Chinwe Ajene-Sagna, Managing Partner at Catalyst Realty Solutions

Ajene-Sagna is the Founder & Managing Partner of a full-service real estate firm Catalyst Realty Solutions (CRS), and an adjunct faculty member in the Strategy Department of the Lagos Business School.

Chinwe is a Non-Executive Director and senior executive with over 20 years of experience in the real assets/property management industry operating at CEO and C-suite level across the public and private sectors within the US, France, and in both Francophone and Anglophone West Africa. Recognised as one of the leading women in real estate in Nigeria and West Africa, Chinwe has a demonstrable track record of accomplishment delivering strategic advisory, asset management, and portfolio rationalisation solutions for private and institutional pan-African and international clients.

Having spent over 14 years with JLL, a Fortune 500, NYSE listed global real estate market leader, Sagna, as Head of West Africa, opened up offices in Lagos and successfully executed the business strategy. She possesses in-depth experiences building master planned communities for both the public and private sectors.

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As Head of French International Desk at JLL, she was responsible for strategic advisory and providing global portfolio optimisation solutions for key French and international clients. She delivered a full spectrum of real estate services including financial analyses, strategic advisory, portfolio master planning, valuations, project and development services, and change management/ work place solutions.

As an Associate for JLL, she was a housing specialist. She has broad privatisation experience from JLL Washington DC (USA) office where she worked on the multi-million dollar privatisation support contracts with the United States Army and Air Force for the development and redevelopment of military housing. 2000+ homes.

More recently, she was Group Head of Business Development Africa for Rendeavour – Africa’s largest private city developers with over 12,000 hectares in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, DRC, and Zambia.

Ajene-Sagna sits on the the advisory boards of Harvard Business School Africa Advisory Board, Seso Global, AfricaWorks (pan African real estate firm), and on the board of Amandla Capital/Sunu real estate . She was responsible for establishing the Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program as Head of the Education Committee of Rising Tide Association (women’s angel network) and also sits in the investments committee amongst other roles.

She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA (High Honors) from Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), the UK Institute of Directors and the Nigeria Institute of Directors. She is fluent in French, is learning Arabic, enjoys running, travelling and golf, and is married with two children.