About

The in-house legal team at the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) consists of five highly skilled lawyers led by Sade Morgan, legal, public affairs and communications director, a seasoned lawyer who brings her years of experience in the corporate commercial law scene to the role. The five-strong legal team is responsible for NBC’s vast operations and multiple regulatory regimes across the various Nigerian states. The team has adopted a business partnering model to ensure that every function in the company is assigned a legal business partner who takes responsibility for the provision of legal services to the relevant department. The team also undertakes regulatory monitoring to forestall business disruption and challenge arbitrary regulatory demands. From 2015 to date, the team has saved about ₦1bn in challenging arbitrary demands. The team takes proactive measures and provides solutions to legal issues. In managing risk, the team is responsible for contract management, preparing templates for contractual relationships and reviews to ensure the protection of the company’s interests. For high-level agreements with potentially high exposure, the team provides support to the relevant department from negotiation until the contract’s execution. Additionally, the team has efficiently handled dispute resolution which has led to a 56% reduction in the company’s litigation portfolio from 2015 to date from 187 cases to 83. In 2017, NBC legal led a team of external advisers to develop a business and governance model for the establishment of a separate business division under the registered trademark name ”Spirit of Hellenic” to manage its entry into the premium spirit consumer market in Nigeria with the potential to deliver additional EBIT of €5m in three years. Morgan says, ‘Every member of the team is recognised as an expert in his or her own rights and is cherished by the various functions he or she supports as a valuable business partner. The legal team is an integral member of all business projects and initiatives; easily accessible and always willing to provide support beyond legal services’.