The ramifications of the global COVID 19 crisis are likely to ...
About Us
Awakening Women's potential in Oil ,Gas & Mining
Association for Women in Extractives and Energy in Kenya (AWEIK) is an organization that provides women with opportunities for equitable professional and economic development within Kenya’s extractives industry.
Our Core Values
Women In Gas & Oil
AWEIK is committed to inclusion and diversity with respect to career development and advancement of women in the oil and gas industry. We seek to address the imminent gap in female leadership in the industry by delivering training and advocating for networking…
Women In Mining
AWEIK is dedicated to creating an enabling environment for women who are thriving in the mining industry and those that wish to pursue a career in the same. We are geared towards cultural transformation by championing policies that advocate for female diversity in this…
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AWEIK Membership
The AWEIK membership benefits you with knowledge sharing, forum participation, networking, receivership of industry news, participation of lobbying efforts, personal growth and development.
Learn more about our membership and how you can become a member
Events
AWEIK occasionally host’s public events and here are Some of our upcoming and past events.
Up Coming Events
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Past Events
Oil and Gas Sector in Kenya: Leveraging on Downstream Opportunities
With many countries gradually opening up their economies, Oil and Gas sectors across the globe are faced with uncertainty. Even with lacklustre growth expected in the upstream sub- sector, &...
Join us in our FireSideChat#3
Title: “Oil and Gas Sector in Kenya: Leveraging on Downstream Opportunities”
Date: Friday 31st July, 2020
Time: 10.30am-12.00pm
Register with zoom - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqfu-urDwjGdHXwRWP01qFAfUGvbgZ
AWEIK FireSideChat #2: The Changing Landscape of Africa’s Mining Sector Post COVID-19: What will characterize the new normal?
The ramifications of the global COVID 19 crisis are likely to be with us for a long time with many predicting an erosion of many of the gains that Africa has achieved in economic growth in the last decade. While the full extent and scale of the impact on Africa’s mining sector is yet to be determined, factors such as a prolonged global slowdown, travel restrictions and lockdowns in various resource-rich countries is expected to see decreased production, decline in demand as well as well disruptions in global value chains of minerals.
The continent’s need for new approaches to drive economic growth demands a reengagement of Africa’s mining industry in regional trade, technology advances, innovation and partnerships, among others.
The AWEIK Fireside Chat #2 intends to discuss a wide array of perspectives and diverse approaches that will catalyze change and generate new opportunities for sustainable mining on the African continent. Our panelists will focus on changes in the following focus areas:
- Exploration vis a vis mining dynamics
- Promoting linkages with other pillars of the economy
- Incorporating innovation and technology
- Establishing government relations and community engagement
- Driving local content
- Empowering women, youth and other gender dynamics
- Advancing partnerships/collaborations
Panelists
Zenzi Awases is a geologist with 15 years’ experience in exploring and mining diamonds on the world’s largest paleo – placer diamond deposit along the south-western coast of Namibia. In 2017, she formed part of the founding members of the Women in Mining Association of Namibia (WiMAN) and serves on the executive committee as the President. In 2018, she was elected as the Vice-President of the Southern African Chapter for the Association of Women in Mining in Africa. Since 2019, she has been serving on the executive committee of Association of Women in Mining in Africa as the President of the Southern African Chapter. Zenzi is a mother of 2 young children and lives in Windhoek, Namibia.
Melba K. Wasunna (PhD)
Manager – External Affairs, Base Titanium
Melba is the External Affairs Manager at Base Titanium Limited, Kenya’s largest mining company.
Previously, Melba was the Founding Director of the Strathmore Extractives Industry Centre (SEIC) based at Strathmore University. Under her leadership, SEIC developed an innovative stakeholder engagement platform “Extractives Baraza” which coordinated over 100 forums and workshops providing unprecedented engagement bringing together diverse stakeholders such as the Government of Kenya, NGOs, Academia and multinational companies to discuss a variety of topics on mutual benefits, shared value, transparency, gender impacts, among others. She has also authored several publications including reports, journal articles and books.
Melba is the recipient of the “Upstream Oil and Gas Awards, Woman of the Year Kenya (2019)”. She currently serves as the Chairperson for the Association of Women in Energy and Extractives in Kenya (AWEIK), a platform that promotes and assists the participation of women in the oil, gas and mining value-chain in Kenya. She is also the Vice Chairperson of the Energy and Extractives Sector Board at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).
Prior to joining Strathmore, Melba worked as a consultant on business and human rights at Katiba Institute, Kenya and as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardell in New York.
Martin Ayisi
Deputy Executive Chief Officer, Minerals Commission of Ghana
A mining and petroleum lawyer with over 17 years’ experience, knowledge and tremendous interests in international environmental law, mining, energy (policy and regulation), oil and gas laws and policies. Martin has a specialized and exceptional skills in legal interpretation and the drafting of mining laws and regulations as well as a wide-range of commercial agreements and contracts used in the mining (including investment/mineral/development agreements that are widely used for large scale mining projects in Africa) and oil and gas industry globally and in particular, a sound knowledge and understanding of mining and oil and gas laws, policies and governance issues in West and East Africa. Between 2014 and 2018, Martin provided advice to the Ministry of Mining of Kenya on extractive industry governance, sector reforms particularly legal and regulatory strengthening through review of its mining laws and drafting of a wide-range of mining regulations required to implement the new mining framework. Martin also served as consultant on mining and oil and gas to a number of international organisations and consulting firms such as UNECA, IISD, Adam Smith International, Oxford Policy Management, International Development Law Organisation.
