Gbenga Hassan
Gbenga has over 20 years of private equity and corporate finance experience in the West African and international markets. He has managed various electric power, natural gas and energy infrastructure transactions in excess of US$3b and also manages Àrgentil’s principal investment and private equity activities.
His previous experiences include private equity roles at Aureos Capital, corporate finance functions at Standard Bank London, Stanbic Nigeria, and consultancy functions at Syntegra, London.
Gbenga holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Business Management from the University of Greenwich, a Master’s degree in Economics and Management from the University College, London and is a Chartered Certified Accountant in the UK (FCCA) and Nigeria (ACA).
Sherina Petit
Sherina Petit is a dispute resolution partner at Norton Rose Fulbright and heads the firm’s India practice.
She specialises in international arbitration, litigation and ADR across a broad range of industries representing clients across the globe in numerous ad hoc and institutional arbitrations. In addition, Sherina regularly sits as an arbitrator in international arbitrations, is a published writer and speaker on international arbitration and is an expert on India-related matters.
Sherina is on the LCIA Board of Directors, the LCIA Remuneration Committee, the Chair of the EFILA board, the ICC Indian Arbitration Group, the SIAC Users Council and the SIAC Users Council’s Regional/National Committee for the United Kingdom.
Ranked in several legal directories, including Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, Sherina recently won the Client Choice Awards 2017 for the UK in the Arbitration & ADR category (as voted for by corporate counsel) and is featured in the Who's Who Future Leaders in Arbitration (2017). She was featured in the Legal Business Disputes Yearbook as one of "the next generation of partners setting the disputes agenda", in Legal Week's 2016 feature, "Rising stars: the new generation of litigators making their mark" and in Corporate Vision’s “Ones to Watch”.
Sherina joined Norton Rose Fulbright in January 2009 from Shearman & Sterling where she spent over six years as an associate in the London office. In 2008, she was seconded to the legal department of the Tata Group and the Indian Hotels Group (Taj Hotels) in Mumbai, India. Sherina has a Master of Laws degree from King’s College, London and qualified as a solicitor of England and Wales in 2002 whilst working at Linklaters in London. Prior to that she qualified as an Advocate on the Rolls of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in 1999 whilst working at a leading law firm in Mumbai.
Specialties: International arbitration, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Litigation, Regulatory Investigations.
Ehsan Haque
Highly experienced ,commercially astute, pragmatic and versatile senior legal and regulatory risk professional with over 18 years PQE working as in house counsel in top tier financial institutions with over 10 years experience in leadership and senior leadership positions. Experienced in Equities (sales & trading) , fintech , data and data privacy , IP , employment , corporate governance , regulatory and reputational risk management , complex and cross-border transactional , derivatives , regulatory , regulatory projects, Compliance, strategic advisory , senior consultancy and portfolio GC work. Have worked for a range of financial services institutions including top tier global investment banks , broker dealers, global private equity firms and a portfolio of early stage fintech start ups. Have built and led highly effective in-house legal and compliance teams. Excellent communication skills across all levels of organisations , including CEO and senior management/C-suite. Advisor and mentor to Ashurst Fintech Legal Labs accelerator programme. Interested in work culture and won a CEO Culture award at Nomura for introducing a mentoring scheme in the EMEA Legal department. Current Trustee of two charitable organisations , Community Music and Wildcard Theatre. Featured in BBPI 100 List 2018 - lawyers. Also act as a mentor to junior Black and Asian ethnic minority finance and legal professionals. Regularly invited to appear on a number of panels and forums around topics of diversity , mentoring and inclusion in relation to the legal profession. Also a regular speaker at a number of Fintech events and panels.
Funmilayo Iyayi
Funmi is a legal practitioner licensed to practise in Ghana and Nigeria. She worked in the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode as a member of the commercial dispute resolution team for several years, where she represented clients in contentious and non-contentious matters as well as functioned as the secretary to arbitral tribunals. Thereafter she served as in-house counsel in one of Nigeria’s leading real estate development companies, a role she held for two years before joining the Lagos Court of Arbitration as the general counsel. Funmi transitioned to the role of chief executive officer of LACIAC in January 2018 and was appointed a member of the Board in December 2018.
KEM IHENACHO
Kem Ihenacho is the Global Vice Chair of the Private Equity Practice. He is an M&A lawyer with more than 20 years of experience, focusing on UK and international private equity, infrastructure, and M&A transactions.
Mr. Ihenacho is recognized as a leader in his field by numerous publications. He is listed in the 2015 Lawyer Magazine’s Hot 100 list as a private equity star, and Chambers Global 2017 recognized him as an Africa Expert, stating: “He’s highly commercial, very experienced and knows the markets inside out.”
Mr. Ihenacho has sat on the legal advisory boards of various private equity industry bodies.