Steven is the founder and CEO of Afriwise. Afriwise really is the culmination of his career, from top roles at leading African and international law firms, managing internet projects and lecturing about legal-tech possibilities as early as 1999. Early on in his career, Steven was part of a small team at a European stock broker that launched the leading online trading platform in Belgium. It was a good start, but Steven quickly moved on to the legal sector. After a stint at magic-circle firm Freshfields, he returned to Africa (where he grew up) to practise as a lawyer. Since 2003, Steven has relentlessly pursued ways to improve corporate legal services delivery in Africa. He was at the forefront of establishing and deepening a network of associated firms in Africa, helped to develop the Africa practice of what is today one of the leading law firms on the continent and founded an innovative interdisciplinary advisory firm in 2014. His main goal has always been to help businesses work smarter and more effectively in Africa.

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A seasoned lawyer in his own right, Steven is named by the prestigious English research firm Chambers & Partners in Chambers Global as one of the leading corporate/M&A; projects & energy; and general business law lawyers in Africa. Chambers has noted that he is very well known for his work for clients across the African continent and is described by clients as “a class act”, stating that “there’s not much he doesn’t know about sub-Saharan Africa”.

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Having lived and worked on the African continent for almost 30 years, in five countries and having advised companies in over 40 African countries, Steven indeed has unparalleled on-the-ground, hands-on experience and a unique in-depth knowledge of navigating challenges in Africa.

Kim is Afriwise’s content guru.

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As Chief Content and Product Officer, she drives Afriwise’s content strategy and management, as well as product innovation, research and development.

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Kim also oversees the rigorous editing and maintenance processes that ensure all content on the Afriwise platform is relevant, practical, up to date and of high quality. To achieve this, she works with a team of highly skilled specialist legal editors and legislation experts.

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Kim has over 15 years of combined legal and language experience. Not only is she a seasoned journalist, an experienced editor and a communications expert, but she is also a qualified attorney and conveyancer.

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Kim has extensive experience writing, editing and proofreading legal content, having previously been the editor of De Rebus, the official South African attorneys’ journal; having established and headed an innovative Courts and Law Hub to provide law-related content to one of the country’s largest media houses; and having been a senior legal reporter at South Africa’s premier weekly newspaper the Sunday Times. Before joining Afriwise, Kim was firm-wide Head of Communications at Africa’s largest law firm.

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Kim is passionate about law, language and the African continent – a perfect fit for Afriwise!

As Chief Operations Officer, Christophe oversees all day-to-day operations, processes and strategies to deliver on our overall vision, mission and growth plan.

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As an ambitious SaaS scale-up leader and being convinced of Afriwise’s in Legal Intelligence Category Leadership today, Christophe is very committed to accelerate our footprint and positive impact on the African continent, and beyond.

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Pierre-Yves Thomas, founder of Pythagoria and Chief Technology Officer at Afriwise, has been a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence for legal applications for over 25 years.

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Pierre-Yves is driven by his two passions: linguistics and algorithms, which he can combine into natural language processing, and in AI at large.

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His first implementation of AI in the legal domain was at the Publications Office of the European Union, where he set up a team of 50 professionals that was capable of modelling and structuring legislative texts at scale.

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Ever since, Pierre-Yves has been deploying AI in multilingual legal contexts – first based on statistical models, then on neural models with deep learning, and now on a transformative and generative architecture. Pythagoria’s AI revolutionises how legal researchers monitor, review and interpret large volumes of legal source documents.

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In essence, Pierre-Yves wants to make life easier for legal teams by changing the way they conduct research – a mission he shares with Afriwise.

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Going forward, Pierre-Yves combines his role at the helm of Pythagoria with the role of Chief Technology Officer at Afriwise.

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As Regional Sales and Channel Director for Africa, Russell aims to drive revenue growth among Afriwise's targeted enterprise customers as well as build a strategic channel model across Africa.

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Russell has more than 20 years' sales experience in the IT industry across sub-Saharan Africa, having worked for a number of global industry leaders, namely Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and, more recently, Veeam Software.

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A technologist at heart, Russell has a proven track record in building, growing, and managing business with value-adding solutions in the pursuit of strategic projects in IT and digital transformation. Russell is passionate about how technology and access to data is changing the way we live and work in Africa today.

