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The Top 20 Black Women in Energy is a list celebrating the remarkable achievements made by women to drive energy sector growth. A study by McKinsey showed that companies in the top quartile of diversity, with more women in positions of power on their executive teams, were 9% more likely to outperform on productivity and profitability compared to companies in the bottom quartile for both gender and ethnic diversity.
Find out more about what they are doing to shape the future of the energy system – from inspiring innovations in renewable energy to breaking down stereotypes in engineering. Their contributions have accelerated solar and wind technology breakthroughs, championed global climate agreements that prioritise renewables, pushed for inclusive energy access, ensuring a just transition and helped to close gender gaps in STEM, creating a more diverse workforce.
Senior Leadership
Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (UN SRSG) for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She was recognised in the 2024 TIME100 Climate list as one of the 20 titans in climate; she is the recipient of the First Class Order of Zayed II from the UAE President in recognition of her contribution to the success of the climate conference, COP28; she also received the Global Female Leadership Impact (GFLI) Award in 2024 and the Energy Institute President’s Award for 2023, in recognition of her continued role in solving critical global issues. She has been recognised as a trailblazer in her field by Reuters’ Trailblazing Women in Climate and Reuters’ Trailblazing Women in Energy, among others. She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is passionate about achieving SDG7, which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.
Yewande Abiose is a leader in the energy sector with experience across sustainability, strategic partnerships, and organisational growth. She is a director and board member of Energy Institute Africa, where she supports strategy direction and initiatives across the region. Previously as Managing Director, she expanded the Institute’s footprint across the continent, launching Nigeria’s first annual Energy Sustainability Conference and advancing discussions on energy access and transition within the context of economic growth and social development. In addition to her role as a board member, Yewande serves as the Head of Strategic Partnerships at Energy Institute UK. She leads global fundraising and business development efforts for key projects like the EI Statistical Review of World Energy and International Energy Week. She also oversees the Institute’s global communities, heading all the branches across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, ensuring their alignment with the Institute’s strategic goals, and fostering impactful regional engagement.
Nili Gilbert, CFA, CAIA, is the Vice Chairwoman of Carbon Direct, a leader in scaling carbon management into a global industry through investment, science, and client advisory. She is also Chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero’s (GFANZ) Advisory Panel of technical experts and one of its Principals. In addition to serving as an Independent Board Director of Brookfield Asset Management, Nili is Chair of the David Rockefeller Fund Investment Committee. She is also a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a member of the Clinton Global Initiative Advisory Council, and a member of Harvard’s Salata Institute Advisory Board. Nili is honored among Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance and TIME100 Climate. She has also been recognised as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, LinkedIn “TopVoice” in Finance, Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association of Securities Professionals, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek “One to Watch.” Nili received her BA, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, her MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was a Toigo Fellow, and she has completed programs in leadership and sustainability at Oxford and Stanford Universities.
Miatta Fahnbulleh is the Labour (Co-op) MP for Peckham, and has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024. She currently holds the Government post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero). Miatta has a wealth of experience in developing and delivering policy to empower communities and change people’s lives. She has been at the forefront of generating new ideas on reshaping our economy inside government and out. Prior to joining NEF she was Director of Policy & Research at the Institute of Public Policy Research. Before this, she has worked at senior levels for the Leader of the Opposition, the Cabinet Office, and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. Her work has included the development of policies from devolution to local economic growth, housing, energy and climate change and transport, driving forward the Government’s economic devolution agenda in England, and localism and local economic growth. Miatta has a Master’s and PhD in economic development from the LSE and a BA in PPE from Oxford.
Lamé Verre is an award-winning energy executive with over two decades of experience working across the energy industry value chain in several geographies with global blue-chip companies and entrepreneurial ventures and a Fellow of the Energy Institute. She is currently the Sustainability Director for Net Zero at The Crown Estate and serves on the World Economic Forum—Global Future Council for Energy Transition. Before this, she was Head of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability across the customer businesses in the UK and Ireland at FTSE 100 SSE PLC.
