Ezra Kavana
Project Regulatory Compliance and Permitting Lead, Total East Africa Midstream
Bachelor of Science (Honours, Geoscience), Master of Business Administration (General Management), Certificates in Project Management and Executive Leadership
November 2021
Ezra Kavana is a Project Lead working on the Crude Oil Pipeline at Total East Africa Midstream in Tanzania. He oversees the Project Regulatory Compliance and Permitting Management.
Ezra is responsible for identifying the regulatory permits needed for the Crude Oil Pipeline project, developing the permits, strategic planning, and licensing of various projects and facilities.
Ezra has previously worked in underground and open pit mining operations and the exploration industry. He has explored for and mined gold, copper, silver, zinc, and cobalt in Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ezra shares his typical work day.
Why did you choose this career pathway?
My career pathway started in more technical roles in mining before moving into operations management in renewable energy and project management in regulatory compliance and permitting for the Crude Oil Pipeline. I wanted broad career exposure in the energy sector, and these government/policy roles felt like a logical next step in my career move.
I love adventure so I enjoy travelling for site visits in my work.
Ezra enjoys travelling to and speaking at international conferences.
What are the best parts about your job? What are the hardest parts?
The best part of my job is gaining experience working on linear projects across many areas. I am involved in stakeholder engagement (including engaging with the public) and permit planning for multiple projects. I enjoy preparing meeting notices, meeting handouts, and coordinating and presenting at public and management meetings. This part helped me to participate in several international conferences, workshops, congresses, seminars, trade fairs, summits, and meetings as a speaker and panellist in Africa and North America.
The hardest part of my job is to plan ahead of time in preparing permits and works with project team members to submit reports that meet agency requirements.
Ezra spent his early career working in mining and exploration.
How did you get to your current role?
After working in the geoscience field during the early part of my career in mining I tried to develop myself in another area of project management in the renewable and oil and gas industry.
My main objective to elevate in my career was to secure a challenging position in a reputable organization to expand my learnings, knowledge, and skills. I wanted to fully utilize my training and skills, while making a significant contribution to the success of the company.
How well did your degree prepare you for your career path?
A degree in geoscience deals with the real world, which means imperfect data, a mix of data, open-ended problems, and the necessity of picking the best explanation with limited information. The ability to logically confront problems is directly related to making decisions in regulatory compliance affairs, project management, business, government, and public policy.
In general, my bachelor's degree qualification helped me in equipping myself with skills for writing reports, presentations to stakeholders, problem-solving, performing basic data analysis, and communicating with senior executives.
What advice would you give to students in your study area trying to decide on a career path?
At the end of the day, the most important to progress in your career is a combination of your technical skills plus your people skills. It’s great to identify what your dream job would be, and it’s great to pursue it, but don’t pursue it too doggedly so that you don’t see other opportunities out there.
The one thing that everyone should take away from every job they’ve ever had is that you learn something in anything you do: you should be developing some skill set that comes out of it, and you build on that.
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