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His ability to build and foster relationships allows him to add extensive value to his clients. He champions, energizes, and unifies all stakeholders that directly and indirectly influence business outcomes. He is known for his consultative sales approach whereby he assesses the client’s needs and tailors solutions that are strategically aligned with the client's business objectives and, most importantly, effective.

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His motto? Carpe diem!

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Vishala is a seasoned and highly regarded Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) executive holding LLB, BCom (Financial Management) and MPhil (International Business) qualifications. She has held diverse senior leadership roles both within the private and public sectors over the last 23 years, with her most recent role being the Head: Ethics and Compliance at Barloworld Equipment over the last 10 years.

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Her areas of specialization include building in-house ethics / business integrity programmes, regulatory risk management including the development and implementation of multi-jurisdictional global compliance programmes for anti-bribery and corruption, privacy, competition, sanctions, export controls and public sector procurement regulatory systems including BBBEE and localization programmes.

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Her passion is to use her wealth of experience, unique skill-set in law, commerce and multinational strategy, coupled with her subject-matter expertise to assist in-house legal and compliance counsels across African corporations to navigate their complex regulatory landscapes and to develop and mature their ethics / business integrity and compliance programmes through the effective use of data and AI, in line with evolving technologies, with the objective of re-positioning legal and compliance officers as strategic business partners by enabling informed data-driven risk-based decisions and ease of doing business across Africa.

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When Vishala is not busy building compliance programmes, she is a dedicated wife and mum to two teenage boys and two labradors.

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Glenda is Afriwise’s Engagement and Business Development Lead. She is responsible for fostering synergies between Afriwise and its community of contributing law firms.

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Glenda has been working with local African law firms for over 10 years. She focused on business development, client strategy and law firms profiling. She is passionate about uplifting lawyers and has extensive experience in supporting law firms grow their market share, diversify their practices and respond to client demands.

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Giorgia is Afriwise’s Operations Manager and she ensures the GDPR compliance of Afriwise in her role of Data Protection Officer.

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Giorgia has a legal background. She has a double degree in Italian and French Law from the Universities of Bologna (Italy) and Paris X Nanterre (Paris). Additionally, she obtained a Master of Laws with specialisation in International Technology Law from the Free University of Amsterdam. Before joining Afriwise, she gained valuable experience working as a trainee lawyer in the areas of commercial law, industrial and intellectual property.

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Giorgia is a supporter of the digital transformation of the legal market, and an advocate of the democratization of legal services through the use of technology.

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Jessica is Afriwise's Head of Marketing.

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She is a results-oriented strategist with a Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Strategic Management. As the former Head of Strategy & Marketing for a GRC Software Firm, she successfully led the development and execution of transformative strategies, earning 15 industry awards in four years. Jessica's expertise lies in bridging the gap between business and technology. Her proactive approach to optimizing operations and fostering strategic business relationships has consistently driven efficiency, growth, and innovation across various roles.

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With a keen focus on entrenching organizational objectives into marketing practices, Jessica has demonstrated her ability to articulate and implement advanced business and marketing strategies. She brings a unique blend of strategic thinking, creativity, and hands-on leadership to any business challenge and hopes to instil this at Afriwise.

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Marzanne is Afriwise's Law Firm Relationship Manager.

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She is passionate about language and the law. She combines these passions to ensure that the wealth of legal information on the Afriwise platform is top-notch and constantly increasing and improving.

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Marzanne is an experienced South African journalist, editor and producer. She holds a bachelor of laws and a postgraduate bachelor of philosophy in journalism. She has worked for various leading daily newspapers in South Africa as a reporter, news manager and editor. She has also produced television inserts for one of South Africa’s leading investigative journalism shows.

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Marzanne has a wealth of experience in writing legal content and was also previously the head of an innovative Courts and Law Hub at one of South Africa’s largest media houses, managing a team of reporters providing legal content to the group’s publications.

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Matt is Afriwise’s Customer Success Manager and is responsible for ensuring ongoing value to customers by understanding their needs.