Muthoni Koinange
Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Bechtel
Muthoni is the founder and Managing Consultant at SP Advisory, a consultancy focused on Social Performance, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications with an emphasis on Oil & Gas (upstream and midstream), Renewable Energy, Mining and Infrastructure. Prior to that, Muthoni had 12 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, working as the Corporate Affairs Officer at Africa Oil Kenya B.V., and prior to that as a Trade Development Manager at the British High Commission.
These positions exposed her to a variety of sectors across the Kenyan economy, and gave her specialized training and experience in organizational development, social performance, public affairs and strategic communications. Muthoni has throughout her life and career been a passionate advocate for stakeholder engagement at the community and county levels as Kenya pursues rapid economic development. Muthoni is a member of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), the Kenya Chamber of Mines (KCM), Oil Council (UK), Collaboration for Development (C4D) hosted by World Bank and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) as an Expert (ongoing registration).
Muza Gondwe (PhD)
Partnership Facilitator
Dr Muza Gondwe is a partnership facilitator specialising in mining and sustainability. Muza has several years experience in designing, delivering and evaluating resource governance capacity building programs for emerging resource economies and has worked in partnership with a number of international and local organisations to deliver programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and volunteers for International Women in Mining as Senior Project Advisor and Association of Women in Mining in Africa as the AWIMA Jewellery Project Manager.
Jeff Geipel
Mining Shared Value Founder And Managing Director, Engineers Without Borders Canada
Jeff Geipel is the founder and managing director for the Mining Shared Value initiative at Engineers Without Borders Canada. This initiative works to improve the development impacts of mineral extraction in host countries through increasing local procurement by the global mining industry. Through this work Jeff is also the Community Manager for the World Bank’s Extractives-led Local Economic Diversification Community of Practice (ELLED CoP). Before Engineers Without Borders Jeff was the founder and first executive director of Fair Trade Vancouver, which became a model for municipal-based fair trade
organizations across Canada. Originally from Vancouver, Jeff holds a master’s degree in international development from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom. Jeff’s work and articles have been featured by the Guardian, Devex, the Globe and Mail, National Post, Next Billion, Mining Weekly and Hill Times Magazine. Jeff currently resides in London.
African Solutions Towards Rebuilding “Mine To Market” Dynamic Post Covid 19
Amb. Peter Kirimi Kaberia is currently the Principal Secretary, State Department for Mining, Ministry of Petroleum and Mining. As a career diplomat, he has previously served as Kenya’s Ambassador to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. He has served in the Kenyan Embassies in Madrid and France as a Counsellor and Head of Chancery and also served in the Kenya embassy in Washington DC.
Mrs. Georgette Sakyi-Addo is founder of the Georgette Barnes Ltd, a wholly Ghanaian-owned mining and exploration services company. In 2015 she established the Women In Mining Ghana as an advocacy body for all women working in the mining sector. She is also President of Accra Mining Network. In 2016, Mrs. Sakyi-Addo was selected among 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining by WIM UK. In 2018, she was awarded the Female Entrepreneur of the Year by Invest in Africa (IIA), a non-profit organization, which champions African-owned SMEs across the Continent. Georgette is currently the President of the Africa Women in Mining Association (AWIMA).
Miriam Wairimu Kamau is founder and director of Mimo Gem Traders. She is a respected woman miner and gem dealer in the region and internationally. She is currently a Board member of the Association of Women in Extractives in Kenya (AWEIK) and has previously served in the Board of the Kenya Chamber of Mines (KCM) as well as been an ambassador of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA). She is also a member of the Women’s Jewelry Association.
Dr. Cedric Simonet is a business Manager in the natural resources sector, a Geologist and a Gemologist, with over 20 years experience in a wide range of commodities in positions covering exploration, mine management, business management, environment. Based in Kenya, he is currently a director of Akili Minerals Services (mineral exploration services provider), of Pinsapo Kenya Ltd (gold mine development), and an international consultant in mineral exploration and mine development (current projects in Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia and Nigeria).
He has extensive experience in working with artisan miners in Kenya and Tanzania, in a commercial context, and practical experience in operating small scale gemstone and gold prospecting and mining operations. With a PhD in Geology of ruby and sapphire deposits, and over 20 years’ experience in running and advising colored gemstone operations, he is one of very few experts in the geology and exploitation of colored gemstones deposits.
Evan Caplan is widely considered to be one of the finest and knowledgeable colored stone professionals of our time. He has been trained at the Gemological Institute of America, the worlds leading school of Gemology and quickly achieved its highest degree of Graduate Gemologist. Mr. Caplan was one of the first people to bring the unique Paraiba tourmaline to America. He, along with several others, was responsible for the cutting and eventual sale of the world’s largest Padparadscha sapphire. Mr. Caplan has become a leading authority on Alexandrite and often lectures on this truly remarkable gem.
Pravin Harjivan Maru is the founder and director of Maru Craft Ltd. Having been in operation for more than 30 years, he specializes in local and international jewelry designing and handcraft of Gold, Silver, precious and semi-precious stones.
Stella Opakas is currently the Director Mineral Resources, Turkana County and has previously worked in various capacities in Kenol Kobil, National Oil Corporation of Kenya and Kenya Petroleum Refineries. She is a graduate of Chemical Engineering from the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Moscow, Russia
Stronger, Together
Our Partnerships
Through our partnerships, we are able to lobby, empower and advance women in the energy and extractives field. Below are some of our partners.