Chief Executive Officer of Blue Power Energy – Salma Okonkwo has averred that the main bottleneck facing African businesses are financial constraints and weak institutions.
Speaking to the Progammes Director at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership [Ursula Woodburn] at the Greatest Responsible Business 2021 on the topic ‘building a new economic reality, proving the future business opportunities versus immediate short time cost,’ the senior business executive with an over twenty years of experience of leading innovation and change in Africa’s energy sector intimated that the future opportunities for businesses is on sustainable development.
“The future opportunities for businesses is on sustainable development, however, we are having challenges in Africa because of financial constraints and weak institutions,” Salma said.
“Unlike our counterparts in Europe who have institutional and financial support like subsidies and credits for producing carbon emissions, we [in Africa] don’t have, and working with limited budget it’s almost impossible to implement policies within the sectors and within the business communities to achieve sustainable development.
“But I must say that there a few family owned businesses that I know who are aggressively trying to implement this, but it is really challenging for most business working with limited and tight budget that we have.”
In the past Salma worked extensively across oil and gas in West Africa, but now she focuses on bringing green energy to the region.
About Salma Okonkwo
Salma Okonkwo, founder and CEO of Blue Power Energy, is a senior business executive with over twenty years of experience in Africa’s energy sector.
Having worked extensively across oil and gas in West Africa, Salma founded UBI Petroleum in 2007, an energy trading business specialising in procurement, storage, marketing and distribution of petroleum products in West Africa, with a primary focus on Ghana.
Her focus is now on the development of green energy businesses in West Africa.
