Yemisi Izuora
Norwell EDGE, the upstream e-learning platform that aims to make world-class training accessible and affordable to people around the globe has secured a contract to provide widescale training to Century Group in Nigeria.
Century Group’s chief executive officer, CEO, Ken Etete and EDGE Co-founder, Mike Adams signed the agreement at the British Embassy in Lagos.
Century Group, a multi-operational company, with interests and expertise in the full value chain of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, has signed a 12-month agreement with Norwell EDGE to access the online platform’s 50-module upstream awareness training programme.
Norwell EDGE has been developed by Norwell Engineering, the international well engineering and drilling project management firm headquartered in Aberdeen, UK. It is believed to be the first to make such in-depth upstream training available for all and aims to provide an effective way for companies to train large numbers of personnel while also being able to track their training history.
Signing the agreement at the British Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, Mike Adams, Norwell EDGE Co-founder, said: “Today’s agreement with Century Group marks an important milestone in our journey towards changing the industry’s approach to training. We are hugely encouraged to be working with Century Group – a company that not only recognises the value of upskilling its workforce but embraces the benefits that new technology such as e-learning delivers.
“Access to world-class training should not be the privilege of the few but a right for anyone who is committed to learning. Making quality training widely available and affordable empowers organisations, puts individuals in control of their learning future and will ultimately make companies safer, more competitive and more efficient.”
Norwell EDGE will provide Century Group’s staff with training modules covering a wide range of upstream topics covering well planning, design, equipment and operations. These can be accessed on any Wi-Fi connected device, 24 hours a day and are fully auditable to management. Individuals are also able to retain access to completed modules even when the agreement ceases.
Century Group’s CEO, Ken Etete, CEO added: “We are a company dedicated to value creation and wealth redistribution; human capacity development is a core need to achieve these targets. So, we are always looking at the newest technology and learning opportunities to leverage on. E-learning is a cost-effective and time- friendly way we have adopted to train large numbers of personnel effectively.
“It is notably encouraging to work with a company such as Norwell EDGE which echoes our value for quality, integrity, service excellence and capacity development. Collectively, we are committed to making a lasting positive impact on our industry.”
Norwell invested £400,000 and spent five years developing Norwell EDGE after becoming frustrated by a lack of concerted effort by the oil and gas industry to tackle skills and competency gaps.
Since launching last month, EDGE already has 1,500 individual users in countries ranging from Nigeria, Uganda, Canada and China. It will officially launch its corporate offering at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston this week where Mike Adams will also be speaking at the Energy in the Age of Inclusion and Innovation event on Tuesday, 1 May, hosted by Pink Petro.
Mike added: “Our industry is at a turning point when it comes to training and skills development. We have seen training become one of the first and hardest hit areas during industry cycles and this is something we must change. Even in established markets traditional training is seen as prohibitively expensive, when this is viewed from emerging markets the challenge is even greater. We strongly believe that for widescale training to take place and to attract people into our industry we must adopt new training technologies and make that much more affordable for companies.”
Norwell EDGE has partnered with TFN Energy to explore opportunities in Nigeria. CEO, Timipre Wolo, a University of Aberdeen graduate who was also voted Nigeria’s Woman of The Year 2017 said: “There is a huge wealth of talent within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector but many of these individuals struggle to fulfil their potential because quality training is not affordable and may require travel to one of the main energy hubs. EDGE will make a real difference to both companies such as Century Group and individuals looking to build a career within Nigeria.”