At the helm of the Africa Energy Technology Centre (AETC), and as the force behind the Africa Energy Technology Conference, Emelia Akumah doesn’t just convene experts, she builds ecosystems. From Accra to Addis, Cotonou to Casablanca, her name is becoming synonymous with a new era of energy dialogue: one that is inclusive, innovative, and unapologetically African.

What sets her apart is not just the scale of her ambition, but the precision of her execution. Her conference is not a token event. It is a strategic platform designed to advance Africa’s technological sovereignty in energy, challenge inherited models, and create spaces where African talent and innovation can thrive, on African terms.

But her journey didn’t begin with microphones and international panels.

Raised in Ghana, Emelia Akumah understands deeply the everyday implications of energy poverty, what it means for a girl to study by candlelight, for a rural clinic to go dark in the middle of an emergency. These are not abstract statistics to her. They are lived realities that fuel her fire. And from that urgency, she has built a career focused on equity, sustainability, and access.

Her work goes beyond policy dialogue. Through the Africa Energy Technology Conference (AETC), she has established a powerful platform where African solutions meet African challenges, with real action. She brings together policymakers, startups, researchers, global investors and community voices to co-design strategies that are not only innovative, but context-relevant.

She also advocates for gender equity in a sector that still sidelines women. Through partnerships with organizations like Women in Energy Transition and with initiatives across Ghana and Francophone Africa, she ensures that women are not just present but heard, hired, funded, and elevated.

With her clarity of voice Emelia is not just a founder, but a movement. And her impact has not gone unnoticed. From high-level recognition by international bodies to invitations to speak on the biggest global energy stages, Emelia Akumah has become a voice that can no longer be ignored.

But perhaps what’s most striking about her is her unwavering commitment to pan-Africanism in energy. She doesn’t see her work as Ghanaian, or Anglophone, or private-sector only. She sees it as a continental mission, one that demands collaboration across language, power, and capital divides.

We celebrate her for the space she is opening.
For the young girls watching from Bamenda or Bobo-Dioulasso, wondering if they belong in energy.
For the African women professionals still fighting for a seat at the boardroom table.
For the future that now has a woman’s signature written all over it.

Emelia Akumah is not here to ask permission.
She is here to power the continent. And she is doing just that.