Oando Sponsors Young Professionals Forum in Partnership with SPE

Oando PLC (referred to as “Oando” or the “Group”), Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy company listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, in partnership with the Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE), will be sponsors of the forthcoming SPE Young Professional Forum (YP), themed; ‘Positioning Young Professionals for the Transitioning Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: The Way Ahead’. The event is set to hold at the Wings Office Complex, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos on March 7, 2020.
This is the second SPE event, this year, being sponsored by Oando, part of a long term strategy to support platforms of this nature in advancing and building a more robust sector via mentoring, knowledge sharing and networking.
Through the YP programme, Oando aims to support SPE in the development of young oil and gas professionals of 35 years and below to become tomorrow’s industry leaders; and to establish a resource base of qualified professionals from which the SPE can draw upon to strengthen the organization and industry.
Commenting on the partnership with SPE, Ademola Ogunbanjo, General Manager, Business Support Group, Oando Energy Resources, who will be speaking on the topic “Career Advancement’ at the event said; “The collaboration between SPE and Oando is pivotal to the creation of a knowledge based industry, one where technical expertise and know-how are freely exchanged across organizations through the leadership and coordination of the SPE. At Oando, we constantly seek improved ways of working whilst still delivering value to all our stakeholders. Though we recognize that the oil and gas industry is an old and traditional one, we do not accept that traditional ways of operating must prevail over new thinking and innovation and this is what our partnership will achieve.”
The YP program is one of many avenues Oando is exploiting to build capacity in the industry. Against a backdrop of a shrinking employment market and rising number of graduates, the Company in 2019 decided to launch the Oando Graduate Accelerated Programme (O-GAP). O-GAP is a bi-annual scheme aimed at up scaling new graduates by giving them hands on experience and structured learning from some of the best minds the industry has to offer through an 18 month training programme. It is one of many ways that the Company believes as a private sector player it can strengthen the local oil and gas talent pipeline and in the medium to long term contribute positively to the economy..
In addition, the Company was selected by Strathmore University Law School, Nairobi, Kenya in
2019, as the preferred indigenous player for the academia to visit in its quest to acquire sector
knowledge to better equip the students as they enter the new and burgeoning Kenyan oil and
gas sector. The university’s visit to Nigeria was precipitated on a need to take learnings from
leading private and public sector players to enable improved success for Kenya. The selection
of Oando was on the basis of its knowledge pool gained from operational experience across the
full energy value chain, success stories of pioneering initiatives within the sector, a diverse and
experienced workforce and finally its impact on both the local and African oil and gas industry.
Commenting further, Ademola Ogunbanjo said; “To remain globally competitive, the onus lies
on the continent and indigenous industry leaders both in the oil and gas sector and other sectors
of the economy to collaborate for growth and innovation to move the continent forward. The hope
is that this trend of knowledge sharing and transfer will continue amongst African countries and
companies as part of local content development and capacity building.”
About SPE YP Program
The SPE YP forum, aims to provide a forum to engage SPE members with less than 10 years’
experience, to allow them to stay active in the oil and gas industry and to bridge the gap between
students and professionals. To achieve this goal the SPE organizes and promotes technical
lunches, social networking events and career talks. SPE YP programs will aid the acquisition of
professional and soft skills, and provide networking opportunities for career advancement.
Conference Details