Powering a Sustainable Future with Bunmi Bashiru

What does it take to build a career in energy while helping shape a more sustainable future?

In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet sits down with Bunmi Bashiru, an energy professional and Executive Director of Energy Connocio. Bunmi shares how growing up in a resource-rich country without reliable access to power sparked a question that would shape her career: Where does power come from?

That question led Bunmi to study chemical engineering and build a career across several areas of the energy industry, including downstream energy, natural gas distribution, upstream operations, and sustainable energy.

Bunmi explains why she believes traditional energy and sustainability do not have to be enemies. Instead, the challenge is finding better and more sustainable ways to produce the energy the world still needs while protecting the environment for future generations.

Nic and Bunmi also talk about what it takes to grow in a competitive, male-dominated field. Bunmi shares the important role mentors have played in her career and how they helped her find direction, challenge herself, and see opportunities beyond where she was at the time.

The conversation also explores resilience. Bunmi discusses balancing motherhood and career growth, solving difficult problems on brownfield energy projects, handling the pressure and travel involved in energy operations, and learning to find a way forward when the first solution does not work.

She also shares how The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People helped shape the way she sets priorities and creates space for the different areas of her life.

Looking ahead, Bunmi is focused on expanding her consulting work and supporting energy accessibility in underserved communities. She believes access to power matters and that sustainable energy solutions can help create opportunities for more people.

Bunmi also shares her growing interest in multifamily real estate and the power of pooling resources with others to pursue larger opportunities.