Ozim Ifeoma Obasi is a commercial and energy Lawyer with over twenty years industry experience. She is currently working with General Electric as the Executive General Counsel for Africa, with the overall responsibility for GE’s brand, legal and compliance risk mitigation in the over 20 countries where GE has footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa.
She is best described as a business lawyer, with multi-jurisdictional expertise in the energy industry, commercial transactions, corporate practice, regulatory compliance, legal advisory services, project finance, localisation, joint ventures and business development.
Ozim graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1998 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in October 2000. She was also admitted as a Solicitor of England & Wales in 2011 and obtained LLM in Energy Law & Policy and MBA in International Business Transactions (2007/2008) from the Centre for Energy, Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland.
Part of what makes her job exciting is the fact that she has worked on sustainable projects across Africa, impacting lives and adding great value to the continent. She has also had the opportunity to see the challenges facing the region, and how countries can better collaborate, learn best practices, and also leverage lessons learnt from other jurisdictions, which will help minimize the one-size fits all that legislative drafting presents to potential investors.
Ozim’s view of Africa and the entire legal and commercial landscape, is that there is a lot to be tapped, and also growth opportunities for cross-border human resources and transactions. However, there has to be more willingness of governments and policy makers, to give more bite to the regulations and treaties, that will stimulate the much-needed growth and thereby translate to more commercial activities and poverty reduction in Africa.
Ifeoma Obasi enjoys her work, and is more enthused with solving complex transactional issues for her customers.
An ardent believer in team synergy, and cross-functional learning, she pushes herself to understand her products, customers and value-proposition for every transaction she is working on.
In terms of her ethos, Ozim believes in giving your all in anything you are doing, with a deep sense of ownership. She also recognizes that you should not do life alone, and has strong family and friends support that have helped her a lot in her career and personal life.
She volunteers to the cause of the girl-child, and being a strong voice for women in the society. She co-leads the Women’s Network in GE Africa, and also volunteers with Bethesda Child Support Agency in Nigeria, focused on providing free education to indigent children.
