Afra Al Owais leads the Energy Management & Audit Department of Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA). She joined SEWA in 2016 after qualifying with a degree in Sustainable & Renewable Energy Engineering from University of Sharjah. Afra was specially selected for her current role after distinguishing herself with strategic projects. She is passionate about environmental stewardship and promoting green growth which is one of the key goals of SEWA. Performing as a Sustainable & Renewable Energy Engineer, Afra contributes to policy and research in energy efficiency. Her vision is to bring about a sustained change in consumer behavior and energy efficiency practices. Achieving the consequent reduction in resources used, underpins everything that she does. She quickly recognizes opportunities to translate strategy into action. To this end she created the SEWA Sustainability Pathway as a permanent high-impact installation in the head office to illustrate the organization’s vision. This foresight also drove her to commission an innovation project to explore changing customer behavior using the FORTH Innovation Method which is new to the region. Most recently Afra has championed a building retrofit program targeting a reduction of 30 % in each premises which is an initiative to advance the position of Sharjah as City of Conservation. The title of Chief Efficienology Officer was recently bestowed in recognition of her determination and commitment to develop Green Growth.
