Mutandzi A. Matovelo ACIArb, Associate Director, iResolve™

 Mutandzi is an Advocate of the High Court of the United Republic of Tanzania and an Associate Director at iResolve Limited versed with appreciable skill and experience in Corporate Management and Governance; Labour and Commercial Alternative Dispute Resolution; and Civil Litigation.

Mutandzi is a Fellow of the International Academy for Trial Lawyers (IATL), an Associate to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), an Associate of the Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators; and a practicing member of the Tanganyika Law Society where he sits as a member of the Young Lawyers Committee.

He has acted as party counsel in various labour mediation and commercial arbitration. He has been engaged as Judge during the Orate Africa Schools Moot Court Competition held in March, 2019; as a moderator during the 1st ICC Arbitration day held on 18th July, 2019 in Dar es Salaam; as a facilitator during the ADR Academy Training on ADR in the Aviation Industry offered to members of the Consumer Complaints Unit of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority held in July, 2019; and as a moderator during the 1st inaugural Africa-Asian Mediation Conference held on 5th and 6th September, 2019 in Dar es Salaam.

Prior to joining iResolve Limited, Mutandzi worked with Joachim & Jacobs Attorneys and CRB Africa Legal, law firms based in Dar es Salaam.

Mutandzi holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) with Honours from the University of Dodoma (2016); Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (PGDLP) from the Law School of Tanzania (2018); is currently pursuing his Master Degree (LLM) in Corporate and Commercial Law and was awarded an Advanced Certificate in Mediation and Arbitration by the International Law Institute and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (2019).

Asmahaney Saad ACIArb

Asmahaney is an Advocate, a Commercial Legal Advisor and an Alternative Dispute Resolution practitioner by profession. She is a Partner with KTA Advocates and heads the Corporate & Commercial Practice Group with the niche in Energy (including oil & gas), Infrastructure and Natural Resources.

Asmahaney is also a Committee member on the first ever appointed Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) that advises the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on the Petroleum Revenue Investment Reserve fund( under the Public Finance Management Act), a Non- Executive Director to the Board of United Bank for Africa (Uganda) Ltd, a Board Trustee to the Board of Trustees for Greater Tomorrow African Initiative (GTAI) a Not for profit Organization, Secretary General Emeritus to the Governing Council of the East African Law Society and an accredited Chartered Mediator to the High Court of Uganda (Commercial Division).

Asmahaney has over 13 years extensive experience from advising local, regional and international institutions on several matters including; oil and gas, Project financing, Infrastructure development, Mining, National Content (including Joint venture structuring), Regulatory and Compliance, Governance, Environment, Health and Safety, trade, investment and market entry.

Asmahaney is passionate about economic justice, business growth and sustainability. Her passion has seen her innovate solutions around access to economic justice using ADR and in June 2020, she won the HiiL justice innovation challenge with the Electronic Justice Solutions (https://electronicjustice.com/). She also provides support to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises by offering free training in business registration, governance, structures and processes that have seen her support these businesses grow to the next level.

Asmahaney holds a Masters in International Business Administration (MIBA) from ESLSCA International Business School (Paris), a Diploma in Legal Practice ( LDC-MUK) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (MUK ) ,Chartered Mediator – Mediation Training Institute East Africa (MTI-EA) and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators-UK (CIArb).

Leyla Ahmed FCIArb, Associate in the Dispute Resolution, TripleOKLaw (Kenya)

Leyla Ahmed is an advocate and an associate in the Dispute Resolution department at TripleOKLaw, LLP specializing in commercial litigation, employment & labour disputes, civil and constitutional & human rights matters. She is a Commissioner of oaths; a certified mediator and has been provisional accredited by the Mediation Accreditation Committee (MAC) of the Judiciary of Kenya. 

She is an arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She was nominated for recognition as one of Africa’s 50 Most Promising Young Arbitration Practitioners in 2020, an initiative of the Association of Young Arbitrators (AYA). In September, 2020, she was appointed as an African Ambassador, Arbitrator Intelligence, a global information aggregator that collects feedback about arbitrators after an arbitration has concluded through a confidential, anonymized online questionnaire: the Arbitrator Intelligence Questionnaire. She represent parties both in mediation and arbitration proceedings and has sat as Arbitral Tribunal.

Apart from CIArb YMG, she is an active member of a number of young arbitral groups such as the Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG) of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA); Member of Young International Council for Commercial Arbitration (Young ICCA) and is also a member of the Association of Young Arbitrators (AYA).

Leyla emerged the winner of the Young Lawyer of the Year awards, 2020 in the Nairobi Legal Awards.

