Marcia AshongMarcia Ashong


Ghana

 

Occupational Information


Job Title: Founder & CEO of  TheBoardroom Africa and Brace Energy

Professional History


Marcia Ashong is the Founder and CEO of TheBoardroom Africa (TBR Africa) and Brace Energy. TBR Africa is an initiative that champions women in executive leadership across Africa by working with venture capital and private equity investors, development finance institutions, companies, and organizations to improve female representation in boardrooms and investment committees. Brace Energy is a nascent pan-African oil and gas service company and fully licensed to operate in Ghana and Uganda.

Marcia also sits on the Advisory Committee of the Mastercard Foundation in Ghana.

Marcia has a varied background in international energy, petroleum law, and extensive work experience in the upstream oil and gas service industry and has held leadership roles on four continents. In 2017, Marcia was named amongst Ghana's 20 Top Under 40 business leaders. Her desire to champion women in the workplace is rooted in her own experience as a rising star in the oil and gas field, where she was the youngest African Country Manager for a major multinational oil and gas company. She has over a decade of experience in legal, consulting, project management, and business development.

In 2010, Marcia founded the Ghana Oil Club (GOC), a professional organization aimed at providing a forum for petroleum and energy professionals, as well as an avenue for active dialogue about Ghana's Petroleum and Energy Sectors. She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the GOC.  She was part of the implementation team of the World Bank's 'Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facilities' Sourcebook initiative (EI Sourcebook); a project to provide best practice policy frameworks for governments and stakeholders in the extractive industries; with specific emphasis on resource-rich developing nations. Soon after this, she advised on a project which sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Norwegian Oil for Development Program in Ghana.

Marcia is published with the Oxford Journal of World Energy Law, where she made contributions on global trends in local content regulations in oil and gas. She was also awarded a research grant in 2014 from the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) on the same topic. She is part of the HATCH Global Network (which seeks to bring together change-leaders from across the globe by connecting people to resources to aid in accelerating ideas to action) and was invited as part of this network to host and speak at VivaTech, the world’s second-largest technology conference, in 2018. She has been featured in publications including African Business Magazine, CNBC Africa, BBC Africa, Devex, and Stylist UK, among others.

Under her leadership at TBR Africa, the company has successfully created the largest network of board-ready women in Africa and have placed several women onto Boards. The company’s unique positioning in the market-led it to securing a long-term partnership and a backing of $2m dollars in funding from CDC Group (the UK’s Development Finance Corporation, and largest Private Equity investor in Africa). She is passionate about the opportunity to impact policy in the natural resource space and is an avid blogger and speaker on gender equality and the impact of women in leadership.

Qualifications


Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & Political Science at the University of Minnesota, United States
LLB Hons. (Law) at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Master of Laws (LLM) in Energy Law and Policy at University of Dundee, United Kingdom 

Program


2019 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow


 Additional Tags: Law, International Relations, Political Science, Energy Law and Policy, Oil and Ga, Leadership, Gender Equality

 

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About AFLI

 

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The African Leadership Institute (AFLI) focuses on building the capacity and capability of visionary and strategic leadership across the continent. Developing exceptional leaders representing all spheres of society, the Institute’s flagship programme is the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship. Offering a multifaceted learning experience and run in partnership with Oxford University, it is awarded annually to 20-25 carefully chosen candidates, nominated from across Africa. Alumni of the African Leadership Institute form a dynamic network of Fellows passionately committed to the continent’s transformation, bridging the divide between nations and ensuring that Africa is set centre-stage in global affairs.