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As I grew up in Tunisia, I decided to get some experience here upon my graduation, for I believe I should work to understand the local context and business culture here. Besides, I am sure that having some experience in my country will better shape my ideas of leadership and will enable me to happily and responsibly bear the burden of improving things around me. In a word, I have a future to build here and luckily, with the internet and the increasingly high-revving globalization machine, almost everything is just a couple of clicks away, so distances are not a big deal.
Beside striving to develop my technical know-how, I’m also fine-tuning my leadership skills, my ability to coach people and my ethics. Entrepreneurship is the name of the game, because sooner or later I’ll dump any job I may have with a company; I’m just not a kid who can acquiesce to being swept into the intake ducts of a big company and accept an 8 to 6 career all his life! I will found my own business – there’s no other way out. I want to take the risk, I want to grab the bull by the horns, stand out of the crowd and unleash my entrepreneurial talents in Tunisia and then move on to go global market – or maybe be the other way around!
Although I am currently working as a project engineer in the oil sector, having already had a couple of sound experiences in the field of renewables may be surprising for many people but I see it as an opportunity, as well as an incentive, to be the “Green” among the "Black Gold" community. Unfortunately, we are still light years behind in terms of finding consensus to work in synergy for sustainable development, and the environment is still not at the top of our list of priorities or within the agenda of global companies and most world governments. Aggressively pursuing an energy policy of conservation besides that of generation is a must-do task in the context of the energy bottleneck the world is going through right now. There have to be increasing attempts from experts, observers, politicians and engineers to highlight and address the increasing environmental issues inherent to our current economies while striving to develop the next big energy ‘thing’ (be it fuel cells, wind, solar etc.). Seeing me switching from fossil fuels to green fuels is like jumping over a big fence in a whole different world: I am committed to doing it because this time I am one hundred percent sure that the other side of the fence really is greener!
My attraction to energy engineering is no surprise. As stated by Paul Roberts in his book The End of Oil:
'. . . the obsessive focus on oil is hardly surprising, given the stakes . . . in the fast moving world of oil politics, oil is not simply a source of world power but a medium for that power as well, a substance whose huge importance enmeshes companies, communities and entire nations in a taut global web that is sensitive to the smallest of vibrations . . . a single oil event – a pipeline explosion in Iraq, political unrest in Venezuela, a bellicose exchange between the Russian and Saudi oil ministers – sends shockwaves through the world energy order, pushes prices up or down and sets off tectonic shifts in global wealth and power.'
So, as a true engineer – and therefore as a national wealth distributor and a driving force for higher living standards for my people and nation – I cannot sit idle; looking for every way to lessen this dependency on oil is an obligation and no longer just an option. Being at the crossroads between engineering, environmental activism and wealth creation is not within just anyone’s reach; in combining all these components, I am more than sure that I need to pave the way to push forward toward not only the well being of my people but also of humanity as a whole!
Although motivation and commitment are good things, I may still need to reinforce my technical know-how and experience in the field of green energy in order to successfully found such a start-up. As an engineer, I have to understand the nuts and bolts of everything I step into. Maybe some further academic study would help, and, since my vision is an industry-oriented and applied one rather than research-oriented, a masters program in Energy Management, Building Systems and Renewable Energy Integrated Building Systems would be just the right thing for me as it involves heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, energy conversion, economics and a lot of other disciplines I have already been taught during my interdisciplinary curriculum in Tunisia Polytechnic School in La Marsa. I think I’ve already a good launch pad, and that what is missing is a just a little bit of application – more on-site visits, or an internship within a big company where I can put my acquired knowledge into practice and where I can get an invaluable hands-on experience.
However challenging the technical aspects of energy conservation and management may seem, I think that convincing policy makers to fund projects such as integrating renewable energy or implementing building retrofits whenever possible remains the most challenging task, even in developed countries. That is why, once again, I have to step up from behind the drawing board and sell myself as having a brain able to think outside the box and to make the best out of my negotiation and communication skills. With the Kyoto Protocol entering into effect last year, our national energy policy witnessing deep but positive changes and an increasing public awareness about the environment, I see few reasons why one should dither about pursuing a career in green energy and energy-efficient management. I hope within a few years, I’ll be able to be up and running and keep going: Going Green! Going Solo! Going Global!
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Slim MENZLI
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