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‘Being a female makes my job more challenging’, Lynda Ait Kaci says of her role supporting General Electric’s North African business.

‘Most of our customers are from the energy and oil and gas sectors, which are, by definition, a kind of man’s world – particularly in the MENA Region’.

Formerly British American Tobacco’s legal head, Ait Kaci’s impressive list of past employers also includes Lafarge, where she took a deep involvement in the business’s strategic direction.

In her current capacity, Ait Kaci helped establish Africa’s first industrial complex for manufacturing gas and steam turbines, generators and control systems. She has also been praised for her effective handling of the considerable security risks and regulatory changes in this unstable region.

For Ait Kaci, another significant achievement has been ‘building a strong and trustful legal team within a challenging organisation’. She adds: ‘As in-house lawyers, we should not only focus on our job, but also make efforts to change the business culture and influence our environment positively’.

Like many others, Ait Kaci feels law firms should behave more like business partners when working with in-house counsel. She would also like to see more pro bono initiatives in the region, particularly coming from international firms.