Opportunities in Sharia-compliant Structuring for Corporates and Family Businesses – Mombasa

Faizal is a UK qualified lawyer and for many years has worked and advised, and is a trusted advisor to institutions, corporates and families across the Middle East, Africa and India. Faizal specialises in banking and finance and has advised corporates, family offices and families including on their international investment and holding structures.

Abdulhafeez is a Partner at CMS Kenya | Daly Inamdar Advocates. He is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Certified Professional Mediator. He has over fifteen years’ experience advising clients in Corporate and Commercial transactions and Dispute Resolution. He is well respected by clients for his practical and concise approach to the giving of legal advice. His main practice areas are property acquisition and development, mergers and acquisitions, banking securities and finance, employment matters and general commercial transactions. He also handles civil litigation and arbitration in land, employment, marine cargo and P&I claims. Abdulhafeez trained with Kaplan & Stratton, Advocates, Nairobi and then joined Inamdar & Inamdar, Advocates in Mombasa in 2006 where he become a Partner in 2009. Since the merger with Daly & Figgis Advocates in 2016, he has been the Managing Partner of the Firm’s Mombasa Office.

Collette is a Partner at CMS Kenya | Daly Inamdar Advocates in the Dispute Resolution Department. She has specialised expertise in dispute resolution, having handled a blend of complex civil and commercial disputes. Her practice includes domestic and regional representation of parties before different courts, tribunals and other forums. Collette’s expertise extends to data protection and she advises local and multi-national companies on the full spectrum of data protection issues arising from data protection legislation. She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over thirteen years of experience and a certified professional mediator, accredited by the Kenyan Judiciary.

Dr. Mohamed Shakeel Salyani is a seasoned banking professional for 20 years with wide experience in Islamic banking for 16 years. During this period he has worked with credit institutions in developing new shariah compliant credit facilities and as a branch manager and a front office manager in leading banks in the country. His banking career initiated with Diamond Trust Bank and later First Community Bank, and Gulf African Bank Ltd, where his acumen for research and product development within Islamic Finance was sharpened.
Today he consults for various institutions like Acorn Holdings for the REIT shariah compliance, Craft Silicon Ltd for Islamic Banking Software systems and Islamic Fintech products. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Strategic Management) from Moi University, a Master’s degree from Punjab University in Pakistan where he also attained his bachelor of commerce degree and has attained advanced certification in shariah standards from IBA CEIF Karachi.

Islamic finance enthusiast with 10 years banking experience in Islamic banking. Possesses exemplary analytical skills with strong financial background. Suad has good leadership skills and can undertake tasks and manage projects within designated time.
She is currently working with Gulf African Bank. She has worked in both Corporate Banking as a Relationship Manager and in Credit Risk as credit risk analyst before heading the middle management office which is a unit comprising of 12 business analysts supporting the entire commercial banking sector in deal structuring and portfolio management. Suad has good interpersonal skills and is solution oriented which has seen her create good rapport with both senior management and junior staff within the bank.
Was part of the project team which acquired a facility origination system which is currently used by the bank.

Sevyn, an English Solicitor and Jersey Advocate, is Partner in Bedell Cristin's International Private Client team, based in Jersey.
He is a private wealth specialist experienced in advising on private wealth, corporate, investment and philanthropic structures (via trusts, foundations, private trust companies and family offices). He has considerable expertise in advising on complex cross-jurisdictional trust and corporate restructuring matters, and is regularly instructed by individuals and their family offices to coordinate their offshore interests.
Sevyn has significant experience in family governance matters, succession planning in the context of family businesses and the structuring and establishment of both single and multi-family offices. He is also one of the leading experts on the use of Jersey foundations and the establishment of charitable and philanthropic structures in Jersey.

Ankit Shah is the Team leader for the Coast and Harambee hub at Standard Chartered Bank. He is responsible for a team to provide High Net Worth clients advise on how to create, grow, and protect their wealth. He has over 14 years of experience in the banking industry delivering financial advisory services to rapidly growing institutions across different markets. He has assisted clients to create diversified portfolios in investments, cash, and wealth management across the globe. Ankit joined the Standard Chartered bank Kenya, in 2018 and since 2020 has been a team leader for the bank.
Ankit graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting & Management. He is also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI).

Nabila is an Senior Associate in the Property & Real Estate Department she was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya in March 2019. Her practice mainly focuses on real estate and property matters including preparing and reviewing commercial and residential leases, sale and purchase agreements, transfers and security transactions, conducting due diligence exercises, negotiating and preparing requisite real estate and conveyancing transaction documents. Nabila also assists in commercial, banking and security transactions, probate and private client work. Assisting in drafting and reviewing commercial and conveyancing agreements and contracts and issuing legal opinions on various aspects of Corporate and Property law. Being part of the team conducting due diligence on a number of investment transactions involving leading national companies.

Nihla Mazrui is a Partner at RSM Eastern Africa and the Regional Head of Audit. Nihla has over 16 years of experience in audit and assurance services having handled clients in various sectors including banking & insurance, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, telecommunication, real estate, and trading. In addition, Nihla has also handled various risk advisory engagements, financial and tax due diligence, and assisting clients with payroll and accounting outsourcing services. She is a member of ACCA, ICPAK, NBAA, and is on the ACCA Global Forum for Corporate Reporting. She also holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the International Islamic University, Malaysia. Before joining RSM, she worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Kenya and Tanzania rising from an audit associate to a manager.

CMS Kenya | Daly Inamdar Advocates (CMS Kenya) is the oldest law firm in Kenya tracing its origins to 1899 with offices in Nairobi and Mombasa, and is part of CMS, a future-facing international firm with more than 5,000 lawyers across more than 75 offices in 40 countries worldwide.

As one of the most reputable full-service civil law practices, CMS Kenya engages in all aspects of corporate, commercial, real estate, and dispute resolution services, and is recognised by international legal directories, including Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR1000.

With over 40 experienced lawyers, a number who are dual qualified (England and New York), handling significant, ground-breaking, and noteworthy commercial transactions, CMS Kenya’s clients include Kenyan-owned companies, multinational corporations, development institutions, foundations, and private clients conducting business across Africa.