Oil women seek new financing windows

Sopuruchi Onwuka

Dearth of capital and its sourcing to fund business initiatives topped the list of challenges encountered by women entrepreneurs in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.

Female stakeholders, the non-governmental Women In Energy Network (WIEN) and other investors declared at a panel debate during the 2023 Oil Trade and Logistics (OTL) conference in Lagos that there is urgent need for sustainable funding channel for female players in the industry.

The calls which resonated in response to difficulties encountered at the mainstream funding channels by the women industry players who explore financing alternatives to the prevailing short term and high interest loans available at commercial banks.

The all-women panel of discussants at the 17th OTL Expo 2023 told delegates that the problem of funding is exceptional to female entrepreneurs due to the traditional stereotypes associated with gender acceptability and trust.

The stated that women now have to do extra work to prove their mettle, competence and capability in guaranteeing commercial returns on invested funds.

The Oracle Today reports that access to assets and funding has remained one of the toughest challenges for female players in the petroleum industry. And strong advocacy mounted by WIEN has resulted in the response by the Nigerian Content and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with a $20 million credit line.

However, with the rising number of women led businesses in the domestic petroleum and allied industries, the intervention from the NCDMB only serves as a model of what is required to assist female players in the sector.

In the panel debate on ‘Women entrepreneurial journey in the African oil and gas industry,’ seven players in the energy and logistics, were led in a strategy discourse by the President of WIEN and Managing Director of Zigma Limited, Mrs Funmi Ogbue to examine challenges peculiar to women in the industry.

The panel speakers included; the Managing Director, Selai Gas Limited, Ms Damilola Owolabi;  Managing Director, Loyz Marine, Ms Adie Bassey; Managing Director, Aftrac Limited, Patricia Simon-Hart; and Executive Director, Petrolog, , Ms Joan Faluyi.

Other panel discussants are the Chief Executive Officer of Numad Energies, Nnenna Maduabum; Executive Director of Ikwe Onna Refinery Limited, Dolapo Okulaja; and Bolanle Tom-Jones of Moores Gas Limited.

In kicking off the discourse, Mrs Ogbue noted that women entrepreneurs who venture into the high-risk oil and gas sector deserve the support of the regulators and policy drivers to reverse the prevailing investor-apathy stemming from poor and weak infrastructure, a situation, she pointed out, that results in dwindling national oil and gas output.

 In pointing at the high level of challenges women encounter in driving through processes in the industry, Mr Ogbue declared that “it’s high commendable that they are still in business.”

In narrating their business experiences in the industry, the panellists pointed at difficult terrains they had to walk through in a male-dominated environment.

According to Damilola Owolabi, state government and community restrictions worsened initial struggles with sourcing capital to fund her company’s operations.

She however noted that ‘many commercial banks now want to do business with us’ one year after setting up and her company becoming a household name in LPG supplies.

 According to her, the women entrepreneurs do not compete on a level playing field especially in securing funding for business initiatives.

“We had to work for some years to be able to convince the Lagos State Government to give us license to set up a gas plant, which was difficult because, according to them, they have had poor experiences with previous operators.

She stated that state government and community stakeholders have the apathy to give fresh license to new entrants.

“After we overcame that hurdle, the host community resisted our entry, also due to the same complaints earlier adduced by the government. Having gone through that challenge we set up our plant and again there was a problem of funding, which nearly hamstringed our operations. Today, however, we have surmounted that challenge as we are on our second phase of operations, a second plant.

“As women entrepreneurs, the challenge of sourcing of capital takes a much more difficult turn, from my experience,” Damilola, a WIEN executive said.

In her contribution, Ms Bassey stated that government must avoid turning the issue of funding for women entrepreneurs into a matter of statistics, which she warned is seemingly heading in that direction.

“When funds are allocated for business entrepreneurs, the government must be specific and detailed in the types of businesses and operators and subsectors these funds are designed for. What we have today is that funds are announced as having been allocated but you don’t know who and who it is meant for. At the end of the day, you see money is said to have been allocated but those in business are still crying for lack of opportunities to source capitals to fund their operations.

“Government has to clearly define and articulate the businesses and their operators and first observe critical sectors of the economy where the entrepreneurs are involved so as to tailor the funds to their needs. Many times when the funds are allocated, they cannot be accessed by those who need them.

“Those who evolve these funding schemes need to be business-specific so that the opportunities are reached for operators in the crude oil, gas and marine engineering like us.

“When we started, we had challenges with funding. Also, we had to prove our credibility and capability in the industry. However, having the right support system helped is in forging ahead through those challenges,” Ms Bassey said.

Other panellists include Dolapo Okulaja who noted that whereas the industry is unfairly male-dominated and challenged by funding, infrastructure deficiency for market delivery, electricity, and other factors of production have made it clear that the women entrepreneur needs to be focused to succeed.

In summing up the panel’s discussions, Mrs Ogbue posited that against the backdrop of the recurring issue of funding challenges listed by the women entrepreneurs, it has also become imperative to pursue alternative market for sourcing funds by the entrepreneurs.