The Africa Report — July-August 2017

David Munro

The new CEO of insurance

company Liberty Holdings,

David Munro, arrives

atthe insurer from

Standard Bank. That

leaves Africa’s largest bank

very much in charge

of Liberty, with the chair

and CFO also coming

from Standard Bank.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Funmilayo Omo

After the retirement of

Alphonse Okpor, it is now

up to Funmilayo Omo,

the newly-appointed

managing director and

chief executive officer

of African Alliance

Insurance, to guide the

Lagos-based life insurance

specialist. Omo has been

with the firm since 1991.

Kunle Ahmed

Ahmed has been with

Axa Masard – the Nigerian

subsidiary of French insurer

Axa– since 2004, and

has just been appointed

Executive Director.

He was responsible for

building up the company’s

Port Harcourt office. He will

take up his post on 17 July.

She returned to the corporate
world in 2007 working for a top
pan-African private equity firm,
Kingdom Zephyr, which she says
was a wonderful opportunity to
learn more about Africa and to
discover different industries and
sectors. During her time there,
she advised the fund manager
on various transactional matters
involving the $120m and $490m
Pan-African Investment Partners
I and II funds respectively.
She’s most proud of her
work advising Kingdom Hotel
Investments on a $100m devel-
opment project in Ghana during
her stint as a legal consultant.
“I advised them when they
were negotiating the deal with
the government to acquire the
property, to acquire the interest
in the property, I advised them
throughout the development,
permitting, construction, [...]. I
literally worked on everything
from the beginning of the Ghana
adventure to the end when they
soldthebusiness,”saysBotchway-
Dowuona, who is a member of
theInternationalBarAssociation.
After several challenging expe-
riences that included a personal
familytragedy,sheattemptedan-
other dive into entrepreneurship
in2011,thistimedoingsomething
she truly enjoyed. “I decided to
come back to my first love which
is the law, and this time to try
and build something as opposed
to being a full practitioner or a
consultant,”shesays.Thiswasthe
birthofN.Dowuona&Company.
Despitethesetbacksanddisap-
pointments, she says the journey
has been worthwhile: “I haven’t
looked back. [...] It’s been diffi-
cult, definitely. I mean from the
beginning you’re compensated a
lot less than you are making as a
seniorassociateinNewYork,butI
haven’ttradedmyqualityofwork,
and I feel privileged to have had
great opportunities.”
In2016,shedeliveredacompel-
lingTED-styletalkexposingsome
oftheillsofGhanaiansociety.She
urged each citizen to commit to
changeandtakepersonalrespon-
sibility instead of being quick to
pass the buck. She advises that
“beforewetalkaboutrevolutionat

thecountrylevel,let’sthinkabout

revolutionising our own attitude

towards compliance”.

As the founder of the only

woman-owned firm in Ghana to

have made The Legal 500 EMEA

2017 guide, Botchway-Dowuona

credits her strong determination

and overriding sense of optimism

forhersuccess.Sheacknowledges

that sexism remains an issue but

she’s chosen instead to focus on

making sure that her clients are

getting their money’s worth. “It’s

not an easy environment, but we

work our fingers to the bone to

deliver,” she says.

BIG TRANSACTIONS

And they are not working with

smallfry.In2013,herteamadvised

localandinternationalcompanies

on various transactions includ-

ing the acquisition of Fan Milk

International by French dairy

producer Danone from private

equity group Abraaj, and in 2016,

the $100m sale of Movenpick

AmbassadorHoteltoaMauritius-

based investment fund managed

by Quantum Global Investments

Africa Management.

This year they’ve also advised

on the debut $600m bond issue

by leading telecommunications

infrastructure company Helios

Towers Africa. With the booming

real estate market in Ghana, and

her extensive experience advis-

ing on property and construc-

tion deals, business prospects

look promising.

Whenaskedwhatshewouldsay

to that young upcoming lawyer

wholooksuptoherasarolemod-

el, she offers some candid advice

based on her own personal expe-

rience: “I had my first child when

Iwasinlawschoolandeverybody

was terrified that I was going to

drop out and not continue with

my career. I [eventually] had four

children and I don’t think it held

me back. So you can do anything

if you put your mind to it.”

Oheneba Ama Nti Osei

“It’s not an easy environment,

but we work our fingers

to the bone to deliver”

LEGAL EAGLE

1992 Graduated

from Princeton

University

and worked

as an associate

auditor in

the New York

office of Deloitte

& Touche

1997 Received

aJDfrom

Columbia

University

School of Law

and was named

a James Kent

Scholar

2007-2010

COO of Kingdom

Zephyr Africa

Management

2011 Founded

her law firm

N. Dowuona

& Company

in Ghana

with just two

employees.

Thefirmnow

hasastaffof22

2017

Recognised

by The Legal 500

EMEA 2017

asatop-tierfirm

in Ghana

LEADERS |BUSINESS 71