Experience

Perchstone & Graeys LP

• Nigeria
• Law Practice
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Associate Counsel (Team Lead Corporate and Commercial)

  • Mar 2022 - Present

  Duties: As a team lead, I lead a team of nine lawyers, providing legal advice to clients, particularly in the Fintech sectors, court representation, attending and convening of minutes, and assisting clients with relevant statutory updates and compliance-related issues within a busy law firm, reporting to the principal partner. Key Responsibilities: • Steering legal research and providing legal support with various legal issues pertaining to corporate governance, regulatory compliance, risk assessment, employment, civil litigation, private equity, trusts, and securitization. • Facilitating meetings and advising clients (especially banks and corporate institutions on statutory and compliance issues). • Evaluate contract performance and make recommendations regarding renewals, extensions, or amendments. • Preparing documents for case management conferences, arbitration, and mediation whilst ensuring ongoing adherence to strict confidentiality regulations. • Convening and Attending board, shareholders, and committee meetings, preparation and taking of minutes. • Preparation of legal briefs and opinions, interpretation of laws and regulations for corporate businesses (especially where the law is nebulous). • Stay informed about changes in laws and regulations that may affect contracts. Key Achievements: • Provided legal advice to over 15 third parties and clients, and successfully achieved solutions to client enquiries. • Successfully employed alternative dispute resolution to resolve over 12 client queries and internal conflicts within the organisation using my training as an arbitrator to my advantage. • Coordinated the process of renewing and amending 2 no Oil Mining Lease (OML) contracts. Show less



Ridesmash Ghana

• Nigeria
• Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Regulatory and Compliance Coordinator

  • Aug 2020 - Feb 2022

  Key Responsibilities: • Conduct internal audits of regulatory compliance documentation and monitor compliance with regulatory requirements. • Prepared strict and measurable compliance documentation to ensure a successful SEC Investment Advisor examination. • Keeping abreast of industry and regulatory changes and making appropriate recommendations to management. • Coordinated responses to SEC and other regulators’ subpoenas and queries. Oversee preparation and filing of required regulatory reports. • Design training programs and presentations for investment stakeholders. • Review and draft company regulatory reports working together with the legal department to ensure the company is in the right standing with the expected regulatory obligations. • Updated online platforms and company websites with content such as articles and regulatory updates. Key Achievements: • Proposed and designed the retention policy for electronic communications. • Protected the company from liability in breach of expected statutory regulations as a fintech by keeping abreast with statutory regulations and drawing up a checklist to monitor compliance. Show less



Optimum Allied Service Industries Limited

• Nigeria
• Facilities Services

• Company Secretary and Compliance Officer

  • Aug 2018 - Jul 2020

  Key Responsibilities: • Tasked with Corporate Governance and ensuring Company Compliance with relevant statutes and regulatory bodies, compliance with industry-specific codes. Maintenance of statutory registers and minute books. • Convening board, shareholders, and committee meetings, preparation and taking of minutes, following up and assisting with the resolution of board meeting action points, consulting with external solicitors and auditors and statutory offices on company matters. • Preparing and filing statutory forms with the relevant Companies Registration Office, advising on the transfer of shares, an increase of share capital, and a change of name, rendering advice on corporate restructurings and reorganizations, assisting in the preparation, finalization, execution, and management of resolutions and other corporate documentation. • Review and negotiate contracts on behalf of the company and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with terms and conditions. • Maintain a repository of all contracts and related documents, ensuring client files and corporate records are maintained and updated appropriately, developing, and managing relationships with internal and external clients, etc. Key Achievements: • Developed a system for organizing documents, monitoring, and updating daily tasks, and for data retrieval, due diligence, project management, and reporting. • Commended for initiative, articulation, reliability, attention to detail, and analytical skills. Show less



METRO LP

• Lekki Peninsula, Lagos, Nigeria

• Associate Legal Counsel

  • Jan 2017 - Jul 2018

  Key Responsibilities: • Define and develop legal policies and procedures while advising clients on all major business transactions. • Consulting with tax offices, SEC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria on regulatory matters on behalf of corporate clients. • Preparation of legal briefs and opinions for court representation or case management conferences. • Interpretation of laws and regulations for corporate businesses. • Acting as company secretary to companies registered under the firm and maintaining clients’ database. • Researched cases and jurisprudence, and drafted, formatted, and amended contracts, letters, and other legal documentation. Key Achievements: • Provided updates and recommended new courses of action for stagnant cases, which contributed to cost reduction and increased profitability. • Collaborated with the litigation manager to standardize billing practices contributing to a 15% increase in profitability. Show less



Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company

• Nigeria
• Utilities
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Regulatory and Compliance officer

  • Jan 2016 - Dec 2016

  Key Responsibilities: • Keeping abreast of industry and regulatory changes and making appropriate recommendations to senior management. • Evaluating the accuracy of controls in place within the business to identify potential and actual breaches and escalating to RC compliance senior management in order that appropriate action be undertaken to rectify same. • Provide support for interpretation and compliance with NERC tariff regulations and position the organization to comply with these regulatory obligations. • Prepare and submit reports and KPIs to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and other government agencies. Support in all activities pertaining to regulatory compliance within the life of the business. Key Achievement: • Managed the regulatory submission database, to ensure all regulatory submissions were accurate and completed on time, eliminating the possibility of company liability. • Worked with the Legal & IT team to implement a new complaint-handling system which reduced company costs annually. Show less



Afe Babalola & Co.

• Nigeria
• Law Practice
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Legal Associate

  • Nov 2014 - Dec 2015

  Key Responsibilities: • Incorporation of Companies and other trading entities, Consulting with the Corporate Affairs Commission (the equivalent of the Companies Registration Office in Ireland) on behalf of clients • Conduct Research on compliance and ensuring compliance, conducting due diligence. • Prepare, review, and revise contracts and agreements to ensure they meet legal and company standards. • Collaborate with legal and business teams to incorporate necessary clauses and terms to contracts. • Consulting with various regulators on regulatory matters on behalf of corporate clients. • Preparation of legal briefs and opinions, court representation. • Developed communication & people skills through presentation and reporting at meetings and interviews. • Harnessed analytical & investigative skills through logical reasoning and strategic calculations in resolving conflicts, conducting due diligence on clients, negotiating on clients’ behalf, etc. Key Achievement: • Consulted with partners to implement new data procedures, reducing data process time by 50% Show less