UTM Graduate combines personal experience with professional insight in the global fight for climate awareness.
Growing up in Nigeria, Ruseh Oghenekaro saw first-hand the growth and push for sustainable energy in Africa.
This encouraged her to obtain a Masters in Energy in 2010 and later work in renewable energy financing, facilitating commercial financing and localization of different energies in rural areas of Nigeria.
After some years of witnessing the struggle in Africa to continue to afford sustainability technologies, Oghenekaro says she believed “there had to be better and more realistic ways to ensure people could afford these technologies long term… to impart real change on their lives.”
Oghenekaro decided to pursue higher education to learn about these issues, setting her sights on UTM’s Masters of Sustainability Management (MScSM) program.
While at UTM, Oghenekaro expanded her horizons. Though her prior experience was largely in development finance, Oghenekaro authored a research paper on the interactions between energy and non-energy sustainability development goals (SDGs) through an African lens, a topic deeply personal to Oghenekaro, which would later influence her decision to pursue environmental sustainability development work professionally.
Since graduating in 2021, Oghenekaro has worked with several prominent corporate clients as an energy and climate consultant. Though challenging at times, Oghenekaro says corporate sustainability has also been rewarding for her as she works to ensure every possible contribution to sustainability is made by industry and private sector partners.
“It’s very clear that the private sector contributes immensely to emissions,” she says. “At the end of the day, if every private corporation can commit to being net zero or close to, that is how we’ll get (to achieve our goal).”
Oghenekaro continues her push to address gaps in global sustainability standards. She recently joined the Environmental Pulse Institute where she has co-authored a United Nations report on Africa’s environment outlook for business as it links to achieving the SDGs: “It feels like I’m doing something important because this report will feed into businesses trying to attract the private sector to Africa,” she says. “Feed into clean tech and growth, feed into policy and so many things.” She has also authored National Environment Summaries for over 20 African countries, among other UN reports.
Oghenekaro is excited to pursue further environmental development work in her career and continue merging her personal knowledge with her professional experience.
Oghenekaro urges potential students to enter sustainability management with an open mind: “Sustainability is a really big space. There are so many sectors from energy, to finance, to fashion… but try and find that first love,” she says. “A lot of the time, it may take years to figure out where your passion lies, but it’s good to evaluate early if this is the direction you want to be in.”