Team size: 26

What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

I’ve negotiated, structured and completed for Ninja Van a US$50 million commercial lending facility with a leading global bulge bracket bank. This is a landmark deal for a high growth startup in Southeast Asia and is clear evidence that equity fundraising and private credit are not the only options for startups to secure working capital.

How do you motivate and manage the other members of your legal team well?

Apart from competitive and transparent salaries and wage policy, it’s important for legal team members to feel that they are growing within the organisation. Whilst positions at the ‘top’ would be few, I try my best to offer team members the chance to work on group-level or cross-border matters outside their usual remit and the chance for country-level counsels to travel. When new group-level positions are created, I will offer the role internally in Ninja Van Group Legal before we recruit from outside.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

The following three out of the four Ninja Van legal’s core values contribute significantly to successful business partnering. Communicate success and value – the managers need to consistent know and be reminded that legal is supporting in closing deal and to iron out kinks for successful project delivery. Ownership of outcomes – the legal team member should deeply appreciate how legal advice impacts on outcomes to the organisation and solve problems to reach an overall positive outcome. Business managers can ‘see’ this and it’s important for them to know that legal has ‘skin in the game’; and deep dive – all legal team members should have an in-depth understanding about business operations, market demands and changes, and commercial levers in landing a deal. This helps legal to talk to the business in the same language and be part of the same team to solve a risks and close deals.