Adv Lindi Nkosi Thomas, Vice Chairperson, Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA)

 Adv. Lindi is a Senior Counsel and a member of the Johannesburg Bar having been called to the Bar in November 1994, whose seat is currently at AFSA JHB CHAMBERS, 8A Protea Place Sandton.

Her areas of practice and interest include litigation and arbitration in: commercial law, constitutional and administrative law, pension law, corporate governance law, aviation law, tax law, and competition law.

Adv. Lindi is an Arbitrator with international experience e.g ICC administered arbitration. She’s a board member of the China-Africa Joint Arbitration Centre NPC ( CAJAC), Manco member of Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa NPC ( AFSA), and a panelist of Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC). She is the Chairperson of SA BRICS Arbitration Expert Committee.

As Senior Counsel, she has acted in various litigious matters of national importance and has advised various SOC’s and the Government of the Republic of South Africa on numerous litigious matters and transactions of considerable scale.

Further, she has acted as a Judge of the High Court of South Africa on numerous occasions and continues to do so from time to time 

Adv Henk Louw FCIArb, B Com (Law) LLB FAArb in the SADC Region.

 Henk Louw is a Counsel and Arbitrator. He obtained a B Com LLB from the University of Johannesburg in 1989. He was admitted as an advocate in 1990 and joined the Department of Justice in the same year, practicing as a state advocate specializing in large scale national and international commercial crime matters.

He was called to the Bar in 1996 and his areas of practice are mostly of a commercial and arbitration nature although he has acted in many areas of litigation which include arbitration law, contract law, delict law, insolvency law, insurance law and criminal law with an emphasis on commercial crime matters.

He was appointed in the Kingdom of Lesotho as a specialist commercial crime prosecutor by the Director of Public Prosecutions, was admitted as an advocate and became a member of the Law Society of Lesotho in 1998. He also acts in that jurisdiction on behalf of various multi-nationals in civil disputes.

He has acted as an Arbitrator, is a Commercial Panel member of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa, a Fellow of the Association of Arbitrators (Southern Africa), a listed Arbitrator of the Association of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK). He is further a Tutor and Moderator of the Association of Arbitrators in their academic and Fellowship programs.

He has appeared in various jurisdictions which include Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Nelson Osman Jeque is lawyer, member of the Bar Association of Mozambique since 2007.

He holds a Law Degree from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, from which he also has a Master in Law in 2008.

He is lecturer for almost 15 years. Current he is teaching Civil Procedure at High Institute of Science and Technology of Mozambique- ISCTEM.

Mr. Jeque is PhD candidate in Law at University of Porto writing about Commercial Arbitration in Mozambique.

He started a professional career in 2004. Mr. Jeque served as consultant or legal adviser in Mozambique for Procredit Bank (2004-2006), Central Bank (2007-2008) and Confederation of Business Association (2007/8-2010). He then served, from 2011 to 2017, as advisor to the Minister of Industry and Trade in Mozambique covering mainly the legal reforms to enabling the business environment.  In 2017 he moved to British American Tobacco Mozambique. Currently he is Head of Legal and External Affairs for Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho and Eswatini.

Mr. Jeque also acts as arbitrator since 2007 at Centro de Arbitragem, Conciliação e Mediação (Arbitration, Conciliation and Mediation Centre). He speaks Portuguese, English and understands French.

Mouhamed Kebe, Chartered Arbitrator with the OHADA Court of Arbitration, Member of ICC Court and of the Committee of Lagos Court of Arbitration

 Mouhamed Kebe is an Avocat à la cour admitted to the Senegalese Bar (1993) and the Ivory Coast Bar (2018). He is also a member of the Law Society of England and Wales (International Division). He is the managing partner of GENI&KEBE, a full service law firm member of DLA Piper Africa, based in Senegal and Ivory Coast with affiliate offices across several jurisdictions mainly in the OHADA region (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger)

 He advises on corporate and investment transactions in sub-Saharan Africa. With extensive experience supporting clients in emerging markets in the Francophone region, Mouhamed advises on major projects in the infrastructure, energy and natural resources sectors. He has acted on a number of landmark development transactions in the region. He oversees commercial transactions, including joint ventures, corporate restructuring and project finance.

Mouhamed’s practice also includes international and investment arbitration. He is a chartered arbitrator with the OHADA Court of Arbitration, a member of the Arbitration Court of the ICC and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Deborah Dumebi Chukwuedo FCIArb

Deborah Dumebi Chukwuedo FCIArb is Nigerian lawyer; she practices as a Barrister, Solicitor and Arbitrator with 18 years post call experience in corporate & commercial law practice. Since obtaining her legal licence, she has represented businesses and regulatory bodies in structuring transactions and commercial dispute resolution including investments and divestments, mergers & acquisitions, real estate & construction and regulatory decisions.