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Matt has more than 10 years of experience in customer facing roles, having worked with a number of global enterprises across various sectors. He has a passion for both business and technology which drives him to always be learning. With experience in LegalTech, including AI-powered automation, he brings a wealth of knowledge on where technology meets people.

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His ability to build trusted relationships enables teams to work towards a common goal. With a high degree of empathy, he brings a positive energy, a never-give-up attitude and an enjoyable working experience.

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After obtaining her LLB at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Shannon worked as a practising attorney where she developed her skills in legal drafting and interpreting the law. It was when Shannon ventured out into the realm of legal publishing, where she worked as a legal editor at a prominent legal-tech company in South Africa, that she reaffirmed her passion for the law, and believes that those who draft, edit and publish the law are as valuable as those who practise it.

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It was no surprise that her dedication to making the law accessible to all transformed into a passion for compliance. Shannon obtained a compliance management certificate at the University of Cape Town, and was promoted to a Regulatory Compliance Author. Through her experience, Shannon was able to combine her skill of analysing various types of legislation in multiple regions and sectors with identifying risks and developing risk-management plans to provide customers with a clear understanding of their compliance obligations and help to reduce the risks of non-compliance.

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Shannon is committed to ensuring that corporate companies not only know the law, but also understand the importance of complying with it to legimitise their operations and avoid contraventions.

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When she is not focused on the rule of law, Shannon enjoys escaping into the lyrics of a good song, a novel or a captivating crime documentary.

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Kanthi is Afriwise’s Legislation Coordinator. She is responsible for sourcing laws from across the African continent, and especially enjoys the challenge of locating hard-to-find pieces of legislation.

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Before joining Afriwise, Kanthi built up a wealth of experience in an editing and legal-content sourcing role at an information-services company. Prior to that, at the beginning of her career in legal-administration services, Kanthi worked for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in South Africa, as well as in Magistrates’ Courts in different provinces in the country. Her work experience spans more than 13 years, with roles in the Maintenance and Family Court, as well as in civil and insolvency matters.

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Kanthi believes that more people should have access to legal information, so as to educate themselves, and that this should be achieved through the latest technology and innovative projects.

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Lauren is a Legislation Specialist at Afriwise.

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Prior to joining Afriwise, she built her portfolio in the legal-tech industry for a leading global information services brand as a Content Specialist for almost a decade. Lauren describes herself as an ideator who thrives on innovation and creativity. She has spent most of her career at the forefront of legal content and technology, as she constantly finds herself evolving and expanding her content knowledge and digital footprint within local, national and African legislation.

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On a personal level, Lauren is very family oriented and loves spending time with her family. She enjoys the outdoors and she always finds herself trail hiking or partaking in other outdoor adventures. To keep her on her toes, Lauren is also a mom to a wonderful one-year-old girl, which has been her biggest adventure yet.

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Ebube is a member of Afriwise’s editing team.

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She obtained her LLB from the prestigious Unversity of Nigeria, Nsukka and is licensed to practise law as an advocate and solicitor in Nigeria. Ebube is passionate about providing business and legal solutions to start-ups and prospective entrepreneurs on business growth and expansion. Ebube has gathered valuable work experience in law firms, large corporations and charitable organisations.

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She has further gathered experience creating legal content by writing for business, legal and entrepreneurship blogs. She is keen on using her skills to develop content for the growth of both small and large corporations.

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Sujata is a member of Afriwise’s editing team.

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She obtained her LLB and LLM from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and has completed certificate courses related to business, and automation from institutions such as Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, Tuck, Wharton, MIT, and IMD.

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Sujata has previously worked as an editor, researcher, and writer and has gained valuable experience working for companies and NGOs locally and internationally.

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She is passionate about writing and has taken to the keyboard to author content for legal magazines and blogs. Being keen to make a difference, Sujata endeavours to use her acquired knowledge and skills to bring about new ideas and change for progress.

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Therusha is a member of Afriwise’s editing team.

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She is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa, with a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of South Africa.

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After practising as an attorney and working in-house at a national association, she joined a legal-tech company providing legal-information services as a legal editor, writer and analyst.

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During this time, she developed a passion for unpacking and simplifying the law, making it practical for both in-house lawyers and lawyers in practice. She believes in the power of plain language and its ability to promote the accessibility of information to all.