Lamé is also a trustee of the UK Green Alliance, an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment; and the Board of Equitable Origin (EO), a New York-based non-profit that supports Indigenous rights and gas certification projects across the Americas.
Lamé has deep industry expertise and a strong network. She is regularly invited to speak at major industry conferences on various thought leadership topics. She is the co-founder and chair of the advisory board of the non-profit Lean-in Equity & Sustainability, an independent gender diversity and inclusion initiative.
Lamé Verre has a BSc in Economics and Statistics from the University of Benin in Nigeria, a Masters in Energy, Environmental Management and Economics from the Eni Corporate University in Italy, and an MBA from Imperial College Business School.
Mandy is a global innovation strategist who has worked at the intersection of early stage ventures and sustainability. As a Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL) alumni, Mandy consults for Businesses and Governments on ESG and Sustainability solutions. Mandy is an advisor on the SME action board to the UK Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). She is also a speaker on Diversity,Equity and Inclusion within the early stage tech industry and on Climate change solutions.
Mandy is a promoter of environmental, social and economic sustainability, and has supported early stage ventures that focus on climate change mitigation, through renewable energy, waste management and circular economy solutions and the electrification of transportation.
Mandy is passionate about helping leaders of large complex organisations map their future towards sustainability by investing in social and environmental solutions that reduce inequality, eradicate poverty, and protect planet earth.
Mavis Anagboso is the Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Harbour Energy, where she is responsible for shaping the company’s DEI strategy and ensuring its integration across all aspects of the organization. With over 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, Mavis brings a wealth of expertise in economics, supply chain, client relations, and human resources to her role, which feels like a homecoming given her deep roots in the oil and gas industry.
Born and raised in Warri, Nigeria, where her father worked for Shell, Mavis has fond memories of her close-knit family and her childhood in the oil-rich region. Although she initially dreamed of being an actor, a passion she still pursues through amateur theatre and a memorable appearance as an extra on Doctor Who, Mavis chose to study Economics and Statistics at the University of Benin. She later completed an MSc in International Economics, Banking, and Finance at Cardiff University.
Yewande is an award-winning Engineer and Innovator. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Design and Appropriate Technology from the University of Warwick and a Masters in Innovation and Design for Sustainability from Cranfield University. Yewande Akinola is distinguished as an engineer, communicator and sustainability advocate, as well as being an outstanding role model for inclusive leadership. She has balanced a successful career in design engineering with a vibrant parallel career in media and public engagement to promote engineering and challenge narrow stereotypes of who engineers are and the difference they make in the world. Yewande is a chartered engineer whose expertise includes design and construction, innovation and the manufacturing of buildings and systems in the built environment. In 2007, after graduating from the University of Warwick, she was employed by Arup as a design engineer, designing water supplies and water management systems. While working for Arup, she earned a master’s degree from Cranfield University in 2011. She was later Principal Engineer and Innovation Lead at Laing O’Rourke. She is currently a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster, an Innovate UK Ambassador for clean growth and infrastructure, and a social entrepreneur.
Emerging Leaders
1.. Anu Omojola
Anu is an accomplished Energy Analyst with nine years of global experience in the energy sector across consulting, power markets and financial modeling. Holding an MSc in Renewable Energy and a BEng in Petroleum Engineering, Anu has strategically led projects across Continental Europe, the UK, Nigeria, USA, and Australia.
Currently a key player at British Petroleum (BP), Anu drives global investment cases for clean energy, focusing on offshore wind. Prior to BP, Anu held several pivotal positions at Reventus and Aurora Energy Research where she contributed to key UK energy policies including the 6th carbon budget and the CCUS Dispatchable Power Agreement (DPA). She also spearheaded development of new products and analysis across Europe particularly supporting investments of over 1 GW of battery storage.
As a strategic leader, she champions equal opportunities, networking, and mentorship for Black professionals, propelling the initiative towards a transformative force in the energy industry. Beyond her strategic prowess, Anu finds balance in dancing, cooking, and boxing!
