JOHANNESBURG: Women are gradually taking on a more central role in driving innovative project developments in the energy sector, according to the African Energy Chamber. One such woman is Katuiscia Laurence Ewane, a General Field Engineer at SLB, who is featured on the Chamber’s list of 25 Under 40 Energy Women Rising Stars. Ewane has a vision that Africa not only adopts but creates technology.
Ewane graduated with a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from Ecole Nationale Superieure Polytechnique and spent five years between the field and training centers getting a critical understanding of how the energy sector operates. Some of her achievements include pioneering research in SLB on a new approach for the integration of Drilling Fluids and Cementing fluids, completing a complex cementing operation on Mt Cameroon at 4000m of altitude, and community service under the SLB Excellence in Educational Development program where she helped deliver a well for a community and created a reading club in a public primary school.
Ewane faced challenges in navigating the culture and change in the energy sector but overcame them by learning more about how different energy companies operate and the culture of the different nationalities she worked with, planning and having a contingency in place, and valuing people’s time.
Ewane advises young females aspiring to excel in the energy sector to know their worth, bring in a unique perspective, work and network, not self-sabotage, and ask for help when needed. A typical day in Ewane’s life as a Fluids Engineer involves planning for the next day, consulting daily reports, engaging in daily operations meetings and client engagements, attending internal meetings, distributing tasks to her teams, designing cement jobs, and being available and reachable in case any teammate runs into a bottleneck or a critical decision needs to be made that will affect service delivery.
Looking ahead, Ewane hopes to see changes in the image of the energy sector and advancements in the adoption of technology. She wants to lead the way in showing young women that this is a very dynamic sector and that their input is much needed. As she grows in her career, her goal is to make room for women and influence other decision-makers to open doors for women in this sector. She also wants to pioneer conversations about technology adoption and keep pushing until a change is seen.
