About

Afua Oduro Asante is a seasoned General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, dually qualified in the UK and Ghana with over 25 years’ experience, supporting and advising private and public listed companies, donor and international agencies, partnerships and public-sector clients. She is currently the Global Director for Compliance, Labour and Employment Law and Incidence Management at the Mastercard Foundation. She has extensive multi-industry experience having worked in FMCG sector as the Head of Legal and Company Secretary for Unilever Ghana Limited, the Legal Director and Company Secretary at Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited and the General Counsel for Diageo Plc’s Africa Regional Markets. She also has financial and banking sector experience having worked as the Head of Legal and Company Secretary at Ernst and Young Ghana Limited, Lead Lawyer for EY Africa’s Software Alliances and Technology and the Director for Legal and Compliance at Absa Ghana Limited.

She is a trusted advisor who is adept at leveraging a unique combination of legal knowledge and business acumen to fuel successful outcomes in high-level negotiations, commercial transactions, critical strategic initiatives and donor funded projects. She has a proven track record of implementing and ensuring adherence to compliance with local laws, codes of ethics and anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering, data privacy and competition law policies. She is diligent at implementing and embedding legal and compliance programs to ensure best practice corporate governance and continuous policy and regulatory compliance. She has a solid history of risk management in respect of regulatory, conduct, reputational, financial crime and data privacy risks

She holds a Master’s Degree (LLM) in Corporate Law from Nottingham Trent University and a Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester. She is a Notary Public, Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana and a Barrister called to the England and Wales Bar. She is also a Certified Compliance Risk and Governance Specialist with the Global Academy of Finance and Management.

She enjoys mentoring young professionals and is recognized for leading diverse and high performing teams across Africa and Canada.