General Manager (Strategy) The Management
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Ms. Zilper Michelle Abong’o, MEI is the General Manager, Strategy & Commercial Services at Kenya Pipeline Company. Zilper is responsible for steering KPC’s regional policies on market and integrated infrastructural systems as well as commercial decisions on corporate and regional investments. She oversees corporate planning and ideation; monitoring & evaluation, performance and productivity management; business development, marketing, customer retention/ relations and cross-sector stakeholder management along the Northern Corridor Transit Route; plus, enterprise risk management & ISO compliance.
She also heads the commercialisation effort for KPC’s nascent Fiber Optic Cable portfolio towards realizing Kenya’s digitization plan. A commercially astute, visionary, solutions-oriented leader, Zilper has over 17 years of consolidated middle and downstream Oil & Gas experience in high-level policy formulation, strategy creation and execution, oil & gas trading, supply logistics and distribution, across the Great Lakes Region and East-Central Africa. Prior to joining KPC, Zilper had been an oil and gas expert at various private sector companies: Kenya Shell Ltd. (now Vivo Energy), Bakri International Kenya Ltd. (now BE Energy), Addax & Oryx Group (now Oryx Energies), Hashi Energy; as well as in project consulting on strategy & market penetration.
She is driven by the desire to build a legacy in the broader energy sphere, particularly towards sustainable energy systems and policy, and has a demonstrated ability to cultivate an engaging working culture and in leading high-performance teams. Zilper is also highly passionate about building sustainable and resilient communities and is a pioneering member of the KPC Foundation’s Board of Trustees; and serves as a volunteer at, and sponsor of, the Washindi Victory Centre for youth and women empowerment.
She holds a Master of Science postgraduate degree in Economics & Policy of Energy and the Environment from University College London’s Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER), Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree in Public Policy Analysis & Communications from the University of Nairobi, and a Diploma in Petroleum Management from the Petroleum Institute of East Africa’s School of Petroleum Studies. She has also attended executive management and professional development courses at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, with the World Bank Group, Cranfield University & Defence Academy of the UK, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and CITAC Africa LTD, among others. Zilper is a full member of the UK’s Energy Institute; a thought leader in the sector, globally; and was awarded the UK Government-funded Commonwealth Scholarship in 2014 and is a member of its alumni association.
