Legal Team Size: Three

How do you approach legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

Managing legal aspects, in the current period of foreign exchange (forex) volatility for a Nigerian pharmaceutical company whose inputs are 95% imports dependent necessitated taking a proactive and integrated approach in line with the company’s business strategy. The legal team adopted an integrated approach that encompassed contractual protections, regulatory compliance, and risk management practices. For contractual protections, the team worked hard to incorporate forex risk clauses in supplier agreements. For example, we negotiated a dual currency pricing clause in one of our contracts with suppliers which offers the company the flexibility to pay for supplies in another currency if forex volatility becomes unmanageable. In addition, we currently include forex instability as a potential force majeure event which could allow the parties to renegotiate terms if forex rates change drastically. For the regulatory compliance part of the legal strategy, we regularly monitor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policies and guidelines on foreign currency access to ensure adherence to CBN guidelines for sourcing forex through the official market to mitigate legal risk. As the company is heavily dependent on imported raw materials, the legal team also monitor Customs guidelines and regulations on import duties and tariff changes to avoid penalties and disruptions to company’s raw materials imports. As part of our risk management, the legal team developed robust contract templates for local sourcing of raw materials to support company’s strategy of building partnerships with local suppliers, reducing reliance on imports and limiting exposure to forex risk. We have also strengthened the dispute resolution mechanisms in our supply and purchase agreements opting for institutional instead of ad hoc arbitration as a means of addressing forex-related disputes. The legal strategy supports the company’s broader strategy, by proactively addressing legal risks, ensuring regulatory compliance, and building consumer trust. These efforts align with the company’s vision of becoming sub-Saharan Africa’s leading healthcare brand, enabling it to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, sustain volume, and value growth even during recent periods of economic instability.

In your opinion, what are the main trends that are salient in your country currently?

Currently, Nigeria continues to grapple with high inflation which is eroding purchasing power and increasing the cost of living. The consumer price index reflects rising prices for food, transportation, and housing. High inflationary trend in Nigeria is driven by both domestic factors, such as fuel price increases, Naira devaluation, poor infrastructure, inefficiencies in local production, high logistics costs due to bad roads, and external factors such as the RussiaUkraine War which continues to disrupt global supply chains. The government has implemented some measures to control inflation including through the central bank’s monetary policies, social programs such as conditional cash transfers and food security initiatives and production incentives to boost local production. However, the introduction of these measures is yet to have an impact on inflation and the cost of living, which continues to skyrocket. The government aims to drive inflation down to below 25% in 2025, but this would be dependent on factors such as the success of fiscal and monetary policies, global commodity prices, success of local production incentives and improvements in infrastructure. From all indications, high inflation will persist well into 2025 and both individuals and businesses would have to develop innovative ways to adapt to inflationary pressures.

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

I am passionate about empowering young girls. I run a not for profit, called Mindshift Learn and Grow and the objective is to empower young girls between the ages of 13 years to 16 years to discover their passion and purpose and to enable them to make informed career choices without being limited by cultural and societal biases. We work with schools in semi-urban and rural areas by providing seminars, career counselling and mentoring services. One of the insights that the team has gained in the course of our work is that the career choices that young girls make are influenced by their parent’s wishes orthe kinds of jobs that the female role models around them do. Through our workshops we enlighten them on the endless possibilities of career opportunities out there and counsel them on how to have conversations with their parents and guardians with respect to their career choices. We match young girls with mentors in relevant professions for career advice and to give them a peek into what working in such profession entails. We have been able to impact over one hundred and fifty young girls across two states in Nigeria. We are hoping to expand our reach to schools in other states in the country in order to assist more young girls discover their purpose and succeed in life.