Young business lawyer spotlight: Temitope Sowunmi –
Full identify – Temitope Sowunmi
Organisation – Cowrywise Monetary Engineering Constrained
Region of Apply – Monetary Expert services, Tech Regulation, Non-public Equity and General Business enterprise Advisory.
Yrs of Knowledge – 8 many years
Temitope Sowunmi is a corporate finance attorney with major encounter advising indigenous firms and multinationals in funding, corporate, technology, personal equity, regulatory compliance/governing administration interface, job and infrastructure finance discounts. She has been ranked as a “Notable Practitioner” and has been explained as “very responsive… incredibly reasoned and quite experienced…, a satisfaction to work with” by the primary worldwide directory for economic regulation corporations. She also gets the “40 less than 40” awards for youthful lawyers in Nigeria. Temitope at present heads the authorized team at Cowrywise (a electronic prosperity management fintech democratising entry to personal savings and expense goods), the place she supplies skills and support with respect to merchandise, operations and strategy, and contractual relationships. She also carries out considerable engagement with crucial regulators. Prior to joining Cowrywise, Temitope was a Senior Affiliate and the co-team lead of the Fintech/Begin-Up Apply at a foremost business legislation organization in Nigeria. Temitope has suggested Stripe Inc. on the USD200 million acquisition of Paystack Pte the guardian company of Paystack Limited. She also recommended the African Finance Company with regard to the USD 78 million personal debt/equity funding of Segilola Methods Functioning Constrained and its mother or father firm. This deal was recognised by the IFLR 1000 as the “Project Finance Deal of 2020”.
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4 Thoughts with Temitope
What is a person worthwhile practical experience in your practice of law that carries on to spur you on?
It is challenging to slender this to 1 encounter, but being aware of and looking at that your information/input is instrumental to a offer and that, in your personal way, you have contributed to a transaction will make all the change and has undoubtedly been a “pick me up” on my negative times. This absolutely spans every thing I have accomplished and go on to do. In my latest function, this feels much more tangible as legal aid is integral to every thing we do as a company.
How does it sense transitioning from regulation organization observe to in-household counsel in a tech startup? Any recommendations for attorneys searching to be section of a startup tech?
Great! I experienced recognised for a while that I wished to be much more “hands-on” as a lawyer I was trained as a business law firm, but I consider that 1 of the things attorneys in practice wrestle with is sometimes getting much too “legalistic” with guidance. For me, this action was required and I have no regrets about taking the plunge.
As a commencing issue, “tech” extends outside of your fintech and commence-ups and so even for conventional industries, the wave is listed here to remain. Specifically for the start off-up ecosystem, make sure you read through and be as experienced as you can. Although we all understand in the system, there is get the job done that has to be carried out at the rear of the scenes.
What is your viewpoint about inclusion in Nigerian law corporations and what initiatives can continue to be taken to stimulate these kinds of?
Dependent on my working experience and knowledge, a amount of law firms continue on to generate initiatives to guarantee inclusion on all fronts. On the other hand, over and above making certain equality/equity across board (which is laudable), substantial development could be manufactured by pushing initiatives that focus on generating a robust price and assist technique for attorneys, particularly young lawyers. In a normal perception, a key aspect of inclusion is producing changes/modifications primarily based on the distinctive desires of persons and the reality of practising legislation in the context of the new economic climate with the proliferation of engineering, etcetera. Law corporations could do extra in this regard.
What is the best suggestions you have at any time obtained? (How can other young attorneys use this tips)
Another person the moment instructed me this and I say this incredibly frequently to my mentees: “there is clarity in the process”. For youthful lawyers, it is typical to experience overcome and puzzled or even intimidated. It may possibly not get improved in a working day but it generally will get better and clearer. Really don’t really feel the need to have every little thing figured out in a working day as the exercise of regulation is a marathon and not a dash.
