Blended Finance in Action: Unlocking Private Capital for African Development

NanaAma Botchway is internationally ranked and recognized as a tier 1, band 1 market leader in M&A, banking, finance, and infrastructure projects. In addition to her top level rankings by Chambers and the IFLR1000, NanaAma is the only lawyer in Ghana to be named an “Elite Leading Individual” for corporate and M&A by The Legal 500.

Some of her representations include the USD 1 billion Ghana National Identification Card  PPP; the USD 200 million sale of Fan Milk International; the acquisition, development and  divestment of the USD 100 million Movenpick Ambassador Hotel; and Leapfrog Strategic  African Investment’s USD 180 million investment in the Enterprise Insurance Group.

NanaAma has served on numerous boards of directors in Ghana and other parts of Africa. She is an independent NED, chairman of the social, ethics and sustainability committee and minority shareholder representative on the board of MTN Ghana. As founder and managing partner, NanaAma has led her firm to top-rankings in Corporate & M&A, Infrastructure Projects and Banking and Finance. The firm was named Law Firm of the Year (2023) by Chambers & Partners at Chambers Africa Awards and was shortlisted for Law Firm of the Year West Africa by the African Legal Awards (2023).

Mark is the Chief Legal Officer of British International Investment plc (BII) (formerly, CDC Group plc), the UK Government’s development finance institution and impact investor. BII invests debt and equity in and provides project, supply chain and trade finance to private sector businesses in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Nosakhare Aguebor is an Associate Vice President and Senior Legal Counsel at the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a pan-African multilateral development finance institution and the leading infrastructure solutions provider on the continent. Prior to joining the AFC in 2019, he was a Senior Associate at G. Elias, a leading Nigerian full-service law firm, where he was Team Lead of the Banking, Finance and Projects Practice Groups. Earlier on in his career, he had stints at the African Export-Import Bank in 2006 and 2011, spanning around one year in aggregate.

Nosakhare holds a Master of Laws (LLM) with distinction in International Trade Law, and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Finance. He possesses over 15 years post-qualification experience advising and acting on local and cross-border corporate finance, project finance, project development, capital markets and M&A transactions (aggregating billions of Dollars) across various sectors and multiple jurisdictions, including at least 20 African countries.

While in law firm practice, Nosakhare was consistently ranked by industry-leading directories including The Legal 500 and IFLR 1000 as a “Next Generation Partner” and “Rising Star” and was often recognized for various attributes, including his “initiative, innovation and no-holds barred approach to ensuring client satisfaction”. He was also recognized as a one of the outstanding “40 Under 40” lawyers in Nigeria (ESQ Legal Awards 2018). He is key member of the Legal team at the Africa Finance Corporation that won the African In-house team of the year at the IFLR Africa Awards 2022.

Olawunmi Abiodun is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Verod Capital Management, where she also serves as Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. She leads the firm’s legal, regulatory, and compliance efforts across its private equity and venture capital funds, and portfolio companies, with a focus on multi-jurisdictional transactions, governance, and business integrity.

Before joining Verod, Olawunmi was an Associate Legal Officer at the UN International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, advising on international law, policy, and diplomacy.

Lucy trained and qualified as a solicitor in the Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure team at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, prior to joining Trinity in November 2016. Lucy has a wide range of experience advising banks and borrowers on both the project and finance aspects of transactions in the energy and infrastructure sector, with a particular focus on Africa.

Her recent work includes advising sponsors in relation to the Namaacha wind project and Cuamba solar plus BESS project in Mozambique; the project company in respect of the expansion of the Cabeólica wind project in Cape Verde; sponsors in respect of a gas-to-power project in Mozambique; KfW in relation to the implementation of GETFiT Mozambique and lenders in respect of a merchant solar IPP in Botswana.

In addition to advising on several other energy and infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Lucy has also advised both lenders and borrowers in relation to a number of reserve-based lending, trade finance facilities, and agribusiness financings across the African continent.

The Legal 500 says “Lucy Johnson is an excellent lawyer that has helped us negotiate most of the project agreements. Her work ethic is unparalleled and is a very creative problem-solver and Lucy Johnson is extremely confident, very diligent, convincing and equally important, fun to work with. She is someone who will always go for the next mile for her client, and she will always come up with solutions rather than problems. I will make sure to work with her again if a financing situation comes my way.”

Funmi is a Partner at ALN Nigeria| Aluko & Oyebode in the Firm’s Banking & Finance Team. She has robust experience in Project & Infrastructure Finance, Banking Law, Corporate Finance, Oil & Gas Finance, Real Estate Finance, Financial institution regulatory and Advisory issues, Structured Trade Finance, and Corporate Commercial law. Funmilayo has been recognised as a Rising Star and Next Generation Lawyer in IFLR and Legal 500 reviews in Banking, Project Development and Project Finance practice areas. Funmi is a member of the council of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law.