Deborah is currently a partner at Accendolaw and heads the Capital Market & Real Estate Department of the law firm, and leads the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Nigeria) Branch, and the past Vice Chair of the CIArb-YMG Nigeria chapter.

Aurélia Sylvia Mafongo Kamga, International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrator Forum (ICC-YAF) Representatitve for Africa, Middle East and Turkey

 Aurélia Sylvia Mafongo Kamga is a barrister admitted to the Nigerian and Cameroon Bars and an associate at Chazai & Partners.

She is the International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrator Forum (ICC-YAF) Representatitve for Africa, Middle East and Turkey. She organises, attends and presents in several conferences around the world, to promote ADR mechanisms among young practitioners
and Regional integration in Africa. She is equally a member of the Association for the Promotion of Arbitration in Africa (APAA), Association of Young Arbitrators (AYA) and Young International Council of Commercial Arbitration (ICCA).

Moreover, she is an Associate of the United Kingdom Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), a leading professional body for dispute avoidance, management and resolution, which provides education and training for arbitrators and mediators.

Prior to joining the firm, Aurélia was a trainee lawyer at Abdoul Bagui & Associés in Yaoundé. She has also worked as programme officer at the Institute of Community law (ICL), Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire, where she used to plan and develop projects, carry out programmes and organise trainings related to community law. She equally worked at the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA-OHADA) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she gained experience in arbitration.

Aurélia Sylvia MAFONGO KAMGA holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations option International Disputes from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Buea. She is fluent in French and English.

Dr Affef Ben Mansour, Independent Counsel And Arbitrator  

Dr. Affef Ben Mansour’s practice focuses on public international law, European law, international investment arbitration and commercial arbitration.

She has been involved in many complex investment and commercial arbitration case in Africa, Europe and the Middle-East. Her industry experience includes inter alia construction, distribution, oil and gas, mining, medical products, post M&A and telecommunication disputes.

Dr. Ben Mansour sits also as arbitrator and is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration (Tunisia) and has been appointed member of the ICC Task Force “Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration.”She is also empaneled in numerous arbitration panels in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Prior to practicing as an independent counsel and arbitrator, she spent several years within the public international law and arbitration department of a major international law firm in Paris.

She completed a Doctorate in Public International Law, with honors in 2009 and continues her research and teaching activities as an Associate Researcher of the CEDIN (Public International Law Center of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense University) and a member of the French Society of International Law and the French Branch of the International Law Association.

She published her thesis on The Implementation of International Judgments and Awards of International Tribunals in 2011. She also regularly publishes on Public International Law, European Law and gives lectures on various topics related to Public International Law, Investment Law, European Law and International Arbitration. Dr. Ben Mansour has been elected member to Arbitral Women Board in June 2018 and is a member of the Paris Bar. Her working languages are Arabic, English and French.

Dr Fidele Masengo FCIArb

Dr Fidele Masengo is a PhD holder (In law) from University of Antwerp in Belgium (2010). He has also a Master in Economic law (DESS) from the University of Louvain in Belgium (2003).
Dr. Fidele is a Legal Consultant, an Arbitrator (Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators- FCIArb) and a Certified Mediator. Since July 2015 up to December 2020, he served as the Secretary General of the Kigali International Arbitration Center. 

His background in both arbitration and law in general, includes, serving as Arbitrator, Mediator, lecturer of International arbitration law, International Competition Law at various universities in Rwanda and East Africa. He joined the the Rwanda Bar Association since 2006. He has served to the First Board of Director of Kigali International Arbitration Center since its establishment in January 2012 up to September 2017. He serves on the Board of Directors of The African Arbitration Association; He seats on the Governing Council of the JANADA International Arbitration Centre in Abuja- Nigeria; 

Prior to joining KIAC in 2015, Dr. Fidele Masengo has served as Deputy Chief of Party for a USAID-Chemonics Rwanda Land Project (2011-2015). He has also served as Legal Counsel of Rwanda Utilities Regulation Agency (2004-2005) and as Director of Administration of the Justice at the Rwandan Ministry of Justice (1999-2004). 

He has several written articles and books and has attended many Conferences as speaker.

Ibrahim Shehata ACIArb, Partner - Shehata & Partners (Egypt)

Ibrahim Shehata is a partner and the head of international arbitration practice at Shehata & Partners Law Firm. He has extensive experience in international commercial arbitration, arbitration-related litigation, and complex banking and finance litigation. He has participated in various arbitration cases seated in Cairo, Dubai, and Paris under the auspices of various institutional rules including ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, and CRCICA. Ibrahim publishes regularly in the field of international arbitration in various publications and is currently in the process of publishing the first English-Language treatise on Arbitration in Egypt with Kluwer Law International.