Jacqueline is a visionary intrapreneur and industry leader driving transformational change in the UK energy sector while making a global impact through social enterprise and advocacy. As an Associate Director and UK Energy Market Lead at Turner & Townsend, she is spearheading the expansion of the UK’s energy and natural resources sector, tackling the critical skills gap, advancing gender / ethnic diversity, and aligning business growth with the UK’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. Early in her career, Jacqueline gained international exposure as a Project Controls Engineer, leading large infrastructure projects across Europe, Asia, and Africa in upstream and midstream oil and gas, offshore wind, subsea, and nuclear power sectors. Jacqueline advocates for the advancement of females, under-represented ethnic groups, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. She’s held positions as an Ambassador at bp, Board Member at AFBE-UK (Association for BME Engineers), Future Energy Leader 2023 at the World Energy Council, and UN Women UK Delegate 2022.
Vome Aghoghovbia-Gafaar is an award-winning chemical engineer, energy consultant and currently the Electric Vehicle Senior Operations Manager at Veolia, overseeing the electrification of waste collection trucks and managing the roll-out, operations, and maintenance of EV charging stations to support electric waste collection trucks across the UK.She is also founder of Ignite Energy Africa, a knowledge and innovation hub that helps shape the future of energy in Africa. They deliver high-quality energy data, research and analysis that fosters a culture of innovation in the energy sector in Africa.
She is a speaker and writer and has written for publications, such as The Independent. She is the author of ‘Everyone Deserves to Sparkle’ and the founder of the Sparkle Initiatives, a social enterprise that empowers STEM education and inspires young people around the world to thrive and set the world on fire with their gifts.
4.. Amanda Balogun
Amanda is an energy consultant with experience working in energy strategy advisory services across the UK, Middle East and Africa. She has undertaken strategy and innovation projects focusing on nature-based solutions and grid resilience in the energy sector, energy transition strategy development, and business case developments on the use of renewable energy technologies. Amanda from Nigeria also has obtained an MPhil in Energy Technologies at Cambridge University.
5.. Lewechi Nkata
Lewechi is a Senior Consultant at Environmental Resources Management, with a focus on hydrogen technologies and their adoption. Prior to joining ERM, she worked as a research assistant exploring the policy drivers for infrastructure resilience. She has a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham and an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge.
6.. Deborah Fadeyi
Deborah (Yetunde) Fadeyi is an energy and sustainability specialist with over a decade of cross-disciplinary experience in sectors such as renewables (solar PV and green hydrogen), manufacturing and waste management, aviation and consulting. Her work spans both public and private sectors across Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. Deborah’s technical expertise includes policy and sector design, corporate sustainability, energy transition, innovative finance, technology development, ESG reporting and strategy and net zero transitions. Currently, Deborah is the Sustainability Manager at the Aerospace Technology Institute, where she provides sector leadership for aviation through thought leadership and organisational decarbonisation initiatives. In addition to her professional roles, Deborah is involved in high-level discussions on energy and sustainability. She collaborates with organisations like the IEA and the World Bank to advocate for equitable, people-centred transitions through REES Africa, a non-profit she founded. Through REES Africa, she has brought solar PV solutions to last mile Nigerian rural communities, impacting 7,000 beneficiaries. She also leads Vectar Energy, a startup focused on solving energy poverty by replacing dirty fuels with clean energy innovations, incentivising end users to reduce costs and monetise social and climate impact. One of her inventions, ecoWise, received a patent and was nominated for the 2024 EarthShot Prize.
Serene is an Innovation Lead for Ofgem and Innovate UK’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). In this role, Serene is responsible for collaborating with public and private stakeholders to identify the support required by those innovating across UK networks. Her work includes collaboratively designing and delivering whole systems interventions. Prior to joining the SIF team, Serene worked in Innovate UK’s Energy team looking after the organisation’s hydrogen portfolio. In her previous role as Hydrogen Lead at the Carbon Trust, Serene was responsible for developing strategic innovation programmes for individual governments and multi-government collaborations. Prior to the Carbon Trust, Serene worked as Secretary for the UK Hydrogen Energy Association where she focused on accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen technologies. She is a recognised expert in the rapidly growing hydrogen sector and beyond, and has an in-depth understanding of addressing technological, commercial and societal innovation needs for net zero. Serene holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Leeds in Energy Engineering.
