West Africa Webinar: Legal and Financial Developments in Private Wealth Structures – a Regional and International Perspective

Esiri is a Partner with PwC Nigeria. She leads the Private Wealth Client Services team which provides specialised services to high net worth families and entrepreneurs. The team ensures they are personally tax compliant and their international structures are optimal for succeeding generations. Esiri holds a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology, University of Ibadan, is a Fellow member of several professional associations. She has done several international courses including the Private Equity Master Class in London Business School and International Tax in New York University. Esiri also mentors, writes articles and speaks regularly at conferences.

David Dorgan is a Group Partner and Group Head of the Private Client & Trusts department in Jersey. David has established himself as one of the leading lawyers in Jersey uniquely combining strengths in private client and trusts, corporate and finance work. He has a significant specialism in private and commercial trusts and foundations, focusing on providing technical advice on their establishment and on-going administration which is tailored for the practical and commercial requirements of clients. He has extensive experience of drafting bespoke and complex trust instruments and foundation regulations for high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families, preparing bespoke will trusts and providing documentation for SPV, philanthropy, charitable and non-charitable purposes.

Catherine is head of Family Office Services at BDO. She advises families and family offices around family office establishment, family governance and philanthropy. She believes that when families understand their values and the purpose of their wealth, they can build on much stronger foundations and, by aligning their structures and activities with this, create sustainable long-term solutions. She has worked with family offices for over 15 years, gaining a unique perspective from the combination of roles she has held. This has included heading a private office and sitting on the board of three international trust companies (Salamanca Group) and coordinating wealth structuring with investment management (Barclays Wealth). This all built on her training as a private client lawyer at Allen & Overy. Recognized as a thought-leader in the family office industry, Catherine has previously been named as one of EPrivate Client’s 50 Most Influential.

Bolaji is Chief Executive Officer of Chapel Hill Denham and Chief Investment Officer of the Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund. Bolaji has thirty-one years of experience in investment banking, investment management and mobile telecommunications. Chapel Hill Denham is Nigeria’s leading investment bank and leading alternatives investment manager with funds in Infrastructure, Real Estate and SMEs. He spent over ten years with the FCMB Group, in investment banking and securities trading, leaving in January 2001. From April 1993 to January 2001, he was Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer at CSL Stockbrokers Limited. Bolaji was Executive Director at FCMB Capital Markets from January 1996. He left FCMB Capital Markets in January 2001, to be a co-founder and Director of Econet Wireless Nigeria, now Airtel Nigeria. Bolaji led the capital raising and license bid auction for Econet Wireless Nigeria’s USD285 million GSM license.

Lanre is Managing Director, Capital Markets at Chapel Hill Denham. He has over 20 years of experience across investment banking, corporate finance, and healthcare. As a capital market specialist, he has led-managed transformational transactions raising more than N2 trillion for Sovereigns, sub-Nationals, and corporates across the equity and debt capital markets. Prior to joining Chapel Hill Denham, Lanre was a pioneer member of the leadership team at Primera Africa where he held multiple roles across institutional sales, investment research, financial advisory, and securities brokerage. Before Primera, Lanre was an Equity Research Analyst at Bloomberg LP, covering the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical industry. Prior to Bloomberg, Lanre worked as a corporate finance Associate at Roche Pharmaceuticals working primarily on deal analysis, asset valuation, and strategic due diligence for global in-licensing opportunities and acquisitions of clinical-stage drug assets.

Gbolahan is a Partner in G. Elias & Co. in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a member of the Nigeria Bar Association and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). His practice covers taxation, corporate finance, litigation, mergers and acquisition, power, oil and gas and telecommunications.