By Chisom Ukachukwu

The Oil and Gas industry is heavily skewed in the Engineering, Drilling, Geophysics, Exploration and Production teams. As Ann navigates her career, bridging this gap in the core Oil and Gas teams have become eminent to help women play significant parts in this industry. Through out her career, she has been in the forefront of promoting women in key roles within the Oil and Gas especially at her current organization, Nestoil through the Graduate Trainee Program.

Driving People Management

Ann Ukadike has extensive experience in people management across different industries. With a master’s degree in public administration (HR) from the University of Lagos, a certified professional in Human Resources International (PHRi), a certified Talent Development Manager from London School of Business and Finance and an alumnus of Common Purpose, Africa Venture, Ann has built the required knowledge and expertise in people management space. Her career includes time at Zenith Pensions Custodian (a subsidiary of Zenith Bank Plc), PwC and Deloitte where she led strategic people management initiatives resulting in improved work culture, talent succession and cost savings.

As a Senior Manager at Nestoil Limited (an Obijackson Group), Ann leads people management for 6 businesses in Oil and Gas Shipping, Drilling, Engineering Fabrication, Engineering Design, Civil Construction and Ship Dry Docking in the Nestoil Limited group of companies. With over 2,500 direct and indirect staff, Ann must work with the “center of excellence” to carve a unique talent strategy to manage people across these businesses. Her task is to find commonalities in these different businesses ensuring it aligns with the group’s mandate. She personally led a shift from HR Managers being office bound to field base in order to understand the talents and their pain points on the field. At a time when the business wanted its human resources function closer to its people, it was easy for Ann to jump in starting with a manpower audit of who works for the business and from what offshore location. This took Ann to over 12 offshore and creek locations in the Niger Delta region.

She led a diversity agenda that saw not only men in certain roles but women in roles at the dock yards mostly reserved for men. She also pushed the envelope by having both indigenes and non-indigenes of locations where operations took place to drive diversity of thoughts. The pandemic brought this project to an abrupt completion which led to reduction-in-force following the lockdown. 

People Management Beyond Oil and Gas

Today, Ann is considering positions in other industries as the next step in her career. As a Senior Manager, Human Resources, Ann’s focus since the pandemic is working with the business to redistribute and manage its people’s cost and support her CEO’s to ramp up business operations. As businesses navigate the aftermath of the pandemic, it is important to ensure revenue, profitability and business targets are met, which has become a new focus given how human resources impacts the bottom line.

A Visionary Thought Leader

Ann’s influence extends beyond people management. She is a recognized thought leader in women in leadership, frequently mentoring young women who are considering careers in different industries. She has hosted and moderated events such as “Understanding the Performance Management Framework, 2016” and “Leading a Successful Career, 2019”. She also has an unpublished book titled “The role of Staff Training in Organizational Productivity”.

Ann C Ukadike’s contribution to people management and women are marked by her strategic vision and unwavering commitment to improving the representation of women in the workplace. Through several roles she has held, she continues to help organizations achieve their goals in people management practices.