When Ibiyinka Olatunde, the positioning supervisor at Sunel UK Ltd, arrives on a venture web site, folks discover. They discover not solely as a result of she is the positioning supervisor liable for coordinating dozens of engineers, subcontractors and technicians on a number of the United Kingdom’s quickly increasing photo voltaic PV initiatives, but additionally as a result of she embodies what many younger ladies in engineering hardly ever see: a lady on the helm, steadying the ship in a subject lengthy formed by male dominance.
Her trajectory from a younger trainee in Nigeria’s oilfields to a pacesetter in renewable power development exemplifies the evolution of the engineering sector itself, from conventional extractive industries right into a future pushed by know-how, sustainability, and inclusion.
Olatunde’s management type is grounded in competence and tempered by empathy, a mixture she credit to the mentors who guided her early profession.
She remembers a second throughout her trainee days, when a senior supervisor observed her staying late to overview advanced Distributed Management System diagrams.
As an alternative of telling her to return within the morning, he sat along with her and defined the interlocking elements that ruled manufacturing processes. It was a easy act of generosity, but it modified how she considered engineering. She determined, there after which, that every time she rose to a place of affect, she would do the identical for others.
Years later, she is protecting that promise. At Sunel UK Restricted, the place she manages multidisciplinary groups on large-scale photo voltaic development websites, junior engineers usually search her out for steering.
She provides them the sort of mentorship that demystifies engineering apply. Lots of them recount her behavior of turning routine inspections into instructing moments.
One recalled how she as soon as paused a web site stroll to clarify why a deviation in cable routing might compromise long-term system reliability. It was a busy day and he or she might have walked previous the problem and logged it for correction, however as a substitute she used the second to impart data.
Her mentorship extends far past the office. Lengthy earlier than she accrued postgraduate levels and worldwide expertise, Olatunde had already develop into a mentor to youthful friends.
As an undergraduate on the College of Port Harcourt, she tutored struggling college students in petroleum engineering programs and helped them put together for exams. She additionally volunteered in group training programmes, instructing arithmetic to main faculty pupils throughout her nationwide service in Delta State.
She recollects these days fondly as a result of they allowed her to see how training can alter the trajectory of a kid who may in any other case slip by way of the cracks. Nigeria’s instructional challenges stay important. UNICEF estimates that greater than ten million Nigerian youngsters are out of faculty, a determine that disproportionately impacts women.
Olatunde believes that early intervention in fundamental numeracy and science expertise can ignite lifelong curiosity and confidence, and he or she nonetheless commits time to instructional outreach every time she will be able to.
Her educational report tells its personal story of willpower. From incomes higher credit score on the Petroleum Coaching Institute to graduating with a firstclass diploma in Petroleum Engineering on the College of Port Harcourt, after which securing a distinction in her grasp’s diploma in Power Engineering at De Montfort College in the UK, she has persistently stood out.
Her award from the Petroleum Know-how Growth Fund, which supported her analysis on Analysis of fuel lock in electrical submersible pumps (Synthetic carry system) for sustainable manufacturing and system reliability, is likely one of the highlights of her educational journey.
What many individuals don’t see behind these achievements is the variety of instances she needed to push by way of environments the place ladies have been few and expectations have been low.
In Nigeria, ladies represent solely round twenty two p.c of the engineering workforce in response to latest statistics from the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria.
Globally, UNESCO experiences that girls stay underrepresented in science and engineering disciplines, making up lower than thirty p.c of the worldwide STEM workforce.
This hole widens in power and infrastructure sectors, which traditionally have been much more male dominated. Olatunde has skilled this imbalance firsthand.
As a younger engineer engaged on properly completion initiatives, she usually discovered herself as the one lady on rig websites, a actuality that could possibly be daunting. But she says these early years ready her for the management duties she now holds.
Throughout her time as a properly completion engineer, she supervised advanced operations resembling putting in packers, stream management tools and security valves.
