Heading a team that works across ten jurisdictions, Irene Wamakau excels in multiple aspects of her role, according to sources. During her time leading the dual-function legal and compliance department, Wamakau has actively promoted greater business focus, with initiatives including focused wide-reaching training programs.

Most recently in the case of FATCA, she held knowledge-sharing sessions with regulators and banking associations across Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.

‘My biggest challenge remains managing stakeholders across ten different countries, who are not legal practitioners, and helping them to understand positions taken by the legal team’, Wamakau says. On the flipside, the ‘diversity’ of her team and her role is also the thing she enjoys most.

‘Having to keep myself informed and updated across all the different markets just helps me grow all the time’.