MEET OUR EXPERT TEAM
Our diverse team brings together a wealth of knowledge and experience , ensuring that our clients receive the highest level of legal support and financial guidance tailored to their individual needs.
Stephen Motsusi
Managing Partner - South Africa
Stephen is Managing Partner at Africarta's South Africa Practice. He has 10+ years of premium deal advisory experience including significant spells at top law firms (ENSafrica, DLAPiper, CMS), specializing in project finance, regulatory law, and M&A across multiple sectors (energy, mining, infrastructure). He has structured innovative funding solutions (e.g. pioneering streaming agreements for mining projects) and advised on complex cross-border transactions. Stephen holds an a Bachelor of Commerce (Law & Economics) and LLB (Wits University, with First Class Honours) and earned an LLM in Oil & Gas Law (with Distinction) from Robert Gordon University in the UK. He provides Africarta’s engagements with strong legal structuring and deal execution leadership.
Maryam Kamara
Managing Partner - Ghana
Maryam Kamara is a corporate lawyer with 12+ years of practice experience. She has garnered significant deal experience at leading Ghanaian law firm and as Head, Legal & Company Secretary of a major oil marketing company, advising on commercial, employment, intellectual property, and company law matters. Maryam also brings significant boardroom experience, having served as a director and board secretary.
She has held executive leadership roles including as Chief Operating Officer of SPACE Accra, and she is Board Member of Amantin & Kasei Community Bank. At Africarta, Maryam leads the Ghana practice, bringing practical governance insight and rigorous legal execution to complex, cross-sector mandates.
Akindele Phillips
Africa Tax Lead
Akindele is a chartered accountant and seasoned African tax adviser with close to two decades’ experience across audit, tax and financial advisory. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. He holds a B.Sc. in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University and has completed executive programmes at MIT Sloan (Building, Leading & Sustaining the Innovative Organization), Lagos Business School (Blue Ocean Strategy) and Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (Oxford Executive Leadership Programme).
Akindele began his professional career with KPMG Nigeria, working on statutory and non-statutory audits—particularly for energy sector clients—before moving into broader tax and advisory mandates. He is the founding partner of Phillips Akindele & Co., serving clients across sectors including energy, financial services and technology.
In addition to leading Africarta’s continent-wide tax offering, Akindele has previously served as Tax Coordinator for the Africa Tax Desk at a leading African advisory conglomerate, supporting multi-jurisdictional structuring, compliance, transfer pricing and disputes. He has also held senior operating roles in high-growth ventures, including Chief Executive Officer, experience that informs his pragmatic, results-driven approach to complex cross-border tax matters.
Akindele brings a robust background in tax advisory, compliance and regulatory management, ensuring that our clients navigate the complexities of the African taxation landscape effectively while adhering to best practices and standards.
Dr. Tejiri Digun-Aweto
Africa ESG Lead
Dr. Tejiri Digun-Aweto is an accomplished Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and sustainability professional with broad experience spanning academia, international development, and consulting. Holding a PhD and over thirty publications on Sustainability, tourism, conservation, and community impact across African contexts, his work bridges research insight with practical sustainability implementation.
As Africa ESG Lead at Africarta, Dr. Digun-Aweto leads the development of ESG strategies that strengthen materiality analysis, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based program design for projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors. His approach integrates sustainability principles into business and policy decisions to advance long-term value creation and environmental responsibility.
Professional experience includes contributions to World Bank–funded initiatives and prior collaboration with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on sustainability and governance programs. Academic and research affiliations include University College London (UCL) London, where he participated in studies on sustainable development, business environment reform, and policy implementation in emerging economies.
In partnership with Tourism Research in Economics, Environment and Society (TREES) at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa and Dr. Digun-Aweto has supported research advancing sustainable tourism, biodiversity conservation, marine conservation, environmental management, and community-based development.
He continues to advance ESG best practices through applied research, advisory services, and capacity-building programs that promote sustainable growth and responsible investment across the continent.
Azeezat Atanda
Africa Risk and Compliance Lead
Azeezat is a risk governance and operational-risk specialist with 10+ years’ experience building and running enterprise-grade frameworks for financial-services organizations. She designs and implements RCSA/PRCSA programs, Key Risk Indicators, incident & issue management, third-party risk oversight, and business continuity planning; standardizes cross-functional processes; and produces board-level risk reporting aligned to regulatory and banking-partner standards.
Before assuming her role Africarta, Azeezat served as Risk Management Officer at Zip (zip.co); Vice President, Operational Risk—Framework & Governance for Morgan Stanley’s U.S. Banks; Senior Associate, Risk Governance (Technology & Reporting) at New York Life Insurance; AVP, Operational Risk Management at Nuveen Asset Management (TIAA); and ERM Analyst at TIAA. Earlier roles include contracts compliance at The Beanstalk Group and branch-level compliance and operations for Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.
She holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Political Science from Daemen University.
