Head of legal | Discovery Bank
Genevieve Mojapelo-Molefe
Head of legal | Discovery Bank
What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?
I have been part of large legal teams providing advice in GN5 Outsourcing deals, a Managed Separation deal of three large financial institutions in South Africa and ICT contractual due diligence processes in mergers and acquisitions deals.
Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?
I successfully built and implemented a Vendor Management Legal Function at Rand Merchant Bank. The function’s purpose was to remediate, mitigate, and manage contractual legal and technology risks across critical ICT service provider relationships.
How do you see the general counsel role evolving in South Africa over the next five-ten years?
In the next five years, I foresee general counsel needing to sharpen their commercial, business, and executive acumen in order to generate value for the business by providing pragmatic solutions, and not merely offering legal advisory services. I believe that the general counsel of the future must see themselves as part of the business and not just a support function. This requires a deliberate and concerted effort to shift from the mindset of strictly being ‘a legal executive’, to ‘a business executive in the room, who happens to have a strong legal background’.
Genevieve Mojapelo-Molefe is a seasoned and multi-award-winning information and communications technology attorney with over 12 years of post-admission legal experience. She currently serves as the head of legal at Discovery Bank, a leading behavioural and digital bank in South Africa.
Her professional career commenced at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, where she completed her articles and subsequently joined the professional legal team in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Department. Following this, she transitioned into Corporate, South Africa. Genevieve gained her professional working experience at several reputable financial institutions, including Nedbank, where she held the position of head of legal, overseeing Group Technology Contracting and Legal Services. Additionally, she served at Rand Merchant Bank, where she was responsible for the capability build of a new Vendor Management Legal function. The function was designed to remediate, mitigate, and manage contractual legal and technology risks across critical ICT service provider relationships.
Genevieve has played a significant role in numerous complex and large-scale ICT transactions throughout her career. These endeavours have encompassed the negotiation of agreements pertaining to ICT Procurement (including hardware and software licensing), Data, Cloud Services, Technology Platforms and Infrastructure, Service Level Agreements, as well as Consulting and Professional Services. Additionally, Genevieve has been part of large legal and technical teams conducting IT Contractual Due Diligence Processes in Mergers and Acquisition Deals, advising on substantial GN5 Outsourcing ICT Deals, as well as a Managed Separation Deal involving three large financial institutions in South Africa.
Genevieve holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a specialisation in Law (BCom Law) as well as a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB), both attained at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Some of her formal recognitions for outstanding performance include the Nedbank Achiever Awards (2014), the Nedbank Top Team Award (2015), as well as the Rand Merchant Bank Newcomer of the Year Award (2019), for which she was recognised for her successful build and implementation of a Vendor Management Legal function.
Genevieve is passionately involved in transferring knowledge in the Technology Law field by training and upskilling young lawyers and teams on the topic. Her deep concern about the shortage of Technology Law skills in South Africa has led to her recent collaboration for the provision of Technology Law training and education. This initiative is spearheaded by internationally recognised and multi-award-winning Data Privacy, Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Attorney, Ridwaan Boda (Partner at ENS Africa), in partnership with the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the South African Legal Technology Network, SALT.