Michael Edem Akafia joined Gold Fields West Africa in 2010, taking on a role which has seen him lead and manage all legal and company secretarial services of the West Africa operations of Gold Fields including the leading gold mining company in Ghana with an annual turnover of US$1.2bn.

No stranger to senior roles, Akafia previously served as the company secretary and head, legal and compliance at SIC Financial Services, a subsidiary of the largest insurance company in Ghana with $74m assets. Most notably, Akafia was part of the team that managed and invested the $10m Bedrock Venture Capital Fund and represented the Fund on a number of investee company boards. Akafia had a successful spell as general manager of the Ghana subsidiary of SW Global, an ICT Software company financed by the IFC and Zenith Bank. Amongst some of his other most outstanding achievements, his time at leading Ghanaian corporate and commercial law firms Bentsi-Enchill and Letsa & Ankomah also stand out.

During his time there he worked on a number of large-scale deals, one of which was the IFC’s $125m funding of Newmont’s Ahafo project. He has continuously proven himself through a number of transactions within the mining and minerals sector, having worked on the Redback Mining’s acquisitions of Chirano mines and markedly doing so in the most cost-effective manner. Akafia also has experience of working with high-profile clients from his time with Ghanaian law firm Lawfields Consulting, where he was involved in consulting for clients like the World Bank and the Ghana Stock Exchange.