Legal team size:   Four

Major legal advisers/ external counsel:  GE Elias, Templars

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

As an inhouse counsel, I have encountered several periods of crisis. A proactive approach is having a comprehensive response framework/plan in place and conducting periodic risk assessments. However, since no crisis is the same, a key step is understanding the underlying issues and root causes of the crisis from the legal and business perspective and having adequate responses and legal solutions.

Additionally, there is immense value in learning from past crises, as many tend to recur in varying forms. The learnings equip us to handle crisis effectively and strategically. Equally important is ensuring that internal stakeholders within the organization are actively engaged and aligned and exposed to legal aspects of transactions.

In aligning the legal strategy with the broader business strategy of the organisation, the legal team ensures that it not only understands the company’s strategic objectives but its profitability targets. Furthermore, as a Techco inhouse counsel within the Pan African space,  there is the constant need to keep up with emerging and disruptive technologies and the ever evolving regulatory landscape as well as managing cross border legal risks. This implores the need to also ensure that the regulatory compliance is fused into the organisations strategy. Lastly,  it is imperative to ensure the legal team is not perceived as a “deal killer” but a problem solver contributing to the overall and long-term success of the organisation.

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

Within the technology space, the rapid advancement of technology has accelerated the digital economy, leading to increased reliance on software licensing and digital services, cloud computing, data hosting, cybersecurity, data protection and Artificial Intelligence.

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

I am passionate about the intersection of technology and law and navigating the legal implications and framework of emerging technologies. I am also passionate about data protection and Privacy in Nigeria.