased local content required if governments offered them carrots, and not just the stick. Why not offer tax incentives for hiring local women, subcontracting with—and buying supplies from—women-owned SMEs? Or provide incentives for offering maternity leave?
In addition to creating and enforcing local content laws, governments can help women through policies that create a more enabling environment for SMEs linked to the oil and gas industry. The International Labour Office, in “Inclusive Business Practices in Africa’s Extractive Industries,” recommends:
Simplifying business registration and licensing procedures.
Streamlining tax policies and administration.
Facilitating access to finance, especially micro-credit for start-ups.
Improving land titles, registers, and administration.
Simplifying and accelerating access to commercial courts and alternative dispute resolution resources.
Improving access to market information.
We also need legislation that protects and enables women: laws that protect women from sexual harassment and protect their right to work.
Africa, as a whole, has shockingly poor protections for women facing sexual harassment or assault. In South Africa, for example, 1 in 3 women is raped in her lifetime; 4 out of 10 married women in Central and West Africa were married before their 18th birthday, and 40 to 60 percent of women in North Africa say they’ve experienced street-based sexual harassment. This is unacceptable, and strong laws need to be put in place—and enforced—to protect women now.
We also need laws that ensure equal pay for equal work. At the end of the day, women don’t pay less for milk than men. They don’t pay less for rent. They shouldn’t be working for lower wages than men.
While I hope to see more efforts by businesses to help women better leverage oil and gas opportunities in the very near future, I am encouraged by the growing number of organizations making strides in this area. One of these organizations, TheBoardroom Africa, connects highly qualified, peer-endorsed female leaders with African companies seeking to fill board of director positions, including in the oil and gas sector. The organization was founded by Marcia Ashong of Ghana, whose professional background includes upstream oil and gas law, project management, consulting, and business development. She runs the program with co-founder Tasmin Jones, a social entrepreneur based in London.
“We need to dispel the myth that there aren’t enough qualified women out there ready to take on board leadership,” Ashong said. “By building the leading network of board-ready women we have already started to break down this myth, but more importantly we are working closely with the business community and key influencers through thought leadership to raise awareness on the benefits of diversity at the top.”18
Another organization, the Association for Women in Extractives and Energy in Kenya, works to provide women with opportunities for equitable professional and economic development in Kenya’s extractives industry, including the oil, gas, and mining sectors.
A relatively new organization, the African Women Energy Entrepreneurs Framework, was conceived as a result of the workshop on Women Entrepreneurs and Sustainable Energy (WESE) at the African Ministerial Conference in Libreville, Gabon, in June 2017.
The organization’s objectives, among others, include:
Ensuring gender-responsive policies and all-inclusive participation in the realm of renewable energy and entrepreneurship.
Fostering partnerships between regional blocs, governments, the private sector, and civil society at the regional, national, and local levels.
Integrating coordination and knowledge management in strengthening the capacities of national and local governments, women’s cooperatives and associations, and women entrepreneurs themselves.
Enhancing access to finance and markets for women energy entrepreneurs.
All of these organizations have the potential to create meaningful opportunities for women, but they’re only one piece of the puzzle.
Bringing more women into the industry, and giving them the tools to succeed, should be a priority across the board in Africa. Employers, government, educators, and organizations all need to do their part.
We have everything to gain from a thriving oil and gas industry. And with more women in this sector, it’s better positioned to soar.
Oguto Okudo refuses to let it distract her when colleagues at SpringRock Energy Kenya refer to her as “Little Girl” or when she receives emails addressing her as “Mr. Okudo.”
She knows that in Kenya—and much of the African continent—her role as country manager for an energy company makes her a rarity. For every success story like hers, there are thousands of African women whose economic prospects are bleak at best. So, rather than getting irritated at the slights and false assumptions she encounters on the job, Okudo has been working to help other African women enter and thrive in her field. The organization she founded in 2011, Women in Energy and Extractives Africa (WEX Africa), is taking aim at gender disparity in the oil, gas, and energy sectors.
