29.09.2026
In a crisis, leadership is tested not by loud words but by the ability to make decisions, keep a team together, and look beyond the immediate problem. This is particularly true when the energy sector operates every day amid uncertainty, war, and constant challenges.
On 15 October, Energy Club will host its second forum in Kyiv, “Energy of Women’s Leadership: Women Holding Ukraine’s Energy Front”.
One of the speakers will be Olga Kamenets, Head of Marketing and Communications, TEPLA LLC, and an expert with 20 years of experience in strategic communications, government relations (GR), and reform advocacy.
In an interview with journalist Olena Karpachova, she spoke about the new rules of engagement between business, government, and international partners; the strength of industry coalitions; the role of women in energy diplomacy and crisis management; the importance of strategic vision during wartime; corporate governance reform at state-owned energy companies; and professional guidance for young women choosing careers in energy and strategic communications.
– Ms. Kamenets, you have more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications and government relations. How has the full-scale war changed the rules of engagement between the energy business, the government, and international partners?
– Before 2022, GR in the energy sector was a conversation between two sides. Business would come to the government with its position, while the government would respond with certain concessions or restrictions, and negotiations over tariffs, licensing requirements, and changes to market rules could continue for years.
In the autumn of 2022, when massive attacks on the energy infrastructure began, a third participant joined the table. International partners were no longer simply observers. They became the ones delivering transformers, generators, and turbines.
I saw this triangle from the inside when, at the Ministry of Energy, I coordinated the Emergency Energy Assistance Hub and worked with the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine. On one side was an energy company that needed equipment yesterday. On the other was a donor who had to account for every euro to its taxpayers. In the middle was the government, which had to bring everything together and make sure the mechanisms worked without disruption.
Previously, the winner was the one who managed to secure certain concessions for their business. Now, it is the one who can work systematically and transparently and demonstrate rapid results.
– In times of crisis, it is particularly important to “speak with one voice”. Why are coalitions and partnerships so important for the energy sector today, and how can women leaders become a driving force behind such alliances?
– In practice, “speaking with one voice” means something very simple: having one position instead of several different approaches and a pile of letters from different stakeholders. When an industry goes to three different offices asking for three different things, the government chooses whatever is easier for it to do. Or it decides to do nothing.
I worked with the Association of Energy Suppliers for more than four years. And I can say with confidence that an association’s position carries more weight than a letter from an individual company. But first, that position has to be agreed upon among different players, and that is a separate task — often the most difficult one.
It seems to me that when it comes to establishing communication, women can be more flexible than men. Women are often the ones responsible for the painstaking communication work: taking minutes at meetings, preparing minutes of disagreements, sending follow-up letters, and reminding people about deadlines. This work is often assigned to women as something technical.
But it is actually extremely important. Because whoever formulates what was agreed, whoever drafts the final wording of regulations, has the greatest influence on the outcome.
– During blackouts and energy attacks, many decisions had to be made under conditions of uncertainty. What communication or management approaches, in your view, helped the sector withstand these challenges?
– In a crisis, people definitely do not need calls for calm such as “Keep calm and carry on”. They need information and answers. Will there be gas? During which periods will there be no electricity? Where should people turn in an emergency? Where can they find assistance?
When the full-scale invasion began, at “Tviy Gazzbut” we tried to communicate with our customers as much as possible. We repeatedly reminded them what worked and how, when it worked, and what to do in different situations. In my view, it is silence that customers find hardest to deal with.
– You have worked in both the public sector and business. Has the attitude towards women who negotiate, represent companies’ interests, and influence public policy changed in recent years?
– If we look, say, at the past five years, the changes are not particularly noticeable. Everything is evolving rather gradually. I remember how actively people discussed in 2021 the fact that men had gained the right to take paid parental leave. Today, no one is surprised by this.
If we look at the past 25 years, however, the changes are certainly more visible. For example, until December 2017, Ukraine still had a 1993 Ministry of Health order listing 450 occupations in which women were prohibited from working. Many of them were in the energy and industrial sectors. So less than ten years ago, the state was still deciding where a woman could and could not work.
The question of whether a woman can participate in negotiations at the highest level, represent a major company, a ministry, or a country has long ceased to be a question. It is almost uncomfortable to even discuss it anymore. But I would not relax. Women have access to the negotiating table. The next question is how many decisions men make together with women at that table, and how many are made before the woman even enters the negotiating room.
– Energy today needs not only financial but also diplomatic support. What role, in your view, do women leaders play in attracting international partners and investment and advancing Ukraine’s energy agenda?
