Training has lengthy been heralded because the bedrock of nationwide progress. However in Ghana, the place the vitality sector is quickly evolving and the demand for expert professionals is rising, one personal firm helps bridge the often-cited hole between the classroom and the economic world.
Genser Vitality, a diversified vitality supplier, is reworking how technical schooling is delivered throughout the nation, investing not solely in infrastructure, however in individuals. By way of strategic partnerships with main universities and hands-on industrial coaching, Genser Vitality is empowering the subsequent era of engineers, technicians, and vitality specialists.
A classroom past partitions
Since launching its industrial coaching program, Genser Vitality has offered greater than 400 college students from establishments reminiscent of Kwame Nkrumah College of Science and Expertise (KNUST), the College of Mines and Expertise (UMaT), and Takoradi Technical College (TTU) with on-site experiences at key operational hubs, together with GP Damang, GP Wassa, and the Anwomaso Department and Metering Station (ABMS) close to Kumasi.
“By permitting college students to interact instantly with engineering and operational processes, we intention to supply sensible expertise that complement their educational data,” stated Daniel Ayi, Vice President of Operations (Energy) at Genser Vitality.
The method is already altering lives. For Emmanuel Mensah, a final-year mechanical engineering scholar at UMaT, the go to to Genser’s ABMS facility was nothing in need of transformative.
“Earlier than visiting Genser, I solely understood vitality programs in concept,” he stated. “Seeing the generators and operations up shut gave me a brand new perspective. It’s inspiring to witness the applied sciences I’ve solely examine come to life.”
Akua Nkrumah, {an electrical} engineering scholar at TTU, shared the same sentiment: “Genser Vitality made me really feel that there’s a spot for girls on this trade. Seeing feminine engineers thrive right here motivates me to push more durable and intention larger.”
Prioritizing well being, security,
and surroundings (HSE) coaching
Integral to those web site visits is Genser Vitality’s unwavering dedication to Well being, Security, and Surroundings (HSE) requirements. Each scholar and customer undergoes complete HSE coaching, guaranteeing they perceive the protocols and practices that safeguard each personnel and the surroundings.
“Security is not only a coverage; it’s a part of our tradition,” emphasised Ayi. “We instill this mindset in our workers and lengthen the identical rigorous coaching to our guests. It’s important that everybody who steps onto our websites is supplied with the data to function safely and responsibly.”
This emphasis on HSE is mirrored in Genser’s day by day operations, the place steady coaching classes are carried out to bolster security practices and environmental stewardship amongst workers.
Stephen Davor, HSE Superintendent at Genser Vitality, added: “Our purpose is to make security second nature. Whether or not you’re a technician, scholar, or govt, HSE consciousness is a part of your day by day accountability. It’s how we defend lives and guarantee sustainable operations.”
Investing in instruments. Investing in desires.
Genser’s contributions transcend experiential studying. In a major gesture in 2023, the corporate donated a fuel turbine bundle value $1.2 million to TTU—the primary of its sort at any college in Ghana. The gear is already reshaping the college’s engineering curriculum and giving college students entry to the identical equipment utilized in world energy vegetation.
“This gear offers our college students a aggressive edge,” stated Dr. Kwasi Boateng, a senior lecturer at TTU. “They’re now working with the identical programs used internationally, which prepares them for world alternatives.”
For Annie Andoh, a final-year scholar in Electrical/Electronics engineering, the turbine represents a dream realized. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime alternative,” she stated. “We’re studying expertise that the majority college students elsewhere can solely examine.”
Studying from the specialists
Genser’s coaching efforts additionally embrace classroom engagements led by trade professionals. One current seminar, held in partnership with TTU’s Division of Oil and Pure Fuel and the Division of Marine Engineering and Nautical Research, launched over 150 college students to the intricacies of oil and fuel terminal operations.
The session was led by Carlos Estaban Laya Marquez, Senior Naval Engineer at Genser Vitality, who introduced not solely technical experience however a singular cross-cultural perspective to the classroom.
“Instructing the subsequent era and giving again to Ghana, my host nation for the previous eight years, is each an honor and a privilege,” Laya Marquez stated. “The heat, generosity, and wealthy tradition of Ghana have made this journey much more significant. Medaase to all my colleagues and my new mates at TTU for his or her kindness and shared ardour for studying.”
Following the seminar, college students visited Genser’s Takoradi Pure Fuel Liquids Terminal (TNET) challenge web site, which is presently below development. The TNET facility is designed to incorporate a ten,000-cubic-meter cryogenic butane tank and a 30,000-cubic-meter cryogenic propane tank for the storage and export of pure fuel liquids (NGLs). The location will improve Ghana’s vitality infrastructure by offering essential storage options for NGLs, supporting each home vitality wants and export potential.
World partnerships,
cross-cultural affect
Whereas Genser’s mission is deeply rooted in Ghana, its attain is more and more world. A current collaboration with Georgetown College’s Dikran Izmirlian Program in Enterprise and World Affairs exemplifies the cross-cultural and academic change Genser fosters.
As a part of a months-long collaboration, college students from Georgetown’s McDonough Faculty of Enterprise and the Walsh Faculty of Overseas Service labored with Genser on sustainable vitality initiatives. Their work culminated in a weeklong journey to Ghana in 2024, the place college students toured Genser’s Damang and Tarkwa energy vegetation, visited the Gold Fields mines, and explored the upcoming TNET facility, gaining immersive publicity to real-world vitality manufacturing.
“Genser’s group was extraordinarily gracious in welcoming us to their industrial websites,” stated Georgetown scholar Courtney Mawet. “Studying about fuel and vitality from specialists on the supply in Ghana was an unbelievable academic expertise and positively not one thing we get to see repeatedly.”
“The chance to bodily see the Genser websites complemented our coursework on the clear vitality transition and vitality independence,” added Abigail Smith, a fellow Georgetown scholar.
These joint initiatives are simply one in every of many. Genser has additionally partnered with Howard College, the place two MBA cohorts have chosen Genser Vitality as their capstone challenge. These initiatives have produced in-depth strategic analyses and actionable suggestions on market growth, sustainability, and operational scaling, demonstrating how educational collaboration can drive significant, real-world affect.
Creating expertise from inside
In parallel with its exterior partnerships, Genser has additionally prioritized inside capability constructing. By way of a collaboration with the College of Florida, choose workers from throughout the corporate have participated in govt schooling and graduate-level coursework in areas reminiscent of strategic administration and development engineering.
These applications guarantee Genser’s workforce stays not solely aggressive within the world vitality trade but in addition on the slicing fringe of analysis and innovation.
“This twin method, coaching the subsequent era of engineers whereas additionally investing in our current expertise ensures that Genser stays agile and knowledgeable,” stated Ayi. “It’s about future-proofing our firm and the sector at giant.”
An extended-term imaginative and prescient rooted in innovation
Greater than a company initiative, Genser’s funding in schooling displays a deeper philosophy: that Ghana’s future lies within the potential of its youth. By fostering early publicity to industrial operations and cultivating expertise from the bottom up, the corporate is contributing to social mobility and nationwide financial resilience.
“Training is on the core of our mission,” stated Ayi. “By way of this initiative, we intention to nurture the expertise that may lead Ghana’s vitality transition within the years to come back.”
And the journey is way from over. Genser Vitality is actively looking for new, progressive methods to make sure this system stays related, inclusive, and aggressive in a quickly altering world panorama. With every web site go to, seminar, and hands-on coaching alternative, it continues to energy not simply the vitality grid, however Ghana’s future itself.
