Jobs abound in Africa’s energy sector
The Chief Executive Officer of PETROSOL Ghana Ltd, Michael Bozumbil, has indicated that there are boundless job opportunities in Africa’s energy sector even in the wake of energy transition.
This, he said, had to do with the shift from the use of fossil fuel to cleaner sources of energy such as renewable energy.
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He has consequently charged the youth to prepare themselves to take advantage of the opportunities.
Mr Bozumbil said “the energy sector is changing in form but not in substance”.
He said the world would always need energy, and that it was the type of energy that may change from time to time.
He, therefore, encouraged people desiring to build career in the energy sector not to be frightened by the news about energy transition in order not to end up staying away from pursuing careers in the energy sector.
Instead, he said, they should develop even greater interest in the sector because of its enormous growth potential.
Mr Bozumbil was addressing the youth, mostly students of tertiary institutions, at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Accra during this year’s Energy Career Seminar, organised by the Energy Quest Foundation, to create awareness and interest in the energy sector among the youth.
Event
This year’s event, the second edition, was christened: “Energy Career Planning and Opportunity”.
Mr Bozumbil said with over 40 per cent of Africa’s population not having access to electricity, it presented itself as a great energy market with enormous investment and job creation opportunities for the youth of Africa.
He said this was particularly so because Africa was a continent with abundant energy sources, including renewal energy.
He thus entreated the youth to view discussions about energy transition as great news and to deploy their creative abilities in addressing the energy needs of Africa to make it a better continent to live in.
He again indicated that even with the advent of electric vehicles, fossil fuels or petroleum products would continue to form a major part of the energy mix of Africa over the next three decades.
He, therefore, urged the youth who would be working in the petroleum sector to have an energy industry-wide mindset and build transferable skills that would enable them transit well into the emerging energy segments.
Energy industry
Mr Bozumbil went further to educate the youth to appreciate that the energy industry was not restricted to engineers or technicians, but demanded varied expertise, including finance, health and safety, human resource, logistics, economics, among others, and urged the youth to look out for such opportunities.
He encouraged them to be ready to start at the base by taking up low level jobs and learning the rudiments so as to build the required capacity for enduring careers.
Mr Bozumbil said PETROSOL, an ISO-certified privately-owned Ghanaian oil marketing company, had over the years provided opportunity for young graduates of tertiary institutions to be trained, absorbed as staff and provided on-the-job coaching, and that most of them were performing excellently leading to the growth of the business.
He said PETROSOL’s doors were always open to provide such opportunities for the youth provided they possessed PETROSOL’s core values and the required work ethics, as well as were ready to humble themselves and go through field work.