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Being a perfectionist by nature and a pilates and yoga enthusiast, she believes in balancing the inner and outer self.

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Cara is responsible for Afriwise’s Articles, Guides and Alerts module. In this role, Cara scours articles, newsletters and guides covering key legal developments from top firms across the continent. She then curates the best ones, organising them by topic, such as data protection, employment, and energy and natural resources, to ensure that we deliver valuable insights to our users. In addition, Cara is responsible for monitoring legal and regulatory developments in Africa, as part of the team that ensures that the practical guidance on the Afriwise platform is kept up to date.

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Cara has a Masters degree in Information Studies and has worked in academic and law libraries for many years. She was previously Head of Information Services at one of Africa's largest law firms.

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Inge is a member of Afriwise’s Editorial Team.

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She has a BA, an LLB and a PGDipLIS from the University of Cape Town. Prior to joining Afriwise, she gained 9 years of experience in online legal publishing, first as an editor at the Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII) and later as Managing Editor at the African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLII). She is passionate about the rule of law and about empowering people and organisations with access to the legal information they need to thrive in Africa.

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In her spare time, Inge is pursuing an LLM focusing on the intersection of law and technology, and surrounds herself with animals and plants as often as she can.

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Nadia is a member of Afriwise’s editing team.

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She is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa, with a law degree from the University of South Africa.

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Prior to joining Afriwise, she practised as an attorney with a focus in commercial law, after which she worked as a legal advisor, legal consultant and senior associate in corporate governance and company law.

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Nadia's commitment to professional development is evident in her pursuit of courses in AI and Law, Legal Tech and Startups and the Digital Transformation of Law.

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She has a proven track record of building strong business and employee relationships, thriving under pressure and adapting to new challenges. Her skills and dedication make her a valuable asset to the team.

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As a passionate software developer, Philippe’s main role is to architecture and develop Afriwise’s applications for the future. He is driven to deliver top notch software solutions that excel.

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With more than 20 years of experience working internationally in diverse teams, he brings along a broad skill set in his developer toolbox.

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He has worked for companies in various sectors and industries, ranging from investor relations, financial information, trading to legal publishers.

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With a background in criminology, the legal field has always been of interest, but his creative angle convinced him to pursue a career in information technology.

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Léo joined the Pythagoria & Afriwise team as a FullStack developer. With a robust seven-year background in technology, he brings a blend of hard and soft skills to the table. Léo is known for his quick learning, innovative problem-solving, and ability to communicate complex concepts with ease.

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While his technical skills span a broad range, Léo is particularly passionate about using his knowledge to contribute to meaningful projects. Specifically he looks forward to leveraging his experience to develop solutions that enhance Afriwise tech offerings.

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As a seasoned software engineer, Wiktor brings over six years of experience to the table. His journey began as a C++ developer in embedded systems, where he honed his skills in crafting efficient and reliable software for telecommunications.

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Over the course of his career, Wiktor transitioned into the dynamic realm of web application development, specializing in backend technologies such as Ruby on Rails. With a keen eye for architecture and a passion for delivering cutting-edge solutions, he has contributed to projects spanning various industries, from ecommerce and news to legal publishers.

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With a foundation rooted in technology and a knack for quick learning, Wiktor is excited to make meaningful contributions to the ever-evolving landscape of software development in the legal field.

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As a physicist and data scientist, Matteo brings to the table a deep theoretical background in statistics, math and AI. With his problem solving skills, coupled with a great curiosity towards everything new to him, he is the new addition to the Pythagoria and Afriwise team.

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After previous internships in the finance and public sector, where he had a chance to apply the knowledge he obtained at university, helping stakeholders in their decision making and optimizing processes thanks to new technological tools, Matteo is ready for a new step, becoming part of the Afriwise team, with the intent to help them in their quest to improve their use of technology in the legal field.

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Bonga is part of the sales and account management team at Afriwise.

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He joins the team having built a successful career, helping organisations solve their biggest problems by leveraging the best business solutions.

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When asked about joining the Afriwise team, Bonga said "I am excited to be joining Africa's leading Legal Intelligence platform and look forward to helping our clients revolutionise their legal functions.

