Ahead Of The Hunt Keynote Speech Transcript By Dimeji Bassir, President Manup

What a beautiful day!
Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good evening to the hundreds of folks that have dialed in from around the world. We are so excited to have you all at Manup's maiden Ahead of the Hunt Career Summit - the first of several more to come - Welcome!

I wanted to start by thanking all the incredible people who have, at very immense personal sacrifice, contributed to making this event a reality. To our partners, clients, current and prospective Manupers, - Our wonderful panelists, speakers, and moderators, we appreciate your time and unyielding devotion. They say behind every able person, there are several able people, to the incredible team at Manup that have worked tirelessly planning and organizing the event, you are outstanding and deserve the first good night's sleep I hope you'd get tonight in 3 weeks.

Manup's mission is to expand economic opportunities for the Men and Women who do the mission-critical work that powers the world. In order o fulfill this mission, we figured it's imperative we grasp a few key concepts.

The Energy Conundrum The world has never needed as much energy as it does today. 80% of global energy is generated from fossil fuels. Problem is, Fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change accounting for greater than75% of CO2 Emissions. The International Energy Agency last month declared the world have no room for new fossil fuel investments if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe, but some Australian based scientists think the horse may have already bolted from the stable arguing that projected emissions from existing projects already put us precariously above the 1.5deg C global warming threshold. The International Energy Forum & Boston Consulting Group in a joint report contends there is an urgency to significantly increase Oil & Gas investments to stave off a looming energy crisis - a perfect conundrum which suggests that further investments in Oil & Gas and the need to stem CO2 emission trends are binary choices. Perception is that slowing climate change is an expensive proposition and will cost the US jobs, but what if there is a silver lining lurking somewhere within this cloud of uncertainty?
 
Transition or diversification In the most aggressive case for an Energy transition, a study by US non-profit - Rewiring America, in a very ambitious (rather implausible) scenario argues that decarbonizing the US economy on a fast track (within fifteen Years) by electrifying everything would generate 1500 - 2000GW of net delivered electricity, somewhere between three to four times the current capacity of 450GW. Their modeling shows this would create 25m Jobs to overhaul US infrastructure and 5m jobs in perpetuity to maintain and re-install the infrastructure after useful life. Assumedly, all at a cost of 1 to 1.5 of US GDP comparable to what the US expended during WW2, albeit with a much happier outcome, the report says.
 
In a more realistic scenario, Energy diversification (not transition) is entrenched, where Oil & Gas continue to play a very significant role in the energy mix along with renewables.
 
The problem is Oil & Gas continues to face severe and sustained headwinds following its most tumultuous year - 2020 when the sector shrunk to become the smallest in the S&P 500. This, and other factors led to a severe reduction of investment appetite for O&G. Remarkably, this contraction has happened within a period where Renewables (Solar & Wind) have become more competitive in terms of financial rate of return and are on a growth trajectory. Though oil prices are bouncing back as demand recovery gets underway, Oil &Gas projects continue to face unprecedented funding challenges in a business-as-usual scenario.
 
 
Is a Perfect Storm forming? Oil & Gas employs approximately 1.2m people among a total US Labor pool of about 150m people. In the fastest layoff scenario imaginable, the sector lost approximately 10% of its workforce between March & August 2020. This, and increased cyclicality continues to challenge the industry as a reliable employer while the booming renewables sector faces a chronic skills shortage. The sector challenges become starker as investor pressures to reduce carbon footprint mounts - shifting labor demographics, aging workforce, competition for talent with more attractive and stable sectors, automation / digitally powered remote operations induced skills obsolescence, etc. College enrolments in Geology & Petroleum Engineering dropped by 6% between 2015 to 2019
 
For about a century, the Oil & Gas industry has operated a certain way and sector players including the workers have become accustomed to the status quo. However, with current sector realities - the need for new energy sources to meet carbon reduction targets along with the urgency to drive efficiencies in managing the Oil & Gas business, work & the workforce must gradually shift and has started to. A structural transformation is needed to sustainably reduce costs and stabilize margins long term.
 
Foreseeably, as a cost-containment strategy and to mitigate against the sector's notorious cyclicality, Energy companies have to variabilize their fixed costs as much as possible. Other drivers for transformation include the upskilling and cross-skilling required to curate the workforce of the future aligned with the realities of the new energy sector dynamics. Transitioning to an off-balance sheet workforce model is not only intuitive but must be fast-tracked.
 
Digital is the secret sauce to staying ahead of the hunt (Job or Talent) From the foregoing, it's clear the energy and climate crisis has precipitated a labor crisis leaving the energy industry in dire need of solutions. As the Oil & Gas sector continues to struggle to attract talent due to its poor reputation as a reliable employer, legacy workflows have to be digitized, not only to gain cost and operational efficiencies but to better align the business with current operational realities and future workforce demographics. 
 
Manup leverages the ubiquity and affordability of cloud computing to automate the complex and legacy workflows of lifecycle workforce management. We have built the technology that helps energy workers stay on top of their training and certifications, find their next project faster and take more money home. 
 
To gain or retain competitiveness, energy companies must adapt to changing realities. Manup premised on sustainability, inclusiveness, and diversity uses its digital-powered technology to help companies streamline processes, reduce costs, and ensure a trained, safe, skilled, and diverse workforce executes their projects.
 
Manup's vision is bold- to be the digital destination for every energy worker looking for projects and for companies looking to connect seamlessly with personnel anywhere in the world. This vision cannot be achieved without you all.
 
As we define this category, I invite you to join us, let's shape the future of work together !