Fostering and Adoption
CLIMBING THE
CAREER
LADDER
Roland Ilube was one of the first members of the Shell African Network and has risen through the ranks at Shell since he joined 18 years ago. WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND? I was born in England to an English mother and a Nigerian father, then moved to Nigeria when I was six before returning to England aged 16. Many people ask me about my identity, but I find it difficult to prioritise one side of my heritage over the other. I’m a product of my experiences in both countries.
DESCRIBE YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE SHELL AFRICAN NETWORK I have been involved since it was set up in 2000 and, because I joined Shell in 1995, I have been able to share my experiences and give advice to other network members.
ARE THERE ANY ISSUES THAT AS A NETWORK YOU’RE ABLE TO DEAL WITH WELL NOW? A challenge in the past was getting people to give us the opportunity to demonstrate what we were capable of. That has certainly improved in the 18 years I’ve been with Shell and SAN has raised the profile and improved the opportunities of its members.
WHEN YOU FIRST JOINED SHELL, DID YOU FACE ANY PARTICULAR BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT OR SUPPORT DUE TO YOUR BACKGROUND? My first manager in Shell was very supportive. I was conscious that I was very much in the minority; the only other people I saw from ethnic backgrounds at the time tended to be admin. or cleaning staff, and sometimes when I met people for the first time they were a bit taken aback – which is something that still sometimes happens today – but once we got to discussing substantive matters it generally wasn’t an issue.
CAREER AT A GLANCE 1991 Graduated from London School of Economics 1991 Qualified as a Chartered Accountant -95 at Coopers & Lybrand UK 1995 Joined Shell’s Retail division, London, as Management Accountant 1998 Posted to Gabon, Central Africa, as Shell Downstream Finance Manager
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2000 Moved to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as Business Integration Manager then Finance Manager
2002 Returned to the UK as Senior Finance Advisor, Downstream Portfolio 2006 Seconded by Shell to a joint venture in London looking at developing an LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) facility in Nigeria 2008 Transferred to Shell Upstream in Lagos, Nigeria, as Mergers & Acquisitions Manager, Commercial Finance team 2012 Became General Manager, Finance, for Shell’s European and African Lubricants and Commercial Fuels business