Job opportunities abound in Africa’s energy sector - PETROSOL CEO

The Chief Executive officer of PETROSOL Ghana Ltd., Michael Bozumbil, has indicated that there are and will continue to be boundless job opportunities in Africa’s energy sector even in the wake of energy transition, which has to do with the shift from the use of fossil fuel to cleaner sources of energy such as renewable energy. He has therefore charged the youth to prepare themselves to take advantage of them. According to Mr. Bozumbil, “the energy sector is changing in form but not in substance”. In this regard, he said the world will always need energy and that it is the type of energy that may change from time to time. He, therefore, went further to encourage those desiring to build career in the energy sector not to be frightened by the news about energy transition and end up staying away from pursuing careers in the energy sector; instead, they should develop even greater interest in the sector because of its enormous growth potential. Mr. Bozumbil was addressing the youth, mostly students of tertiary institutions, at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Accra during this year’s Energy Career Seminar, organized by the Energy Quest Foundation, to create awareness and interest in the energy sector among the youth. The theme for this year’s event, which was the second edition, was “Energy Career Planning and Opportunity”. According to Mr. Bozumbil, with over 40% Africa’s population not having access to electricity, it presents itself as a great energy market with enormous investment and job creation opportunities for the youth of Africa. This is particularly so because Africa is a continent with abundant energy sources, including renewal energy. He thus entreated the youth to view discussions about energy transition as great news and deploy their creative abilities in addressing the energy needs of Africa to make it a better continent to live in. He again indicated that even with the advent of electric vehicles, fossil fuels or petroleum products will continue to form a major part of the energy mix of Africa over the next 3 decades. He therefore asked the youth who will be working in the petroleum sector to have an energy industry-wide mindset and build transferable skills that will enable them transit well into the emerging energy segments. Mr. Bozumbil went further to educate the youth to appreciate that the energy industry is not restricted to engineers or technicians but demands varied expertise including finance, health and safety, human resource, logistics, economics, among others and thus urged the youth to look out for such opportunities. He encouraged them to be ready to start at the base by taking up low-level jobs and learning the rudiments so as to build the required capacity for enduring careers. Mr. Bozumbil said PETROSOL, which is a leading ISO-certified privately-owned Ghanaian oil marketing company, has over the years provided opportunity for young graduates of tertiary institutions to be trained, absorbed as staff and provided on-the-job coaching and that most of them are performing excellently leading to the growth of the business. He, therefore, said PETROSOL’s doors are always open to provide such opportunities for the youth provided they possessed PETROSOL’s core values and the required work ethics as well as are ready to humble themselves and go through field work. Internship opportunity was given to 3 participants who arrived on time at the event.