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DR ADESEGUN AKIN-OLUGBADE - OON

Managing Partner

Dr. Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade is an international lawyer and a leading finance and corporate governance expert, combining the highest academic qualifications and professional distinctions with excellent legal skills, extensive transactional experience, and corporate management expertise.

He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Luwaji Nominees. He is also Executive Chairman of Luwaji Advisory Services Limited, an Affiliate of Luwaji Nominees.

He is a graduate of King’s College London (LL. B (Hons) 1983, LL.M 1985) and Harvard Law School (LL.M ’88 and SJD ’91), in addition to being the Overall Best Student at the Nigerian Law School in 1984. He has served for over 30 years in the legal profession and financial services sector; having worked at both the technical and executive management level, in the public and private sector, for leading commercial law firms, multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.

He was previously General Counsel and Senior Director at the African Development Bank (AfDB) (2000 -2007) and the first Chief Legal Officer and Head of the Legal Services Department of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (1993 – 1997). In December 2018, he retired as an Executive Director (Chief Operating Officer), after serving as the pioneer General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

At the AfDB, he was involved in the extensive governance reforms of the institution between 1997-2000 and provided the legal framework for the unprecedented relocation of the multilateral development bank from its Headquarters in Abidjan to the Temporary Relocation Agency in Tunis in 2002. The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) was conceived by him during his tenure as AfDB General Counsel.

His specific areas of expertise include Corporate and Commercial law, International Financial law, Banking Law, Project Finance, Private Equity, Trade & Structured Finance and Corporate Governance. He has consulted for Clifford Chance Worldwide (as Of Counsel for 5 years) and currently consults for AELEX Partners, as International Counsel.

Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade has significant Board level experience. He was a non-Executive Director and former Chairman of the Governance Committee of Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI). He was also a Founding Director and Managing Partner of AFC’s wholly owned subsidiary, AFC Equity Investments Limited, Mauritius. He was a founding shareholder and former non-Executive Director of Asset & Resources Management (ARM) Company, a leading financial services company in Nigeria. He retired as Vice-Chairman of Mouka Limited in March 2023.

He is currently Chairman of Utica Capital Limited Nigeria; Chairman of NSIA Insurance Limited; Chairman of Southern Marine Petroleum Limited; Chairman of Axion Realty & Development Company Limited; Chairman of Iron Horse Real Estate Limited and Chairman, Board of Trustees of Dr. Adesegun Akin-Olugbade Foundation. He is non-Executive Vice-Chairman of the O.B.A. Group of Companies in Nigeria (O.B.A. International Limited, OBA Transport Limited and ARC (Nigeria) Limited). He is a non-Executive Director of NG Clearing Limited, West Africa’s Premier Central Counterparty (CCP), where he serves on the Governance Committee, and he is Chairman of the Risk Management Committee. In January 2024, Adesegun was invited to serve on the Board of Trustees of African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), a not-for profit social enterprise organization and serves on the Finance, Audit and Compliance Committee on the AFAP Board.

Adesegun is a life member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation and Trustee of both the African Refugee Foundation (AREF) and the Nigerian Law School Class of 1984.

In 2003, he was invited to be a member of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA) and joined the World Trade Board as the first African member in 2019. He completed his tenure and rotated out of the WTB in March 2024.

Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade is an alumnus of several Executive Management Programs including the Wharton CEO Academy, the IMD Executive Management Program and the HEC (Montreal) Management Development Program (MDP). He is the recipient of several professional awards and academic honours.

Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade is an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), a national honour conferred on him by the Federal Republic of Nigeria in September 2012.

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JOHN TAYLOR

International Advisor

John Taylor is an Advisor to Luwaji Nominees on International Law, Finance and Corporate Governance.  He is an honours (first class) graduate of Adelaide Law School and was Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard Law School (LLM, 1969).   During a career of more than 50 years, he has acquired substantial transnational legal and financial experience in Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe in leading international law firms (including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Berwin Leighton Paisner) and multilateral financial institutions, as well as various in-house legal and operational positions with private sector financial enterprises.

He has been General Counsel of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Head of Cofinancing of the World Bank, and Counsel at the Asian Development Bank.  In the private sector, he has held senior managerial legal and financial positions at Banque Paribas Capital Markets, Emerging Markets Partnership (Europe) and INVESCO UK.  He has led countless international investment and business transactions, and regulatory advisory work, in civil law and common law jurisdictions.  He currently serves as International Adviser to the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, the largest post-graduate law school in Europe, and is an active Honorary Member of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT).