The launch of TRANSCEND

The year 2022 has been an exciting year for the AFBE leadership team in many respects. The teamwork, resilience and dedication to the vision and objectives of the AFBE leadership programme came to fruition in 2022, and while this is just the beginning, it is worth celebrating the effort put in by the team, members of AFBE UK and all our affiliates.

TRANSCEND: AFBE Leadership Training Programme:

The TRANSCEND leadership training programme was launched at the AFBElive conference in London on the 22nd of April at the IET Savoy Place. The conference was a success with professionals signing up to participate in the leadership training programme and companies/organisations indicating their support for programme.

TRANSCEND is structured to help inspire people of colour who are professionals in the industry to transition from mid-management, senior technical and lead roles in their organisation/career into executive and senior management roles. TRANSCEND will help participants:

• Have a better understanding of leadership communication to be an authentic leader capable of networking, influencing and effecting change in the workplace.

• Understand the impact of unconscious bias and microaggression and how to navigate such situations.

• Understand the ethics of negotiation, the essence of building business trust, mutual respect and mutual benefit.

• How to lead an exemplary life and be responsible to yourself, the industry you belong to, for posterity and so much more.

The TRANSCEND training programme started on the 30th of April with 8 shortlisted senior professionals who signed up for the programme from different industries including oil and gas, IT, and service companies. The training programme was delivered every Saturday for 10 weeks from 8.00am to 12 noon ending on the 2nd July 2022.

After the 10 weeks of training, each participant was assigned an industry mentor to further help them achieve their career goals and objectives.

I would like to appreciate the Leadership team and mentors who took on the responsibility to support the programme and the participants of TRANSCEND.

Feedback from participants was very encouraging and goes a long way to motivate members of the AFBE leadership team to do more.

Here are two testimonials out of eight from the participants: The second cohort of TRANSCEND training is scheduled to kick off in April 2023 with invitation for participation to commence in January 2023.

AFBE Leadership Talk Programme

The leadership talk programme has been a success in 2023 with a total of over 500 people in attendance online and 26 special guests’ speakers hosted by Dr Roy Bitrus and members of his team Emma Okpara and Bunmi Owolabi. The line-up of guests include the MD of Shell Exploration and Production Company Nigeria – Mrs Elohor Aiboni, Power list most influential woman in the UK – Jacky Wright, VP Reservoir Performance SLB Ifeanyi Nwagbogu, Prof Christopher Jackson, Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and many more brilliant guests.

The leadership talk provided a platform to explore topics such as atypical leader; impact on diversity and innovation, increasing female representation in leadership, our energy future – leadership in a changing global energy landscape, The life of a Tech Giant, Leading and Living with purpose and other exciting topics.

We hope to kickstart 2023 with another great line up of exciting speakers and increase participation from industry professionals, graduates and students as the Leadership talks help to inspire and motivate individuals and organisations to be the best they can, to ensure a well led, more inclusive and diverse workforce to help secure the future of the UK economy.

Article by Dr Roy Bitrus

In 2023, we aim to provide and deliver TRANSCEND to professionals to inspire effective leadership. We look forward to securing working partnership with companies and organisations to support the programme.

Roy is a Royal Society of Edinburgh RSE – Unlocking Ambition Enterprise Fellow with technical, entrepreneur and intrapreneur skills working as a director of sales at TenzorGEO Ltd to provide micro seismic data acquisition and interpretation services to the oil and gas companies in the North sea aimed at maximising economic recovery in the UKCS

Roy has a passion for giving to others and is a committed member of the AFBE Scotland UK, where he volunteers his time and energy to help develop others contributing to leadership and STEM activities in Aberdeen.

Roy is happily married, and His hobbies include cooking, hunting, hiking and swimming.