Shaniyaa is the GB Markets Lead at Modo Energy. Modo Energy provides research, indices, and forecasts for battery energy storage revenues. Shaniyaa sits within the research team to provide content analysing battery performance in power markets, policy updates, and market overviews. Since joining Modo Energy in November 2022, Shaniyaa has spearheaded efforts to process, analyse and simplify the many data sets that exist for battery storage. This includes analysis of millions of rows of data to get to the bottom of what exactly the ‘skip rate’ of batteries are, communicating this via written research and video. Shaniyaa Holness-Mckenzie was also a Project Manager for Cummins, whilst on the Graduate Specialist Programme for Bosch UK.
Loide is an Honorary Associate at the CEPMLP and an International Civil Servant working for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, where she advocates, designs, develops, and implements climate adaptation projects and initiatives around the world. She is a Renewable Energy Engineer and holds a LLM in International Energy Law and Policy from CEPMLP, University of Dundee. Additionally, Loide is a recognized Climate & Net Zero Future Leader listed on the 2024 30 under 30 Forbes Africa Lusofona publication under the Energy category in recognition of her renewable energy and sustainability advocacy, youth mentorship and empowerment, and STEM subjects (i.e. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) promotion in developing countries, particularly in African countries that have Portuguese as one of their official languages (i.e. Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa). Loide is a Board Member in Explore Tech Africa, a not-for-profit organisation which focuses on sustainable strategies and engagements that help develop education centres, provide access to computer literacy and education facilities and technologies. She has also worked with His Majesty’s Government through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, where she supported the development of the first UK Solar Roadmap and the European Union (EU), specifically on projects of common interest for EU countries.
10. Tosin Elusakin
Dr Tosin Elusakin is a Senior Project Engineer at Technip Energies and an Institution Liaison for the IET London Young Professionals Network. Her project management career has been focused on the delivery of energy engineering and technology innovation projects including offshore wind, oil and gas, ammonia, hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
Dr Elusakin won the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) Top 50 Women in Engineering award in 2022 and has published six peer-reviewed research articles in her early research career. In her previous role at Cranfield University, she managed Energy R&D projects including two funded by the UK Department of Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ). She managed engineering technician teams and delivered lectures in energy asset and project management for the Engineering Project Management, Energy Systems, Functional Materials for Sustainable Aerospace, and Risk and Reliability Engineering MSc modules.
11. Titi Oliyide
Titi Oliyide is a chartered engineer with experience in providing safety assurance, risk and reliability management expertise for various engineering systems and major projects in the hydrogen, energy and transportation industries. She holds a first class undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Advanced Chemical Engineering (Process Systems Engineering specialisation) from Imperial College London.
Titi is passionate about promoting and changing the misconceptions about the engineering profession. She is always eager to be a part of efforts to celebrate engineering excellence and make engineering more accessible and appealing to people from diverse backgrounds. A Chartered engineer with 8 years professional experience in safety and risk management in the green hydrogen, energy and transportation industries. First class bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Master’s degree in Advanced Chemical Engineering with Process Systems Engineering. She is also passionate about diversity and inclusion within the engineering industry
Beatrice Siyanbola has a background in chemical engineering and spent five years as an Operations Engineer, leading an operations shift team on a gas plant. During this time, she gained experience in frontline operations, strategic planning, and hydrocarbon accounting before recently transitioning into her current role as an Economist. In this role, Beatrice supports strategy development and leads investment valuation analysis for various international low-carbon energy projects, including Hydrogen and alternative fuels. She evaluates projects at different stages of maturation, applying economic, regulatory, and financial analysis to guide capital allocation and strategic decision-making. Her work focuses on the intersection of investment, markets, and policy in the energy transition, ensuring that emerging technologies are both technically viable and economically competitive.
Beyond her role, Beatrice is passionate about early career development and fostering diversity and inclusion in the energy sector, particularly in leadership.
Author: Energyz Black, Kaitochukwu Chukwudi, Amanda Balogun