The Eversheds Sutherland Africa Alliance hosts meeting in Dubai at Global Relationship Firm Conference 2020

On 26 February 2020, our Eversheds Sutherland Africa Alliance (ESAA) firms met in Dubai on day two of the annual Global Relationship Firm Conference for a half day meeting of networking and discussions around winning and servicing client mandates in Africa. A particular focus of the discussions was Dubai’s increasingly important role as a hub for investment into Africa.

ESAA member firms from Angola, Congo, Egypt, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia participated on the day along with representatives from our London, Paris, Middle East, South Africa, Tunisia and Mauritius offices.

John Kemkers, Head of Africa Group, led the meeting jointly with Deputy Heads, Wesley Pydiamah and Fares El Heni. They provided an overview of the new  Africa Group leadership team, the progress made in the last 12 months and discussed key priorities the team would be focusing on in 2020. The ESAA firms and Africa offices of Eversheds Sutherland also had the opportunity to collectively share their capabilities with the wider Africa teams during the session.

Warren Beech, Head of Mining and Infrastructure (South Africa), provided an overview of his team and areas of expertise and

Jacques Bouillon, the new head of the Projects team in Paris presented on infrastructure projects in Africa. This was followed by Zeid Hanania, Head of Corporate, Iwan Walters, Head of Clean Energy and Clint Dempsey, Head of Banking and Finance in UAE who provided an overview of the impressive work which they have undertaken in Africa over the last 12 months.

In the final session, Fares El Heni, Wesley Pydiamah, Greg Falkof, Warren Beech and Mambwe Mwiya (Senior Associate, AB& David, Zambia) gave some insights on the big ticket Africa mandates which they have been working on in recent months involving cross-office teams from the Europe, Africa, the US, the Middle East and the Far East.

John Kemkers commented: “I was thrilled by the level of participation and engagement from our ESAA firms and African offices. We had nearly 40 attendees at the meeting who all provided valuable contributions. As we were in Dubai, it was particularly important to hear from our Middle East team about the impressive mandates which they have been working on across Africa. I was also pleased that Jacques Bouillon, the new head of our Paris projects practice, and Warren Beech, the head of our Mining and Infrastructure team in our Johannesburg office, were able to join the meeting. It was clear from the presentations of Jacques, Warren and the Middle East team that they are all experts in their field - reflecting our stated aiming of ensuring that our clients have access to the very best sector and practice area expertise across Africa. ”

Fares El Heni commented: “Happy to see this amazing engagement from our ESAA firms, All African offices and Eversheds Sutherland teams in London, Paris and Middle East for our fourth ESAA event organized in 12 months in three different continents. This proves how closer ESAA members are and allows us to improve our team work. The quality of the expert sessions demonstrates our focus on meeting our client expectation through the combination between a high level of expertise and the team work.”