Madeline Kimei MCIArb, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (Africa)

Madeline Kimei is a practicing commercial and corporate lawyer and represents parties in domestic arbitration. Madeline is an accredited civil and commercial mediator by the Chartered Institute of Arbitration (UK) and also holds a Certificate in Dispute Management from Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation (IIAM) certified by the IMI-Ireland.

 She is an arbitrator, adjudicator and mediator appearing on the panels of Shanghai International Arbitration Centre, Tanzania Institute Arbitrators and National Construction Council of Tanzania. She also has experience as an arbitral secretary under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

She is President of the Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators (TIArb), Chairperson of the Africa Asia Mediation Association, Regional Director of the Centre for International Alternative Dispute Resolution (CIADr), Faculty Member of the Bangladesh International Mediation Society and a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration (including the ICC Africa Commission).

 She is a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Africa User’s Council and serves as a Director of Tanzania International Arbitration Centre (TIAC) and has been engaged as Consultant in its business strategy design and implementation by the Tanganyika Law Society.

Dr. Sylvie Bebohi Ebongo, Paris, France and Cameroon (Africa)

Doctor in law at the end of a thesis devoted to specific questions of execution of arbitral awards, Maître Sylvie BEBOHI EBONGO has, in addition to a university course halfway between fundamental private law and business law, a professional experience as a lawyer in an audit and consulting firm.

A graduate of the Paris Bar Training School (CAPA), Lawyer at the Paris and Cameroon Bars, Maître Sylvie BEBOHI EBONGO works for a clientele of individuals and companies that she supports both in business creation,that in the drafting the follow-up of their contracts. She intervenes in the pre-litigation phase of dispute management, advises and represents in dispute settlement procedures in commercial or investment arbitration.

She has a recurring practice of arbitration where she intervenes in particular as an arbitrator, adviser or secretary of an arbitral tribunal. She is part of the panel of arbitrators of the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA-OHADA), the Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration of Cairo (CRCICA) and the Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation Center of Ouagadougou (CAMC-O).

Passionate about ADR, she is very interested in mediation and other dispute resolution methods that may allow an amicable resolution of disputes. It can therefore support or intervene in commercial or investment mediation.

Her immersion in international trade law and her knowledge of the law of the Organization for the Harmonization in Africa of Business Law (OHADA), in which she has worked for many years, also led her to develop support legal for foreign investors who want to establish themselves in the OHADA area.

On the strength of her skills acquired throughout her academic and professional career, Maître Sylvie BEBOHI EBONGO joined forces with Maître Alvine Bélise HAPPI to create the HBE Avocats law firm https://www.hbe-avocats.com/fr/

Jackwell Feris, Partner, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc (South Africa/SADC Region)

Jackwell Feris is a partner at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc, a leading African law firm. Jackwell is an experienced attorney providing dispute resolution (both domestic and international), risk advisory and regulatory services to clients in South Africa and various other African jurisdictions. He has particular experience in the mining, energy and natural resources sectors acting for both the private sector/investors and the state or state-owned entities as legal counsel. As counsel he has represented clients in various complex arbitrations (whether ad hoc or institutional), various complex court litigation, including providing advice on regulatory changes and the effect of those changes from an international investment law and public international law perspective. For more details on his experience and the type of case he has been involved in visit: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/people/jackwell-feris.html

He is an admitted attorney and notary public in South Africa. He holds a LLB (North West University), a LLM in Corporate Law (University of Witwatersrand), as well as Certificates in Economics for Law (University of Witwatersrand), certificate in International Commercial Arbitration (American University, Washington College of Law), and Certificate in International Investment Treaties and Investor State Arbitration (International Law Institute in cooperation with Georgetown University).

For the past few years, he has been a guest lecturer on international arbitration (investor-state and commercial) as part of the LLM: Extractive Industry Law in Africa of the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Law.  In respect of the course on Protection of Investment in Africa, he together with Leon Gerber has developed the course content and programme, with the advice and input of the fellow presenters to ensure the course provides a balanced approach on the issues affecting states and investors from an international investment law perspective. He is also a member of the Lagos Court of Arbitration's Arbitration Committee, the IBA Africa Arbitration Committee and was a member of the Drafting Committee of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa's ("AFSA") Remote Hearing Protocol. During 2020 he has been recognized by Africa’s 50 Most Promising Young Arbitration Practitioner by Association of Young Arbitrators.