Major legal advisers or external counsel: Littell & Holy and Covington and Burling

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

I am currently leading all matters legal, compliance and regulatory for the 206MW Ruzizi III Hydro-electric power project, which is a transboundary project in East/Central Africa. As the Project is a PPP, with two private shareholders (SN Power and IPS Kenya), together with three states – Republic of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, the funding is a blend of equity from the project sponsors, contracting states, and concessional, non-concessional funding.

Which recent political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted your work the most in recent years?

As the abovementioned project is at the border of Rwanda and Congo DRC, a region that is historically politically fragile, every day is an adventure.

Are there any causes, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I am passionate about genuinely economically transforming people’s lives. I enjoy negotiating and structuring deals that make sense, not just for the private sector, but for the ordinary citizen. My project is estimated to bring access to electricity to approximately 30 million people in Rwanda and in Eastern DRC. Imagine how this will change these people’s lives- they will literally come from darkness to light. With electricity comes an improved quality of life in more ways that can be counted.