By B. Linus Flomo (Intern)
The CEO of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Monie R. Captan, has won, with distinction, this year’s West Africa Exceptional Leadership Award at the 7th Ghana Energy Awards, held in Accra, Ghana, during the weekend.
Captan is the first West African CEO to win such a prestigious and competitive accolade in the category of “Exceptional Energy Leadership Award” in the region.
On Friday evening, he assumed the distinguished role of Guest of Honor at the event, joining president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of the Republic of Ghana, as a Special Guest of Honor for this momentous awards ceremony.
The Ghana Energy Awards, organized by the Energy Media Group and the West Africa Power and Petroleum Chamber, have formed a profound partnership to highlight and celebrate exceptional Chief Executive Officers of oil, gas, power, and petroleum institutions across the West African region.
Following a comprehensive selection process carried out by a team of technical researchers with different nationalities, Captan, CEO of the Liberia Electricity Corporation, was identified as the outstanding candidate among the thirty-two CEOs across the West African region, demonstrating excellence across the following five pivotal criteria: exemplary institutional leadership; remarkable reduction of revenue losses and substantial revenue growth; remarkable increment of the customer base and exceptional energy accessibility, expansion, transmission, and distribution plans; highly effective collaboration with regional counterparts and the successful mobilization of resources from donors; and enhanced maintenance of technical infrastructure and substantial investments and usage of local human capital.
In acknowledgment of these outstanding achievements by the compelling analysis, the Ghana Energy Awards bestowed the West Africa Exceptional Leadership Award upon Captan on Friday evening, during an excellent and well-organized Ghana Energy Awards night.
According to them, Captan’s outstanding contributions and superior leadership in advancing the energy sector in West Africa, won him the award.
The statement further highlighted that a comprehensive selection process identified CEOs hailing from fourteen West African countries, following intensive in-person validation meetings. This showcased their outstanding leadership qualities within the energy sector. After receiving the award, Captan spoke of how cardinal the collective awareness was for our energy transition.
“The Ghana Energy Awards and the Energy Media Group present us with a unique opportunity to collaboratively advocate for our energy transition goals,” said Captan.
He added, “We need additional forums where we create invaluable spaces for mutual learning, innovative thinking, promotion of best practices, and fostering a collective awareness and commitment to transition our economies from expensive and environmentally unfriendly energy, to sustainable, clean renewable energy.”
During the awards, the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, appealed to his citizens in the energy sector to support the implementation of the Ghana Energy Transition Plan (GETIP).
According to President Addo, governments are to be held liable for meeting plans laid out within the energy sector.
“We need your help to implement the policies and programs that will make the energy transition easier, and we need to hold our government accountable,” President Addo said, adding, “The cooperation and support of all parties, domestic and foreign, are needed to achieve this goal, but above all, we require the dedication and effort of beneficiaries.”
The Ghana Energy Awards aim to recognize the efforts, innovation, and achievements of individuals, companies, and institutions within Ghana’s energy sector. It also reveals the extreme work of competing players under various award categories.