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A seasoned B2B Tech and SaaS professional with over six years of experience. Throughout his career, Katlego has consistently acquired new clients, expanded sales pipelines, and achieved revenue growth by engaging with key decision-makers in international markets across multiple industries.

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He joins Afriwise as a Senior Business Development Representative, eager to form relationships with businesses that want to stay nimble while overcoming challenges with accessing legal intelligence and mitigating non-compliance & regulatory risks.

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Katlego has a proven track record of success, having co-founded Business Development teams and implemented best practices at various organisations. He possesses a strong working knowledge of industry-leading tech stacks and is dedicated to continuous learning and collaborative goal achievement.

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Ronelle is a passionate marketing coordinator with a digital marketing certification from Red & Yellow Creative School of Business. A creative at heart, she describes her professional mission as, “articulating brand brilliance through the artful composition of words and imagery”.

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Before joining Afriwise, she served as the Marketing Coordinator at a SaaS company, a business growth consultancy, an experiential communications training company and a business language training company, where she has been able to explore different areas of marketing and hone in on the creative and strategic skills that make her a compelling storyteller.

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With a keen eye for detail, she has consistently driven innovative campaigns across multiple regions to foster brand loyalty and engagement.

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Dedicated to her craft, Ronelle remains curious through her constant pursuit of learning and expanding her knowledge base – with each new piece of information she collects, she builds her endless supply of inspiration for the ideation process that marketing thrives on.

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Embracing a fail-fast, learn-quick mindset, Ronelle enjoys being outside her comfort zone and is eager to drive Afriwise’s marketing efforts forward with bold and impactful strategies.

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With an LLB (Hons) in Law with International Relations from the University of Portsmouth, Andifon is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Andifon also holds a Master of Science in International Business from Hult International Business School, London, adding a global perspective to his legal expertise.

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Having worked at top-tier law firms in Nigeria, Andifon has a proven track record in advising high-profile clients on complex transactions, conducting due diligence, and drafting contracts across sectors like Finance, Fintech, Energy, and Corporate Commercial practice. His experience as Chief Legal Officer at a Swedish IT start-up further sharpened their ability to navigate the intricate landscape of data privacy, intellectual property, and corporate governance in emerging tech sectors.

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Passionate about demystifying legal concepts and making them accessible, Andifon brings his love for precision and clarity to Afriwise’s editorial team. He believes making the law practical and understandable is essential to empowering businesses and individuals.

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A former football academy player in the UK and Portugal and a lifelong sports enthusiast, Andifon draws on the discipline, teamwork, and strategic thinking honed in football to contribute to his work. He believes the same principles of focus and collaboration in sports apply to delivering impactful legal content and solutions.

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Terisa is a Specialist Legal Editor at Afriwise.

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While working at a South African legal-research company, she simultaneously pursued her LLB degree part-time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, completing her studies alongside a successful six-year tenure in sales and management.

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Upon graduating, Terisa completed her articles at Legal Aid South Africa by serving two years as a criminal-defence attorney, where she honed her advocacy skills and delivered justice to under-served communities.

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A self-motivated and avid learner, Terisa thrives on acquiring new knowledge and skills, embracing challenges with enthusiasm and dedication.

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Her profound passion for the rule of law drives her ambition to make a meaningful impact in the legal sphere.

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Kariuki is a Specialist Legal Editor at Afriwise, where he applies his extensive legal expertise to refine legal content.

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He received his legal training at the University of Nairobi and gained a deep understanding of the complexities of the law through his experience working at various law firms across Kenya. Before joining Afriwise, he was the Managing Editor of the University of Nairobi Law Journal, overseeing the publication of scholarly legal works.

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A dedicated legal researcher, writer, and editor, Kariuki is driven by a passion to continuously learn and apply his knowledge, striving to create meaningful improvements in the legal field and make a positive impact on the world.

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As a Business Development Representative, Naledi is driven by a passion for identifying opportunities and building strong, strategic relationships from the ground up. Known for her persistence, adaptability, and results-oriented mindset, she thrives on connecting with potential clients, uncovering their unique needs, and introducing impactful solutions that fuel growth.

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With a focus on lead generation, qualifying prospects, and nurturing high-value relationships, she is committed to building pipelines that support sustainable, long-term success.

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