Team size: Six

Q&A

What strategies has your legal team adopted to mitigate legal and regulatory risks in a rapidly evolving business and political environment? 

In today’s VUCA environment, agility has become a crucial skillset for legal teams to ensure consistent and timely delivery of organisational commitments. Many legal teams tend to be lean and thus need appropriate tools (including the use of technology) to improve efficiency. My team is no exception. We have adopted the use of legal software tools that support regulatory scanning, standardisation of processes and documents, using technology for oversight/approvals and simplifying compliance across the organisation. Proactively engaging our stakeholders ensures we mitigate any identified legal and regulatory risks.

How is the role of the General Counsel evolving in East Africa as organisations place greater emphasis on governance, transparency and ESG considerations? 

The General Counsel role in East Africa has evolved from being perceived as a ‘problem fixer’ into a strategic governance and risk leadership role. With ESG and sustainability matters gaining prominence, organisations are hard pressed to ensure that their internal operations and governance speaks to their public qualitative and quantitative ESG disclosures. Beyond traditional legal work, the GC now focuses on providing timely strategic legal advice, strengthening the governance, compliance and accountability framework across the organisation, proactively assessing and mitigating regulatory and reputational risks and playing a key role in ensuring that ESG and ethical considerations are factored during decision making. The GC ensures that decisions are legally sound, ethical and sustainable.