Richard Ginika Izuora
The Board of Egbin Power Plc has announced the appointment of Mokhtar Bounour as Chief Executive Officer of the foremost privately run thermal plant in sub-Saharan Africa that powers over 20 million homes and businesses.
Bounour’s appointment, the Board said, would accelerate Egbin’s ongoing transformation and propel the company’s energy mix transition towards enhanced environmental sustainability.
A Sahara Power Group Company, Egbin’s turnaround has trebled from a generation threshold of about 300 Megawatts mw when it was acquired in 2013 to almost 1000 Megawatts mw, following fresh investment in overhauls, technology and human capital.
The company has also achieved 670,000kg of CO2 emission eliminated by reducing fossil energy consumption, 14.1 per cent reduction in Energy Intensity of electrical energy, and over 1000 trees planted to safeguard the environment.
“With an installed capacity of 1320MW, our plan is to expand Egbin’s capacity using a mix of alternative clean energy sources. We are delighted to have Mokhtar join us to sustain our continuing transformation programme and our commitment to bringing more energy to life responsibly, ” said Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group.
Adesina stated that Bounour would also lead plant optimisation strategies and spearhead the company’s Emissions Reduction and Resource Efficiency targets.
Speaking on his appointment, Bounour said he was delighted at the opportunity to steer the future of the “iconic African power plant”, noting that his interactions with the Board indicate that “the future holds a firm promise of unparalleled growth and sustained world-class performance in Egbin.”
Bounour holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership, Business Administration and International Relations.
He has worked in Europe for the better part of his career, and prior to joining Egbin Power Plc, Bounour led Fertiberia Spain as CEO of Fertial and thereafter, became Business Development Director for Africa, Middle East and Turkey.
With 24 years of experience across Africa, Europe and Middle-East, Bounour has led multi-functional teams in EPC construction, Operations and Maintenance, Power generation and Fertilizers plants.
He is multilingual, being fluent in French, English and Spanish – an attribute that is expected to further propel diversity at Egbin Power which has employees from different nationalities.
His experience cuts across setting strategic direction for revamping, rehabilitation and management of change, contracts management, formulation, integration and auditing with implementation of effective customer coordination.
Others include, sales, business development projects, engineering and turn over acceptance policies, procedures and systems management for organizations.
Egbin’s clean energy commitment manifests in several decarbonising projects, including enabling its employees to contribute to carbon-emission reduction through daily commuting on the company’s electric buggies, bicycles and scooters, leaving employees healthier and the environment cleaner.