– Energy diplomacy is definitely not about ceremonies and formal signings. It is mostly about spreadsheets, letters, and reports.
For example, a government that has provided money for a transformer or a gas turbine unit has to explain to its taxpayers where that equipment is now operating and what it is powering. If you can provide that answer quickly, with figures and photographs, the partner comes back with a new contribution. If you cannot, next time the money and assistance will go where reporting is better.
At the Ministry of Energy, this was to a large extent what I worked on: preparing materials showing what assistance had arrived, where it had gone, and how it had been used. By the end of 2025, the Energy Support Fund had 36 donors, while humanitarian assistance to Ukraine was being provided by 38 countries. This coalition was built through the efforts of the government, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ukrainian embassies around the world informed governments and partners about the situation in Ukraine, the consequences of attacks, and the need for energy equipment — they wrote letters and sent tables listing specific needs. And it worked.
But support from partners cannot be sustained through good speeches and attractive presentations alone. The process has to be accompanied by transparent and regular reporting.
As for women, they are usually on both sides of this process. In the field of humanitarian assistance, it seems to me that there are more women than men.
– You describe GR as a “long game”. How can businesses maintain a strategic vision when they have to respond to new wartime challenges every day?
– Daily response is tactics; there is no way around it, especially in our circumstances. But strategy is what you keep in sight even when everything is on fire. Because when a window of opportunity opens, it is already too late to prepare.
For example, TEPLA is interested in attracting talented young people who want to develop in technology and are ready to build their careers in the energy sector. So in October, together with the regional military administration, we are holding a student hackathon in Poltava called “Digital Energy of Poltava Region”. Teams will develop an application to help small and medium-sized businesses and public institutions plan their energy balance for the winter. This is a response to the challenge of a difficult winter. And grants for further education and employment contracts for the winners are, for us, an investment in talent that will want to work in the energy sector.
– What, in your view, distinguishes a strong leader in a crisis? What qualities are most important today for women who lead teams or implement large-scale change?
– A strong leader in a crisis does not make promises they cannot control. But they give their team two things: confidence in the outcome and honesty about how bad things are right now. A team can handle bad news. It cannot handle promises that repeatedly fail to materialise. We have all been caught in this trap since February 2022, hearing “by summer”, “by autumn”, “any day now” many times. Over time, you stop believing promises.
For women who lead teams, I would add one more thing. You do not need to prove that you are more resilient than everyone else. A woman who works herself to exhaustion cannot help her team manage its strength and resources in order to emerge from a prolonged crisis successfully.
– You have extensive experience in reform advocacy. Which reform in the energy sector do you consider most important today for strengthening Ukraine’s resilience and competitiveness?
– I will name a reform that may not be the most popular one: corporate governance at state-owned energy companies. Truly independent supervisory boards.
In 2018-2019, at the Government Reform Office, I worked with the team supporting the competitive selection of supervisory boards for state-owned enterprises. At the time, the government approved boards for Ukrposhta, Boryspil Airport, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, and Ukrhydroenergo. Supervisory boards were supposed to serve as a safeguard against state interference, corruption, and abuse.
Every case in which a supervisory board turned out to be merely decorative undermined trust in the entire sector. Restoring that trust will still require considerable work.
– What would you advise young women who want to build careers not only in energy but also in strategic communications, GR, and change management?
– First, study the subject matter, not just the profession. A communications specialist in the energy sector who does not understand what makes up the price of gas or how the electricity market works may write a good press release. But when industry issues are discussed, they will be more of a stenographer than a participant.
My own path into energy was indirect: a degree in economic cybernetics, investment banking, privatisation, and capital market reform. None of these stages was unnecessary. Each added particular skills that help in building relationships with regulators, counterparties, and donors.
And second, learning never ends. I completed the “GR Specialist” programme at Kyiv School of Economics in 2025, having almost 20 years of experience in government and corporate communications, including the last five specifically in GR. With the spread of artificial intelligence, communications are changing.
Therefore, every professional should also have these skills in their toolkit. The profession is changing faster than we can get used to it.
Today, the energy sector needs not only technology, investment, or rapid crisis-response decisions. Above all, it needs people who are capable of taking responsibility, bringing different stakeholders together around a common goal, and at the same time maintaining a strategic vision. It is through these everyday decisions, professionalism, resilience, and a willingness to keep learning that a new kind of leadership is being shaped — leadership that is already defining what Ukraine’s energy sector will look like after the war. And in this future, women are no longer an exception or a separate topic, but an integral part of the strength and development of Ukraine’s energy sector.
