WIEN’s Supernova Girl Scholarship initiative excites participants at NAICE

The booth of  the Women In Energy Network (WIEN) was a beehive of activities at the just-concluded  Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE) organised  by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) ,as visitors trooped  in to make inquiries about the larger-than- life  professional women group.

They were particularly excited by the Supernova Girl Scholarship initiative of WIEN  and the effort to promote a forum for women to reduce the dominance of  men in the energy sector.

They wanted information about the  composition , mission  and  objective , and how they might benefit   from the group after enrolling as members.

 The visitors included women from all-works of life, many of them  professionals in the oil and gas related-field while some are students.

One of them is  Mrs Alero Onosode, a seasoned Human Resources Executive with global experience in leadership and human capital development  who is the  Chairperson  of Diversity Sectoral Working Group (DSWG).

She expressed delight that WIEN registered a presence at  the three-day showpiece, adding that it is an evidence that women are getting together through networking for the overall good of the energy industry and the country.

“It is good to show presence; with this, people will know that women are really getting themselves together.

“ If I hadn’t come to the stand, I wouldn’t have met my colleague here. So, it is good place for us to interact,” said DSWG Chairperson, who added that plans are afoot to bring women in energy in Africa together.

Others said they visited the boot out of curiosity  and were satisfied by the information that was made available to them.

NAICE,  an annual event which holds at Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, focuses on the innovative opportunities currently applied in the industry to maximize value from oil and gas exploration and production.

It helps participants have an insight into customer feedback and valuable sales leads, gain access to the network and limitless business opportunities and have great knowledge on how to identify new potential customers including suppliers and partners.

The exhibitions are strictly for local and international major operating companies and service providers, consultancies, drilling and completion specialists, HSE Experts, training and education institutions, facilities and construction companies, software and IT companies.

WIEN, an all-female group playing in the energy industry, leveraged on the opportunities  provided at the exhibition to advance  and extended its mission of  increasing  the proportion of women leaders in the energy sector.

WIEN was established in 2020 to provide a platform for women that work across the energy industry value chain; to network and build confidence and links to progress their careers or businesses.

The overarching  objective  of  the group is to support the growing professional community of women in energy field, enable women to reach top decision-making positions and bring women board mandates to a visible level.

This objective is anchored on the  belief  that the unlimited power of women can inspire and provide a wealth of success to the industry especially in the current very fast changing new energy world.

In July, nearly 500 female students in Bille kingdom, Rivers State, received strong incentives from WIEN to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), including university scholarships.

In Nigeria, the girl-child is consistently faced with several barriers to education owing to poverty, cultural norms, and gender-based violence.

WIEN believes that addressing these problems should begin with the quality of education the girl child receives from the cradle.

  Preparation for the career future of any person starts from primary through secondary and tertiary education. And early education tends to be influenced by traditional and cultural roles the society  prepares for  the children.

 WIEN  be lives that promoting girl-child access to education, especially in the rural areas can no longer be the sole responsibility of government, hence private partnerships and non-governmental organisations support are required in this respect.

It is against this backdrop  that  it established ‘The Supernova Girl’ initiative to promote female involvement in STEM related fields with the hope  that the proposed scholarships will address a major concern of the beneficiaries.

The far-reaching gains will be in the future supply of engineers, doctors, academics, nurses, and scientists for our community and the nation at large.