Eugene Obiero
Regional Manager for Eastern and Southern Africa, AMEA Power | Nairobi, Kenya
In 2004, Eugene Obiero was working in Munich at Allianz Global Investors, but he knew he wanted to build his career back home in Kenya. He just needed to find the right way into the market.
Eugene found the way when Careers in Africa reached out regarding a global campaign Shell was running to bring African diaspora talent back to the continent. He applied for the Shell graduate programme through Careers in Africa, went through the pre-selection process, and thereafter attended a recruitment session in The Hague.
He expected to return to Munich and wait several weeks before hearing back for an outcome. However, to his surprise, on the final day in The Hague he learned he was one of three candidates selected for the programme, and that Shell was placing him in Nairobi.
Eugene joined Shell in 2005 as a management trainee in finance, rotating through various departments before becoming Credit Business Analyst for the Shell oil products Africa team and later Pricing Manager and Site Business Planner.
After almost seven years, he wanted something different. He left Shell to study for an executive MBA at Warwick Business School, consulting in the energy sector alongside his studies and training in how renewable energy projects are financed and developed. By the time he graduated, he had moved from oil and gas into the renewable energy sector. In 2015, Eugene joined Camco Clean Energy as Senior Investment Manager, helping to set up a fund that invested in renewable energy projects across Africa.
In 2019 came the move that shaped him most, joining French multinational firm ENGIE as Senior Business Developer, Power & Gas. He had never worked in development before. "I had to learn quickly," he says, spending a year immersed in upskilling to deliver large-scale wind, solar, geothermal and hydro projects.
The role also changed how he thinks about work. In most corporate roles, he explains, you deliver a product or service every day. At the end of the month you see your sales volumes and margins, and at the end of the year you hit your targets and collect your bonus. Development however works differently. A project moves slowly through its life cycle, its value builds over time, and the return may not arrive for several years.
"I had to shift the way I think," he says, "from getting a quick return to a longer horizon."
What he learned was an important lesson on patience: committing to work whose results are not yet visible, and seeing it through. That longer view helped Eugene master a new discipline mid-career, and after COVID-19 brought restructuring, he took it to Serengeti Energy as Development Manager. He has now developed solar, wind, geothermal and hydro projects at scale across East Africa. "I am truly a developer now," he says. "I can talk about it even in my sleep."
The same thinking runs through his advice to those in the diaspora considering a return to Africa.
"Always return with a plan. Don't just quit and say you're going home. It takes a lot of time to rebuild your networks and master the environment again."
Landing his Shell role with the help of Careers in Africa gave Eugene a way back to his home in Kenya, and a way back into the system, which has has since helped to build.
Early at Shell, a colleague nearing retirement gave him advice he still shares: start with a multinational. "Multinationals will normally have best practice," Eugene says. "The systems and processes you learn will stay with you and become ingrained in your work DNA."
As Careers in Africa enters its 25th year, Eugene's story shows how that first opportunity can open up many more doors. 21 years after joining Shell, he is now Regional Manager for Eastern and Southern Africa at AMEA Power, helping to build the energy infrastructure that will power the continent's next generation of careers.
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