Chamber Holds Webinar To Address Energy Poverty In Africa

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – As a build up to the forthcoming African Energy Week (AEW) holding in Cape Town, South Africa, from October 18 to October 21, Africa Energy Chamber (AEC) in collaboration with Rystad Energy will on Tuesday host an interactive webinar.

The webinar which will be held under the theme, “Energy Addition in Africa”, will bring together experts to discuss the issues and proffer solutions.

Electrifying Africa will take a collaborative and mixed-resource approach whereby fossil fuels and renewables are developed hand in hand. The discussants will examine why is this method so important in Africa and what role will fossil fuels play in improving energy access.

In rural areas across Africa, where energy poverty is more widespread owing to disconnections to national grid networks, the webinar will also look at what resources offer the best solution to improving electrification on the continent.

Notably, it has also been widely acknowledged that addressing energy poverty in Africa will require significant levels of investment. From a policy perspective, the panelists at the event will appraise how African governments have performed in terms of pushing for foreign investment in the continent’s power sector, they equally look at what else needs to be done to secure more foreign support and capital.

Meet the Panel Experts

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman – African Energy Chamber

NJ Ayuk is the Executive Chairman of the AEC and the CEO of Centurion Law Group, a pan-African legal and advisory conglomerate. He is particularly active in the structuring, negotiation, and implementation of petroleum, mining, LNG, and other natural resource projects for leading private operators in Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria, Senegal, and other sub-Saharan countries. Mr. Ayuk holds an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology and is an active member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), the Institute for Energy Law (IEL), and the Petroleum Joint Venture Association (PJVA).

Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, Chief Commercial Officer of Mixta Africa and AEC Board Member

Rolake sits on the global advisory board of Persistent Energy, Africa’s Climate Venture Builder, and was previously an Executive Council member of WIMBIZ, Nigeria’s leading networking for women, where she led the development of the first-ever private sector gender equity and equality scorecard. She is also founder of InaTid, a non-profit social enterprise providing renewable energy entrepreneurs with data insights to drive decision making and fundraise. Rolake is also an accomplished and experienced piano player.

Bimbola Kolawole, Senior Business Development Manager of Africa, Rystad Energy

Bimbola Kolawole is the Business Development Manager and Senior Client Analyst responsible for Africa and Aberdeen (United Kingdom) at Rystad Energy. She is also responsible for account management, training and support of clients in the regions. Previously, Bimbola worked at IHS Markit where she was responsible for managing selected clients across the Oil & Gas space value chain in the EMEA region. She holds a BSc. in Economics from Ilorin University, a Data Science Post Graduate Diploma (in view) from McCombs School of Business – Texas McCombs, an MSc. in Energy Finance from Centre for Energy Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), and an MBA from Leicester University.

Per Magnus Nysveen, Head of Analysis at Rystad Energy

Per Magnus Nysveen joined Rystad Energy from its founding in 2004 and is in charge of the analyst team. He has broad experience within upstream valuation, cost modelling and oil macro analyses. He has particular expertise in unconventional activities and is in charge of the North American Shale Analysis. Prior to joining Rystad Energy, Per Magnus had 15 years of international experience within technology, risk management and venture business, primarily from DNV GL and the CNES space center of France. He holds a M.Sc. degree from NTNU Trondheim and IFP Paris, and a MBA from INSEAD Fontainebleau.