Patricia Simon-Hart, Founder and Managing Director, Aftrac Limited

-By Danlami Nasir Isah

Patricia Simon-Hart is the founder and Managing Director of Aftrac Limited, an oil and gas service company that has been in operation for over 20 years. She is also the current Secretary to the Executive Board of PETAN (Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria), and Vice President Upstream to Women In Energy Network (WIEN), an Association she co-founded to foster gender balance and development of women in the Energy space. She has over 30 years of experience in Business Management, Public Policy and Public Administration.

Patricia started her career in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, which includes offering technology solutions to the oil and gas Sector. From there she set out to establish her own Oil Service company.
AFTRAC began operations in 1998 offering a range of technology driven solutions to the Nigerian Oil & Gas Sector, including Sand Management, Process Diagnostics & Testing, and Interwell Studies. In 2007 Aftrac extended their operations to include Surface Well Testing, EPF and Flowback Services.

In 2009 she took a six year break from the Private Sector to serve her State; called into public service she was appointed Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development to the Government of Rivers State, where she carried out the most aggressive Water Sector reforms in the state, that attracted investment from numerous International Development Agencies and succeeded in securing a US$ 280 million loan from the World Bank and AfDB to revamp water supply to Port Harcourt City.

She returned to her business in the private sector in 2009 but she continues to work in the development sector on an ad-hoc basis.
Patricia Simon-Hart has a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard, Kennedy School of Government, a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics/Computer Science & Statistics, from the University of Port Harcourt, and is also an alumnus of London Business School.

She has two daughters, enjoys playing golf, and is committed to a variety of Christian charity projects and programs.