East African Skills Gaps Opens Energy Market

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East African Skills Gaps Opens Energy Market

With over 100,000 locals needing to be trained over the next ten years to support East Africa’s oil and gas, mining and construction ambition, a delegation of ten Scottish oil and gas training providers have been visiting Tanzania and Mozambique to offer their skills and experience to these markets and to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities.

East Africa is home to some of the largest offshore gas fields in the world yet is hampered by a lack of appropriate skills to maximise the opportunities. With little or no government budget, the region is reliant on initiatives such as Skills for Oil and Gas in Africa (SOGA), which was commissioned by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in January 2015 and co-funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID); the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and BG Group to urgently help equip local populations with the skills needed to secure employment.

Responding to initiatives such as SOGA, this mission aims to build on the success of two previous visits to the region in 2014 and 2015 organised by Scottish Development International, the international arm of Scotland’s economic development agencies, and supported by (the then) UK Trade and Investment, which resulted in success stories including:

A contract between Dundee & Angus College and People Positive East Africa Ltd to provide train the trainer welding courses to Kenyans
Training courses being delivered in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique by MDT International
Oil and gas industry overview courses being delivered in East Africa by the Robert Gordon University on behalf of a number of international oil companies looking to educate locals.

International sector head for oil and gas at Scottish Enterprise, David Rennie, said: “Scotland is a world-leading training hub for the oil and gas sector and is well placed to support East Africa’s skills shortages. Companies are already seeing success in this key market and this third mission aims to facilitate, in this current climate, even more opportunities for our supply chain, particularly for those companies visiting for the first time.”

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.