Even in the midst of a crisis such as the one brought about by Covid-19, there are positive stories to tell, such as Ms Ogutu Okudo’s.
She is on this year’s “Forbes Africa 30 under 30” list — the only Kenyan. Ms Okudo, 28, is the founder of Women in Energy & Extractives Africa, a social enterprise she founded in 2012. Her initiative, which has a presence in 15 countries with 15 staff, “bridges the gender gap in the oil, gas, mining and alternative sectors in Africa”.
In 2018, she was recognised by President Uhuru Kenyatta as one of the young female Kenyan trailblazers. That same year, she won the ‘Under 30 Women in Energy East Africa’ award and, in 2019, the Kenya Upstream Oil and Gas Woman of the Year award. Also in 2019, she addressed the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations headquarters in New York, accompanying President Kenyatta as part of the Kenyan delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.
“My initial degree was a bachelor of arts in foreign policy and diplomacy from USIU-Africa. I later realised that it wasn’t challenging enough. By then, I had already started taking a keen interest in the oil and gas industry, which led me to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, where I studied for a master of science in oil and gas enterprise management,” she says.
Her organisation carries out gender assessment studies, drafts petroleum policies and generates communication and public relations campaigns, besides organising youth SME capacity building seminars.
“We also implement community engagement frameworks and offer skill trainings to informal sector entrepreneurs,” says Ms Okudo. Nearly 100,000 girls in high schools in Kenya have benefited through her organisation’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Outreach Campaign.
Over 2,000 artisanal miners in Kenya, Uganda, DRC and Tanzania have also benefited from excavation tools and protective gear, while 47,000 women have gained from millions of dollars in community compensation. Besides this, the firm organises financial training and table-banking initiatives for hundreds of women in rural Kenya, giving them access to local and international markets and technology to scale their businesses.
By the year 2050, it is projected that 70 per cent of Africa’s population will be under 35, equating to approximately 1.7 billion youth. Of these, women constitute a little more than 50 per cent. In spite of this, says Ms Okudo, women are still not factored in as key to the economic growth of the continent, due to patriarchal systems.
“Women must be at the forefront as drivers of innovation, technology and research as we are the first to embrace new ideas and frequently recognise the global and local dynamics of development when given the opportunity to drive the agenda,” she argues. Her team is made up of men and women between 18 and 40 years.
“Youth are more in touch with the current plights the world faces and can drive a development agenda that aids their needs both from the rural and urban set-up,” Ms Okudo explains.
So, what drives her?
“I have always been self-inspired and self-driven but I believe that, though we are all individually strong, when we collectively come together, we are even more powerful and can use our individual strengths to drive an agenda in society that emulates the change we want to see.”
The world is in the throes of a crisis and businesses have been disrupted everywhere. How have her plans for 2020 been affected?
“This is an ideal time for self-reflection, building systems and analysing business models to deal with the pandemic. We are working on creating e-learning platforms for girls to use while at home that are STEM-focused, something we had not envisioned, but as they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” she says.
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