These have been duties that required technical precision, logistical coordination, and an unflinching dedication to security. She remembers an incident at a properly web site throughout a serious completion venture when tools delays threatened to derail operations. The group was stressed and the environment tense.
Somewhat than escalate the stress, she gathered the group, calmly reviewed the duty sequence and reorganised priorities to make sure minimal downtime.
Her strategy impressed her colleagues, a lot of whom have been senior engineers. One later advised her that her calm downside fixing gave legitimacy to her presence in an area the place many anticipated her to wrestle. It was not a praise she took flippantly, nevertheless it strengthened her resolve to make engineering environments extra welcoming for ladies who would come after her.
Her advocacy for ladies in STEM isn’t performative. She speaks often at pupil gatherings, conferences, {and professional} boards concerning the want for ladies to be seen in engineering management roles.
Olatunde believes strongly that the shift to renewable power will falter if it doesn’t embrace the views and skills of ladies, particularly in areas like Africa the place power gaps stay a urgent socio financial problem. About eighty 5 million Nigerians lack entry to electrical energy and plenty of extra face unreliable provide.
Olatunde’s analysis on grid reliability and her rising experience in AI pushed optimisation for renewable power programs mirror her dedication to fixing these systemic issues.
Her management additionally manifests in group service. Between 2017 and 2020, she volunteered with outreach programmes in Port Harcourt that supplied meals, well being screening, and social help to underserved neighbourhoods.
These initiatives weren’t engineering associated, however they formed her understanding of how technical improvement should align with human wants. She believes an engineer’s duty goes past designing programs. It extends to bettering lives. This perception drives her involvement in skilled associations as properly. As a member of the Affiliation of Power Engineers and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, she participates in occasions that join professionals, college students, and researchers.
Whereas nonetheless a pupil on the Petroleum Coaching Institute, she served on the committee that organised the SPE Annual College students Technical Convention and Exhibition, the place she helped plan seminars and workshops that launched younger engineers to business requirements and rising applied sciences. Most of the college students she labored with nonetheless contact her at this time for profession recommendation.
Olatunde can be an advocate for security, a theme that runs by way of all her roles. Having labored in hazardous and excessive stress environments all through her profession, she is deeply invested in security tradition.
That is evident in her present position the place she enforces strict web site security protocols and encourages her groups to talk up about potential hazards. She is aware of that security lapses on engineering websites can price lives, and the ethical weight of that duty shapes her management strategy.
Youthful engineers usually say her insistence on security modified how they understand their work. She calls the sort of affect a type of mentorship that goes past technical data.
Olatunde doesn’t see management as a solitary ascent however as a collective journey. She tells younger ladies getting into engineering that the business doesn’t want them to be good, solely ready and keen to develop. She encourages them to tackle assignments that stretch their skills and to hunt mentors early.
She additionally reminds them to help each other, as a result of solidarity amongst ladies in male dominated industries creates a drive stronger than any particular person wrestle.
For a lot of of these she mentors, essentially the most inspiring a part of her story isn’t the educational information, worldwide conferences, or prestigious engineering roles. It’s the approach she makes use of her visibility to create alternatives for others.
A younger feminine engineer as soon as reached out to her after listening to her communicate at an business occasion, confessing that she felt overwhelmed by the pressures of her first job. Olatunde spent weeks checking in on her progress, reviewing her venture experiences, and providing suggestions.
That younger engineer later secured a scholarship for postgraduate research and credit Olatunde’s steering for serving to her regain confidence. Tales like this flow into quietly in engineering circles, forming a mosaic of affect that reveals the true influence of her management.
In an period the place the world is grappling with local weather change, power insecurity, and fast technological transformation, the engineering career wants leaders who mix technical experience with compassion, readability, and dedication to inclusion.
Olatunde represents that rising class of leaders, who consider that engineering is greater than equations, pipelines and energy grids, however a self-discipline that shapes society. By her mentorship, advocacy, and group engagement, Olatunde is shaping not solely infrastructure however the way forward for engineering itself, one younger engineer at a time.
