The Frontier Disconnect: Energy Events Industry Must Hire and Promote Africans

As global interest in African energy resources continues to grow, an unfortunate trend has emerged: Africa-focused energy events are increasingly being held outside the continent.

Some companies, such as Frontier Energy, take this further – not only hosting African conversations internationally but also excluding Africans from their organizations. As the voice of the African energy sector, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) strongly condemns this approach.

At a time when African nations are prioritizing local content, improving investment environments and positioning themselves as strong partners for global energy companies, organizations like Frontier risk undermining these efforts by sidelining African participation and leadership.

The AEC has long supported international investment across the continent. The Chamber consistently advocates for fair treatment of international oil companies, financiers and service providers operating in Africa, often pushing back when investors face regulatory uncertainty or unfair practices. But partnership must be reciprocal. If Africa is expected to open its markets, reform its policies and provide long-term certainty, then the platforms shaping its energy narrative must do the same: hire Africans, build local capacity and anchor events in Africa.

Some global event organizers understand this responsibility. Companies such as DMG Events demonstrate that it is both possible and necessary to host world-class energy conferences in Africa while prioritizing African talent. DMG has always been a leader in hiring, training, retaining and promoting Africans. They even recruit qualified African vendors. DMG consistently brings conversations about Africa to Africa, with strong African representation across leadership, content development and logistics. Examples include DMG’s Egypt Energy Show (Cairo) and West Africa Infrastructure Expo (Nigeria). Across the continent, these events employ Africans, build local teams and ensure African professionals are central to operations – setting the model that should be respected and scaled.

African Energy Week (AEW) was created to challenge the idea that Africa’s energy story must be told elsewhere. Born from the need to prove that large-scale, globally relevant energy events can – and should – be hosted on the continent, AEW has grown into Africa’s largest energy gathering. Held in Cape Town, AEW convenes delegations from the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East, while being organized by an African team and driven by African priorities. It demonstrates that Africa does not need to outsource its voice to be heard globally.

The same principle underpins the Africa CEO Forum, held in Kigali. The Forum has established itself as one of the continent’s most influential platforms for private-sector leadership, investment and policy dialogue by bringing Africa’s top decision-makers together in Africa. The AEC supports and endorses this approach, viewing the Africa CEO Forum as a clear example of how global relevance and African ownership are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing.

By contrast, some events like Africa Energy Summit organized by Frontier Energy Network in London brand themselves as “Africa’s premier” fail to hire blacks or include them in senior organizational roles. We have questioned Daniel Davidson in the past but there is a stubborn refusal to reverse his Blacks Not Allowed Practice when it comes to hiring. This approach removes the conversation from African ecosystems and contradicts the local content policies African governments are striving to implement. Local content does not start at the wellhead – it starts with who is hired, who is empowered and who leads.

Oil and natural gas companies and Seismic companies can’t expect the AEC to continue to push African governments for better fiscals, enabling environment, streamlining the permitting process and cutting bureaucracy while supporting entities that do believe in the values that we see in hiring and promoting Blacks in the Oil and Gas sector.

“Trying to break down barriers for Blacks and women in Oil and Gas is an ancient and ultimate struggle. I am all about Drill Baby Drill but we also need Hire Baby Hire. The good news is that there are qualified blacks and women fully capable of engaging in oil and gas event sector if they have access and opportunity. As Africans, we cannot continue to accept a model where decisions about our resources are made without us in the room. Local content is not a slogan – it is a commitment. If you want to do business in Africa, you must invest in Africans, hire Africans and place Africans at the forefront of all discussions,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.

“African Energy Summit has the largest share of the African market, yet its pattern of discrimination when it comes to hiring blacks amounts to a virtual lock-out of Blacks except when they need Africans to sponsor the event in London. They want our money and our support but don’t want to do business with us or high us and work with us. If they won’t invest in us, we won’t invest in them. The oil and gas industry should stop supporting this practice. To have a blackout by Frontier Energy Network is unacceptable. We should be disturbed by this data, because it is disturbing. We should be outraged, because it is outrageous. I am not calling for a boycott for now but if we see no commitments to hire blacks we reserve the right to pressure African governments and private sector to not participate” Concluded Ayuk

Energy events shape perceptions, influence capital flows and set priorities. If they are serious about Africa’s future, they must reflect Africa’s present – by hosting events on African soil, hiring African professionals and positioning Africa not as a case study, but as a leader. Anything less is not a partnership. It is exclusion.

*African Energy Chamber