Malaysia 2023
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
Legal manager, indirect procurement AMEA | Kellogg Company
Group general manager, group legal and regulatory affairs | Media Prima
Director of legal affairs and general counsel | Asian Football Confederation
Head of legal, secretarial and corporate affairs division | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Group company secretary and head of corporate services | KNM Group
Senior manager, legal and property management | Eco World
Head of legal, Malaysia, Australia and Philippines | OSRAM Opto Semiconductors
Legal and compliance | Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Malaysia
Tan Ming Hong has spent 15 years as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, handling dispute resolution matters from the first instance court to the supreme...
Assistant head division of corporate services | Penang Port
General counsel and chief strategy officer | OCR Group
Director, legal and compliance and company secretary | Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia
Senior vice president, group legal and group general counsel | Petronas
Senior general manager, legal, corporate secretarial and compliance | Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering Holdings
Associate general counsel - global labour and employment APAC | JABIL
Head, group legal, compliance and risk management | Warisan TC Holdings
Legal executive | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Chief legal officer and company secretary | AmGeneral Insurance
Executive director, general counsel, company secretary and head, corporate and support services | Khazanah Nasional
Vice President and general counsel, Asia Pacific | Emerson Automation Solutions
Assistant manager, legal | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Senior counsel, global operations | Ansell
A dedicated, experienced and well-regarded corporate counsel with close to 21 years of experience across a number of prominent companies in a diverse range of industry sectors. Shalinee Fernandez graduated...
Director of legal affairs and general counsel | Network Innovations
As one of the brightest lights on the Southeast Asia business scene, boasting some of the most prominent companies supported by highly qualified and distinguished legal teams, it is an honour to be able to launch this first-ever Malaysia-only edition of the GC Powerlist after so many years of the GC Powerlist being in circulation.
Through the Southeast Asia edition of the GC Powerlist, our research team has become well-acquainted with the hugely talented general counsel, chief legal officers and other high-ranking in-house legal leaders in Malaysia. What was excellent about this standalone Malaysia edition, however, was that we got to delve deeper into the in-house legal community of this wonderful market and speak to people we had not had the pleasure of interviewing before.
The results we, as always, extremely interesting, and gave light to a number of trends. Fintech and the new possibilities that it brings continues to loom large in the minds of many general counsel in Malaysia, but perhaps not quite as large as the spectre of AI. While some were sceptical of its benefits in recent years, many more are now looking towards it with great interest for the potential time-saving it heralds.
Congratulations to all the talented in-house lawyers who made it in to this first Malaysia- edition of the GC Powerlist series. From a long list of over 400 nominees, you are the highly qualified individuals who remain. We look forward to seeing how your careers progress going forward!
Joe Boswell
Global Editor, GC Powerlist Series
The Legal 500
Legal 500 was proud to host the second edition of the GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 in Nairobi, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. This year’s reception brought together over 100 of the most influential and innovative corporate counsel from the region, and was an unrivalled success, cementing Legal 500’s role as the leading voice in recognising in-house legal excellence across Africa.
The evening was opened by Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC Powerlist publication at Legal 500, who highlighted the growing prestige of the East Africa edition and the increasing challenge of selecting honourees from such a deep (and rapidly growing) pool of talent.
Guests were then treated to some particularly relevant insights from distinguished speakers. Rachel Musoke, Head of ENS Uganda, delivered a thoughtful welcome that reflected on the importance of collaboration between private practice and in-house teams. This was followed by a powerful keynote from Habil Waswani, Company Secretary & Director Legal Services and Regulatory Compliance at Kenya Airways, who shared reflections on leadership, regulatory stewardship, and the evolving role of corporate counsel in East Africa.
The highlight of the evening was the certificate ceremony, where this year’s honourees were formally recognised. Certificates were presented by senior representatives of ENS, including Désiré Kamanzi (Head of Rwanda), Rachel Musoke, Nigel Shaw (Head of Kenya), Donald Nyakairu (Executive, Uganda), Dieudonne Nzafashwanayo (Executive, Rwanda), Rahema Nakirya Ssemyalo (Executive, Uganda) and Binti Shah (Executive, Kenya) whose participation underlined the depth of the firm’s support for the GC Powerlist initiative.
The GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 reaffirmed The Legal 500’s commitment to shining a spotlight on the region’s most talented in-house lawyers. With an even stronger field of candidates, this year’s edition stands as a powerful testament to the influence and expertise of East Africa’s legal leaders. Habil Waswani’s excellent speech, which got a raucous reception from those in the room, is reproduced below with his permission:
‘My name is Habil Waswani, and I have been an inhouse legal practitioner for the past 21 years in different sectors (having done law-firm practice for 2 years before that). Tt is indeed a true privilege and honour for me to be here tonight, surrounded by the sharpest legal minds and calmest crisis-handlers the East African corporate world has to offer.
First, let me thank the Legal 500 and ENSAfrica teams, for organising such a fantastic event and for bringing us together in such style. Congratulations to each of tonight’s honourees. You represent the very best of general counsel in this very dynamic corporate space the businesses we support operate in. Strategic, ethical, resilient, and, let’s be honest, often underappreciated leaders of industry.
I am so happy that this evening is not about contracts, or compliance checklists, or board packs. Tonight is about celebrating you, the people behind all of that. The steady hands guiding companies through complexities, uncertainties, and ensuring that the opportunities that lie within those difficult circumstances are lawfully realized.
We all know the role of GCs has evolved. We are no longer tucked away at the end of a corridor marked “Legal” or labelled the proverbial “cost centres”. These days, the GCs sit at the big table – helping drive corporate strategy, shaping desired culture, providing leadership and safeguarding business reputations. We have become indispensable partners to businesses, interpreters, navigators, protectors… and on some (many) days, therapists with law degrees. And yet, we mostly do it all so quietly. No victory laps, no press releases. Often, success for us means the expected disaster didn’t happen.
But tonight, we break that rule. Tonight, we raise a glass to the GCs who’ve blazed the trail courageously, with clarity, conviction, and tremendous resilience that only matches the expectations of the Leadership Guru John Maxwell when he said, “resilient leaders don’t wait for the storm to past — they learn to dance in the rain”. You have managed to balance growth and governance, risk and reward regularly. And, of course, always managed to deal with those 10pm messages: “Hey, just a quick question…Are you able to talk right now…?”
Let this evening serve as a reminder that you are not just experienced legal advisors. You are leaders — spear heads and enablers of execution — and without a doubt critical pillars of business strategy.
To all the honourees, congratulations once again for the well-deserved recognition. This is for the heavy lifting that you do, the standards you uphold, and the impact you make – quietly, consistently, and brilliantly so. You’ve earned this spotlight.
