WIEN Signs MoU With KPMG to Develop DEI Benchmark for the Energy Sector
The MoU was signed on Tuesday at a joint media briefing organised by WIEN and KPMG in Lagos.
The initiative is aimed at measuring women’s inclusion across the energy value chain, providing reliable data on their participation and establishing a framework for assessing how organisations implement diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The President of WIEN, Eyono Fatayi-Williams, disclosed this during the briefing, held to announce the network’s forthcoming Gala and Awards Night, scheduled for November 11, 2026.
She said the benchmark report, which would be published annually, would be developed using data from industry players and provide a credible basis for assessing women’s participation in the sector.
Fatayi-Williams said the report would be unveiled at the gala, themed ‘Accelerating Inclusive Leadership for a Sustainable Energy Future’.
She explained that the collaboration with KPMG would also support the verification of women-owned businesses and the establishment of a database that government agencies, companies and international organisations could use to identify credible women-owned enterprises.
According to her, the verification process would address concerns about the identification of women-owned businesses and strengthen the credibility of data used to promote gender inclusion in the industry.
She said KPMG would also provide quality assurance for the WIEN awards process to ensure that nominees and eventual winners were assessed against credible criteria and international best practices.
Fatayi-Williams noted that the partnership was designed to translate commitments to diversity and inclusion into measurable outcomes, adding that the network wanted to recognise women who had made significant contributions to the energy sector.
She said, “It is not enough to work, but we want to begin to recognise the women who have made an impact, the women who are the role models that we all look up to.”
The WIEN president said the awards would recognise outstanding women across different segments of the energy value chain, as well as companies that had demonstrated leadership in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
She added that the network, established in 2020 with 30 founding members, had grown to more than 1,000 women and over 32 corporate members.
Fatayi-Williams said WIEN had also organised capacity-building programmes, webinars, masterclasses and industry visits to help women develop the skills and experience needed to advance their careers.
She urged women working across the energy value chain to join the network and encouraged male professionals to support its efforts to improve women’s participation and leadership in the industry.
Also speaking, KPMG’s representative, Chukwuemeke Igabari, said the firm was committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and ensuring that women’s contributions to the energy sector were recognised and measured.
He said KPMG would work with WIEN to validate award nominees, assess their contributions to the industry and support the development of the DEI benchmark.
Igabari said the benchmark would help energy companies assess whether they had the appropriate standards, processes and governance structures to promote women’s participation and provide equal opportunities for career advancement.
He added that the initiative would cover different segments of the industry, including upstream, downstream, logistics and other energy-related businesses, while recognising rising stars, lifetime achievements and women supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for girls.
According to him, organisations could use the benchmark to evaluate how effectively they were embedding diversity, equity and inclusion in their governance practices.
He said, “We believe that inclusion and diversity that women bring to the table is something that will help organisations grow, therefore they can become profitable and also continue to do very well in the industry.”
Igabari added that KPMG would work closely with WIEN to ensure that the benchmark became a credible reference point for assessing women’s contributions and the industry’s progress in implementing DEI policies.
Earlier, WIEN’s Media and Publicity Director, Lola Oyenekan, said the network’s collaboration with KPMG reflected the importance of partnerships between professional networks and corporate organisations in translating commitments to inclusion into lasting impact.
She said the forthcoming gala would provide an opportunity to strengthen professional networks, inspire emerging leaders and highlight the achievements of women driving progress across Nigeria’s energy value chain.
