Petrofac Chief Executive Ayman Asfari shares life lessons with young entrepreneurs

Dedication. Resilience. Fire in your belly. These are just three of the many qualities you need to live by to become a successful entrepreneur, according to our Group Chief Executive Ayman Asfari.

More than 150 young energy professionals and entrepreneurs gathered at the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) to hear Ayman give a keynote speech on how to run a successful business.

Jointly organised by Petrofac, the RAE and Young Professionals Network (part of the industry body Energy Institute), the event offered the next generation of industry talent an opportunity to learn tips and advice from highly accomplished business leaders.

Ayman recalled his early days in the industry when he was working as an engineer in Oman, right up to events that led to co-founding Petrofac International in 1991.  He told the audience that through hard work, clarity of purpose and by living the values he believes in, Petrofac was transformed into the thriving global business it is today, with more than 18,000 employees worldwide.

Other guest speakers at the event were Rachel Hodges, Managing Director of TNEI, Petrofac’s specialist energy and environmental consultancy which is part of ECS, and James Paton, Managing Director and Founder of asset management consultancy ADIL.  Both spoke about their personal experiences across various sectors and shared practical tips on how to start and run a company.

The evening concluded with a lively panel discussion which had to be extended by 30 minutes to accommodate the numerous questions from the audience to all three panel speakers.  Many attendees shared feedback of the evening on Twitter with one of the young entrepreneurs tweeting “Blown away by Ayman Asfari's story of how he helped build Petrofac”.

Watch a video of the speeches and panel discussion at the Royal Academy of Engineering.