“To succeed in male dominated spaces, you need to be more focused and strategic in all you do”
This was the counsel advocated by Mrs Catherine Uju Ifejika, CEO of Brittania-U Ltd, on Tuesday February 27, during the Women in Energy Roundtable at the 7th Edition of the Nigerian International Energy Summit (N.I.E.S), 2024 holding at the Abuja International Conference Center.
Speaking on “Mentorship and Networking”, Mrs Ifejika went down memory lane, revealing the steps and challenges she encountered towards her journey to become one of the foremost women business owners in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
“You need to develop sustainbale partnerships built on integrity, a positive mindset and can do attitude”
“Leave the make-up for when the job is done. When Success is assured”. There will be enough time for all that, she said.
Mrs Ifejika noted that despite the challenges associated with the industry, women have an advantage in the fact of being able to speak out at all levels, insofar as they know what they are doing.
She went on to advocate for women to dress well and corporate; understand the business, align with like-minded partners and business associates for their businesses to grow. And be ready to take risks.
“The first loan i got was almost a waste as we didn’t hit commercial oil during our first exploration. I had to go back to the bank to seek for another loan. I was given that loan and we discovered commercial oil on our second try”. What happened was we drilled in an opposite direction from the first drilling. If we had given up and sold the acreage, we would have lost the opportunity and i would still have been in debt to the bank”.
“That experience toughened me up and since then, we have not looked back”
The Brittania-U Boss, much later in the day, at the N.I.E.S Awards Gala was honoured with an industry award of excellence.
