IBA ESG Accelerator Training Programme: Business and human rights

I am a Partner at South African leading law firm, Webber Wentzel. I practice as an environmental regulatory and sustainability lawyer. I have experience in conducting environmental due diligence investigations and legal audits, as well as contractual drafting and drafting legal opinions on a range of procedural, substantive and regulatory queries. I have also assisted clients engaged in environmental permitting applications, prosecutions and appeals / administrative enforcement proceedings. I regularly research and compile informative pieces and client alerts on legislative amendments and regulatory / policy updates in environmental and sustainability regimes and have drafted a textbook chapter and contributed environmental knowledge to various institutional platforms. My experience extends to advising clients on ESG-related and, more recently, BHR-dedicated impacts, risks and opportunities, such as opining on strategic environmental and climate change related laws and policies, advising in support of project development and strategic M&A activity, establishing and reviewing governance systems and procedures, conducting regulatory and institutional framework mapping, and conducting business and human rights due diligence. Between September 2018 and June 2021, I was on a weekly secondment at Ivanhoe Mines, where I was first exposed to and involved in BHR work for Ivanhoe’s DRC mining operations. In 2022, I spent six months at our alliance firm, Linklaters LLP, in London on a secondment to their ESG team. I was recently also seconded to Ivanhoe’s DRC mining operation to assist with the identification of the building blocks necessary to establish a dedicated Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) function on site.​ I have an LLB degree and BCom Management degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi (SAN) is Professor and UNESCO Chairholder on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar; and an Independent Expert on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Legal and sustainability leader with multidisciplinary expertise spanning law, engineering, and ESG leadership. As CEO of SUCCA Africa Ltd, leads a management consulting firm specializing in sustainability services, business optimization, and asset management for public and private institutions. Previously worked for companies AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining Corporation, and brings deep sector expertise across mining, oil & gas, banking, construction, transportation, real estate and hospitality industries. An alumnus of the University of Cambridge, University of Twente, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Maintains professional memberships with the Ghana Bar, International Bar Association, and Ghana Institution of Engineering. Certified GRI trainer and GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk Professional, complemented by ISO 14001 lead auditor certification.