The UN Global Compact Network Nigeria convened a high-level virtual private sector dialogue on 9 April 2026, in collaboration with the Africa Green Future Forum Secretariat, the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Energy Commission of Nigeria, and Oxtra Energies. The roundtable focused on advancing women’s participation in Africa’s green and industrial economy through skills, inclusion and partnerships.
The premise of the session was straightforward. The green transition is creating new industries, new job categories and new skills requirements across clean energy, mobility and the circular economy. Those industries are being built now, and the participation patterns set at this stage tend to harden. If women are not deliberately brought into the workforce as these sectors form, the exclusions of the older industrial economy will simply be reproduced in the new one.
Speakers included Ndukwu Obinna, Founder of the Africa Green Future Forum; Naomi Nwokolo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network Nigeria; Dr Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro, Technical Advisor to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion; Fatima Ibrahim-Haruna, Associate Director, Government Relations and Sustainability at IHS Towers Nigeria; Ejiro Gray, Director of Governance and Sustainability at Sahara Group; and Engr. Dapo Adesina, President of the Electric Mobility Promoters Association of Nigeria. The session was moderated by Gloria Okorie, Head of Programmes.
Participating organisations included NNPC, IHS Towers, EMPAN, Sahara Group, Mastercard Foundation, Ecosplash Synergy Limited, Simba Group (Simba Solar), Starz Legacy CNG Conversion Centre, Women in Energy Network and Lafarge, among others, bringing together operators, regulators, financiers and industry associations in a single conversation.
The roundtable produced commitments to training, apprenticeships and job placement pathways in the clean energy, mobility and circular economy sectors. It strengthened public and private alignment to scale women’s inclusion in the green economy and to support future implementation under the SHECanFIX initiative.