Localised recruitment key to unlock energy pipeline

Julien Karambua - The discovery of significant oil and gas reserves in Namibia’s Orange Basin has the potential to transform the country into the world’s newest petrostate.

In addition, gigawatt-scale green hydrogen and an abundance of renewable energy resources represent significant opportunities.

At the same time, there is a strong drive toward increasing local procurement to maximise economic advantage.

Leveraging opportunity in the energy sector while aligning with government initiatives, compliance requirements and cultural sensitivities can prove to be challenging for international players.

Localised skills in recruitment and turnkey employment services are essential to successfully driving energy projects and increasing Namibian economic participation.



Building skills pipelines

Namibia currently has a skills gap in the upstream oil and gas sector, which often means that global companies will import their engineers to work on projects.

However, with the government’s renewed focus on local procurement to create sustainability and address unemployment rates, this has become more difficult.

Government now requires recruiters to prove that they exhausted local possibilities before deploying international resources.

In addition, Namibia is no longer a visa-free destination for many of the nationalities that could easily enter in the past, and it has become more complex to bring in international engineers as a result.



Focus shift

It also does not offer a long-term solution.

The reality is that many local Namibians have the necessary qualifications and accreditations required to work on offshore rigs, but due to lack of opportunity, many of them have taken up positions elsewhere.

The focus needs to shift from simply importing resources to repatriating skills through the creation of opportunity, and in creating skills transfer to build a pipeline for future growth.

Many positions in the burgeoning oil and gas sector do not require a high-level technical background, making them ideal for local employment.

For the more specialised roles, local resources may lack the specific experience requirement, necessitating import.

However, for longevity and sustainability, there needs to be a plan in place to develop skills transfer, so that these positions can be taken up by locals in the future.



Matching skills

Having a local turnkey employment service provider can help to ensure that skills are found and matched from within nearby wherever possible.

Where skills need to be imported, they will ensure that due process is followed and that all local statutory payments are made to ensure compliance.

They will also handle contract placement, placements, salaries, payments, benefits administration and other employment-related tasks, effectively taking on the entire employment function and providing a single invoice to the company every month.

At the same time, they can provide local Namibians into the projects with appropriate accreditations and qualifications and facilitate the necessary skills transfer.

They can also assist with training and upskilling the youth to take advantage of future opportunities, bringing them up through the ranks, helping them to gain experience and skills, and effectively creating a localised talent pipeline.

This addresses the immediate need while ensuring long-term upliftment and sustainability.