Africa Oil Week, a business platform for the African oil and gas sector, and Lean In Energy, a global mentoring community for the energy sector, have partnered to host “AOW Accelerates: Diversity & Inclusion at AOW 2021” which will explore greater equity practices, including gender inclusion, across the energy space.

Previously known as AOWomen, the AOW Accelerates: Diversity & Inclusion initiative promotes greater diversity and gender equality across the energy industry.

Africa Oil Week 2021 will take place in Dubai from November 8-11 as a COVID-19 precaution but will be back at its usual venue in Cape Town, South Africa from 2022.

Driving female inclusion in the energy sector

Lean In Energy (LIEN) is a non-profit organisation and an offshoot of Lean In Org, whose mission is to help women achieve their ambitions and create a more equal world. Their member support programmes are targeted to address identified gaps including:

• Regional outreach approaches to reach members in specific geographies – with online being an excellent platform to reach a much wider audience.
  
• Special interest groups, for example, Women in Clean Energy, with programmes focused on providing support for these specific areas in the energy space.
  
• A two-tiered mentoring programme including the small group mentoring programme – with one mentor and four mentees which runs for six months and the flash mentoring programme – designed specifically for women to meet a short-term objective.

Catriona McDavid, Senior Content Manager for AOW said: “Over the past three years, we have worked hard to provide a more equitable platform for female industry leaders at Africa Oil Week – from Ministers and Commissioners to SVPs and managers from the private sector.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Lean in Energy to host the 2021 edition of our evolving initiative under the new name of AOW Accelerates: Diversity & Inclusion, where we’ll unite stakeholders to stimulate progressive dialogue on equity issues across the African energy value chain.

“I am pleased to welcome as partners, the UK’s Department for International Trade represented by Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, Emma Wade-Smith OBE, who has agreed to chair the breakfast programme.”

Commenting on the partnership with LIEN she added: “I’ve been collaborating with Lamé Verre for the past two years on AOWomen and welcomed her appointment to LIEN in the role of Co-Chair for Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa. LIEN is a respected, global organisation, and its mission is so closely aligned with what we’re striving to achieve and support across the African upstream, the partnership felt like a perfect match.”

Lamé Verre, Co-Chair for Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa at Lean In Energy said: “At Lean In Energy, our mission is to empower women and allies in energy or interested in energy, to achieve their ambitions through peer-to-peer mentoring, community, public awareness, education, and advocacy.

“For LIEN, the alliance with AOW provides a collaborative platform for both organisations to reach a much wider audience. At the same time, together, both organisations can elevate the voices of female leaders. This mission is critical to everything we do at LIEN. Through the #HerStory firesides and roundtable series, female leaders, especially African female leaders, have a platform to tell their stories in their own words.

“Our goal is to serve anyone who identifies as a woman in the energy industry, and while doing that, we also want to deliver on the following United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.”

To register for the AOW Accelerates event, click here.