Egypt Oil & Gas hosted the She is Energy event on March 19th at Dusit Thani LakeView Hotel, taking place in the presence of many distinguished female figures across the energy industry and under the high patronage of Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla.
The event witnessed speeches by key players from the industry, including the founders of the Women in Energy Network and leaders from the Egypt Oil & Gas Group (EOG) and the EOG Committee.
Eleanor Rowley, Managing Director Egypt at Capricorn Energy PLC, has opened the event by highlighting the significance of the Women in Energy Network. Additionally, she talked about the role of women in the oil and gas industry and how this role is important to the sector. “Two qualities exemplified by women in our industry are: passion and determination. There are other places and roles we could be playing in life, the fact that we choose this one is very intentional.” Rowley said.
The opening also included the virtual participation of Iman Hill, CEO of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers IOGP. During a recorded interview with EOG, she presented her vision for the Egyptian sector as well as the career prospects for women in the energy sector. The She is Energy event featured a rich panel discussion between Eleanor Rowley, Managing Director of Capricorn Energy Egypt; Alexandra Thomas, Managing Director of Neptune Energy Egypt; Layla El Hares, Managing Director of Siemens Energy Egypt; Dalia El Gabry, Commercial General Manager of Shell Egypt; and Nihal AbdelKarim, Development Engineer Manager at IEOC.
The panel discussed the challenges facing women across their career paths, highlighting why it is important to have one network facilitating women’s journey to success. “There are two reasons why I think it is important to have a women’s network. The first one is to create a pipeline of future leaders, so we fill in the pipeline from the early stage and help more women,” El Hares stated.
It is important for women to support each other to help talents achieve their career paths. “It is important to have a role model woman in place, that can give you even the mindset of where you want to go,” AbdelKarim pointed out.
Women have many talents that can, when empowered, enrich the energy sector. “The Egyptian Energy Industry is rich with female talent at all levels and in all disciplines,” Rowley stated. The panel also highlighted women’s abilities that make them key players in the industry to develop. “Ability to take risks and seek opportunity to always develop yourself has been a key milestone for women,” El Gabry noted.
The successful panel highlighted equal opportunities for all. “Career development isn’t gender specific. It is specific to everybody, whoever you are, whatever your role, everybody should have access to career development. And actually, it’s really an important business value addition,” Thomas indicated.
In the breakout session, the distinguished panelists each led a themed discussion. Nihal AbdelKarim led a discussion on role modeling, Dalia El Gabry led talks on women empowerment, Layla El Hares led a discussion on women in the field, Alexandra Thomas was the leader for the career development discussion, and Eleanor Rowley led a discussion on career challenges.
Furthermore, Lamia Oushy, Health and Wellness Advisor at Apache Corporation Egypt, delivered an interesting interactive team building activity during the “She is Energy” event titled “Empowering Women through Wellness.” During the activity, she encouraged women to practice self-gratitude and find empowering quotes and share their quotes to motivate others.
Dinner & Awards Ceremony
The day was concluded by a joyous dinner and awards ceremony, attended by many petroleum sector officials and notable figures from both the government and corporate worlds.
The event started with a series of eloquent and inspiring opening speeches. Attending the event on behalf of Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla, Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Magdy Galal noted that efforts to boost women’s empowerment within the industry are heading in the right direction. “Looking closely at the oil and gas sector, the sector currently has a lot of distinguished female employees and leaders who enrich the petroleum business with their tireless efforts.”
Mohamed Fouad, CEO and Founder of Egypt Oil & Gas and Co-Founder of the Women in Energy Network, also praised the progress that has been made and the extraordinary work that has been done by the Women in Energy Network. “Since the inception of the Women in Energy Network last year and the official inauguration last October, I am personally very pleased to be one of the co-founders and I am also very pleased with the amount of progress and efforts being made in the equality, diversity, and inclusivity of our industry here in Egypt.”
David Chi, Egypt Oil & Gas Committee Chairman and Vice-President of Apache Corporation and Country Manager for Apache in Egypt, commended the role of El Molla in carrying out the necessary measures to achieve the amount of progress in women’s inclusion that is seen today. “We have seen a lot of progress [in women’s inclusion] in the oil and gas sector under the leadership of His Excellency Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla. This is why we have a lot of female leaders here today.”
After the speeches, the awards ceremony commenced with handing out the Ministry Awards to Sheerin Mohamed from General Petroleum Company (GPC), Hanan El Bahrawy from the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Neveen Tantawy from EGAS, Amany AbdelHakim from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporate (EGPC), Sarah AbdelHady from Gemsa Petroleum Company (Gampetco), Gehan Alsayed from Misr Petroleum Company, Samah Amer Saad from United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC), Dina Hegazy from United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC), Sarah Reda from Petrobakr Petroleum Company, Riham Awad Khalda Petroleum Company, and Aliaa Abdelatef (retired and highly respected all over the industry).
A number of inspiring women and experts in the field also won the prestigious She is Energy Award including EGPC’s CEO Assistant for Information Technology and Telecommunications Iman Ahmed Wafy (Legacy Award), UOG Country Manager Dr. Samir Abdel Moaty (Promotion of Female Talent Award), bp Environmental and Social Advisor Yousra Morsy (HSE Award), Neptune Energy’s Contracts & Purchasing Advisor Ragia Habib (Business Excellence Award), SLB HSE and Facility Manager for Egypt, Sudan, and the East Mediterranean Lilian Mahfouz (Leadership Award), Shell’s Planning Manager for Integrated Gas, Renewables & Energy Solutions Sally Kenawy (Inspire Award), and Baker Hughes Subsea Field Engineer Diana George (Young Achiever Award).
The celebration was ended with a classy cuisine and a musical performance playing the inspiring tunes of success.
