Managing a law firm in Africa: fostering leadership and growth

Sadiq is Managing Partner of Hadef & Partners, which has more than 100 lawyers based in the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi). He has extensive corporate and commercial law experience, particularly in respect of inward investment, joint ventures, banking and finance, energy and infrastructure, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition to advising multinationals, Sadiq works closely with businesses in the Middle East region in relation to corporate strategy and succession planning. Sadiq holds an LLB from the London School of Economics, London University. He qualified as a Barrister of Gray’s Inn, London in 1987 and later transferred to the Roll of Solicitors of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

Nankunda is co-founder and director of Hook Tangaza, a boutique research and advisory firm supporting clients across legal services sectors, globally. Hook Tangaza works with institutions, professional bodies, regulators, firms and governments to build more competitive businesses, stronger institutions and more efficient legal services markets. Hook Tangaza is also founder of the Africa Legal Tech Network (ALT Network) and co-founder of the African Corporate & Government Counsel Forum (ACGC) Previously, Nankunda held senior positions at the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association and the Law Society of England and Wales. Her work has focused on leading policy reform efforts for services liberalisation and regulatory good practice and advising law firms on business growth and developing international strategies.

John is originally a UK-qualified, City-trained solicitor who now specialises in Francophone Africa. He founded his own firm in Madagascar in 2004 (where he has been working since 1993) and expanded to Dakar, Senegal and West Africa in 2009. John W Ffooks & Co is the largest multi-jurisdictional firm focussing purely on the local laws of Francophone Africa. The Firm's key industry areas are Telco/IT; Finance, Fintech and Banking; and Natural Resources (mining and oil & gas). With over 30 professional staff it offers unrivalled strength and depth in the region.

Hanim is KPMG Law’s Asia Pacific Regional Leader for Legal Services. She also heads the Corporate M&A practice group at KPMG Law Indonesia. Currently based in Singapore, her global experience includes being resident in the UK, Malaysia, Japan, the US and Indonesia. She has 28+ years of practice specialization having worked on major infrastructure, project financing and M&A transactions in the aviation, banking, insurance, energy, plantations, and real estate sectors. She is also well-versed in cross-border securitization deals, structured financial products, and Islamic finance, having represented the interests of investors from Asia, the US, UK, and Europe in key onshore and offshore multi-currency transactions. Professional and industry experience Hanim is top ranked, consistently recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner or Leading Lawyer across multiple practice areas in major legal publications and directories including Asialaw Profiles, Asia Business Law Journal, IFLR1000, Legal 500 and In-house Community Counsel. Hanim was also named Top Ten Pioneers of New Legal Thinking by the Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards 2018. Asia Business Law Journal named Hanim as Singapore’s Top 100 Lawyers for two years in a row, in 2023 and 2024. This follows Hanim’s recognition as Indonesia’s Top 100 Lawyers in 2018 by the same publication when she was based in Jakarta. Hanim advises on best practices in law practice leadership and management through sharing and discussing concepts, experience and knowledge. She is the incoming Vice President of the International Bar Association (IBA) Section on Public and Professional Interest (SPPI) Council, Advisory Board Member of the IBA Law Firm Management Committee and member of the IBA Artificial Intelligence Working Group and Professional Wellbeing Commission. Hanim is also Senior Fellow at the CIMB Asean Research Institute (CARI) and was selected by the Singapore Academy of Law as an expert think-tank for a white paper on skills needed by legal professionals in the future. In 2019, Hanim co-founded the ASEAN Legal Tech Initiative, bringing together legal and technology experts in South-East Asia. As a leader, Hanim champions diversity and inclusion, mental health, well-being, and safety in the legal profession. She is a Board Member of the Workplace Pride Netherlands foundation.