BP Egypt is working to increase female participation in technical and engineering roles
Gender equality goes far beyond a simple initiative and BP Egypt addresses the issue in many ways - ensuring that candidate slates and interview panels for job vacancies are diverse, by supporting flexible working when needed and having robust talent management and development planning to help women achieve their goals and aspirations.
The BP leadership team in Egypt and across BP's global operations are keen to encourage women to work in disciplines that require STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and have developed a graduate initiative to support this goal. Yoshra Bedair and Dena Hegab are two employees who have been through the programme.
Yosra Bedair
BP Scholarship alumni Yosra Bedair completed her masters at the University of Cambridge in 2014. Only two years later, she found herself at the G20 summit in China in her role as an economist with the Egyptian Ministry of Finance.
“It was great exposure to attend the technical meetings and accompany the minister to understand how countries are preparing their growth strategies,” she says. “My experience at Cambridge shaped my character in ways that are highly appreciated by employers here, but I would never have been able to study there without the BP scholarship. It was the most enriching year of my life so far.”
Dena Hegab
Drilling engineer Dena Hegab joined BP’s graduate programme in Egypt. Now, she’s working for a global team in Houston, US. With a degree in petroleum and energy engineering and a passion for maths and physics, she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a driller.
"I like challenges, which is fortunate because a month after joining BP, I first flew out offshore," she recalls. "There were 180 people on board the drilling rig; myself and 179 men and some are not used to having a woman on board."
But Dena is confident in the support of managers and BP Egypt's gender strategy as a whole - as she puts it: "It’s important to know that you have the support of your managers and the business."
I needed to join a company that believes in diversity and supports its staff to fulfill their potential.
BP’s regional president, Hesham Mekawi.
The BP leadership team is conscious of the need to continually nurture women in technical and engineering roles. “It has been a priority of mine to develop national staff over the past period and I am proud to say that 90% of the regional leadership team based in Egypt are Egyptians,” says BP’s regional president, Hesham Mekawi. “But, like the rest of the industry, we can do better when it comes to women.”
He is however, proud of the scholarship programme that has, for 16 years, been sending Egyptian graduates like Yorsha and Dena to top universities
“Every year, I meet and interview all the young people and it’s one of my best days in the calendar,” Mekawie says. “In 2016, we supported eight students – each one of them so impressive. The only thing we ask in return is that they come back and spend two years in Egypt, working in any field, after completing their studies, to contribute to the development of their country.”
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