By John Ikani
Personnel of over 50 indigenous oil and gas contracting firms have completed a two-week intensive course on ‘Entrepreneurship Skills Development and Access to Finance’ sponsored by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
The training was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and is part of a holistic project-based package toward building the capacity of indigenous companies to support activities in the oil and gas industry.
At a close-out ceremony for the third batch of trainees held recently, NCDMB’s General Manager, Capacity Building Division, Dr. Ama Ikuru explained that “this training is about entrepreneurship, helping our people to become more innovative and service-oriented. That is one way to achieve competitive advantage.”
“The intention,” he explained, “is that they should understand coping with competition in an era where technology is fast advancing and changing, and opportunities are becoming slimmer.
They need to understand how to deliver better quality services; they need to understand how to manage their resources – finance, people, and everything – to deliver in the industry.”
He enjoined the outgoing trainees to take the knowledge acquired back to their respective businesses, bearing in mind that “Knowledge gained, if not retained, will make infancy perpetual.”
According to him, “When we train we want to see people apply that knowledge to their businesses,” pointing out that they can no longer be waiting for their bosses for decision on certain aspects of their operations, as “CEOs should be thinking how to overcome competition and become more cost-efficient.”
The key resource person, the President, Garden City Premier Business School, Dr. Silva Opuala-Charles charged the trainees to go back home and reset their companies.
“They need to be bullish about it – it’s about execution,” he said. On why training of the sort is crucial to industry, he said, “Training can improve your profitability; profitability is based on knowledge.”
The two-week course is the third organised by NCDMB in 2022 for contracting firms in the oil and gas industry.