WEX Africa provides women with access to information and personal development training, promotes the energy and extractive sector as a career choice for women, and informs industry decision-makers of the challenges and opportunities for women in their companies. Okudo sees the organization’s work as a win-win for women and for the communities where they live. “Women are change catalysts,” she told Daily Nation in 2018. “When you tap into their full potential, you are able to have more inclusive economic developments while improving living conditions for all in the society.”19
I’m extremely impressed with the approach WEX Africa takes to address the wide spectrum of needs African women have today. The organization has developed programs to target four specific “spheres,” each for a different population group.
Sphere 1 comprises women who are directly affected by exploration in their communities. WEX Africa considers this their target population and strives to serve as their advocate and present their needs to local leaders and businesses. “We understand that the impact of energy and extractive operations are not gender neutral,” their website says.
Sphere 2 is made up of women embarking on entry into the industry and those already in it. WEX Africa strives to help women in this sphere by notifying women about opportunities, informing industry decision-makers of challenges, helping women obtain necessary licenses, and getting the word out about the organization as a resource.
WEX Africa serves Sphere 3, young women and girls, through educational programs, including the “Kitabu si Taabu” campaign, which encourages young girls around the globe to go to school. The organization also has customized learning and STEM programs for young girls in extractive and energy-impacted communities with literacy rates among women as low as three percent.
The organization’s Sphere 4 comprises women engaged in business in the value chain. WEX Africa strives to serve them by urging leaders to create a supportive environment and encouraging women to get involved in this sector. The organization also inspires knowledge and opportunity sharing among female entrepreneurs.
What an excellent role model, not only for other organizations, but also for governments and businesses. Clearly, it is possible to develop programs that offer meaningful support and assistance for women, programs that will allow them to capitalize on the many opportunities that exist in oil and gas.
At the end of the day, we need to empower more African women to benefit from the oil and gas industry, whether we’re talking about opportunities for boots on the ground jobs at drill sites, professional positions, leadership roles, or business prospects for women-owned enterprises.
As actress Emma Watson said during her speech to the United Nations: “I am inviting you to step forward to be seen, and to ask yourselves, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when?’”
Here are just a few examples of female oil and gas leaders—women who are, hopefully, setting the stage for others to follow.
FBN Capital’s Head of Energy and Natural Resources Rolake Akinkugbe, of Nigeria, was named Best African Oil & Gas Analyst of the Year in late 2018 for her commitment to the industry, her knowledge, and her valuable analysis.20 Akinkugbe serves on the Economic Advisory Board for the Office of the Vice President in Nigeria. She is a frequent media commentator; writes about natural resources in Africa; is a monthly reviewer of global news headlines on BBC World News, and is a conference presenter on energy, natural resources, and investment. Not only that, but she also runs a public speaking training initiative, VoxArticl8™, and is the founder of InaTidé, a social enterprise that sources both finance and technical expertise for off-grid, sustainable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa.21
Elizabeth Rogo is the founder and CEO of Tsavo Oilfield Services, a Kenya-based energy consultancy serving the oil and gas, geothermal, and mining sectors in East Africa. In addition to her professional commitments, Rogo mentors young professionals in the energy sector and is a sought-after presenter on gender diversity and local content in the oil and gas industry.22
Dr. Amy Jadesimi, physician and CEO of Nigerian logistics company, LADOL, recently received the Oil and Gas Leading Women award at the Foreign Investment Network (FIN) and Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources Honorary Patrons Dinner and Awards Night during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit 2019, in Abuja. She was also named the Young CEO of the Year by the African Leadership Forum, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and an Archbishop Tutu Fellow for her work to reduce maternal mortality. She has also been named as a Rising Talent by the Women’s Forum for Economy and Society, one of 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa by Forbes, and was listed among the Top 25 Africans to Watch by the Financial Times.23
Althea E. Sherman is the interim president/CEO of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL). She also served as the company’s COO and, as an attorney, has more than 20 years of legal and business experience with major U.S. corporations, including Oracle Corporation, AT&T, and Verizon Communications.24
In Equatorial Guinea, Mercedes Eworo Milam earned widespread respect when she held the role of director general of Hydrocarbons of the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy. In fact, in 2014, she was recognized for her outstanding work in ensuring the sustainable development of the country’s oil and gas sector when she received the Woman of the Year award at the Oil and Gas Awards. She was credited with maintaining a firm balance as hydrocarbons director, encouraging oil companies to invest and giving them the confidence to operate. She ensured that women were hired and considered for jobs, training, and promotions, and awarded contracts.25