Olivia joined Swanyalaw Advocates as a Consultant, bringing with her a wealth of international legal and policy experience. Before joining the firm, she worked with the World Bank Group, a Multilateral Development Bank, where she served as a Private Sector Development Attorney for Sub-Saharan Africa. In this role, she collected and analyzed data to assess business environments through investment climate studies, regulatory landscape evaluations, and business trend analysis. She also led high-level discussions and negotiations with senior government officials across Africa to promote a business-enabling environment.
As In-House Counsel at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Olivia advised senior management and the Board of Directors on a wide range of Bank-financed projects. She ensured legal and regulatory compliance, enabling the AfDB to successfully meet its legal and ethical obligations across diverse jurisdictions, while unlocking barriers that limited private sector investments through financing, private equity, and other financial instruments.
Prior to her tenure at the AfDB, Olivia served as a Transactional and Corporate Attorney (Of Counsel) with international law firms in Washington, DC, The Gambia, and Senegal, where she advised on banking and finance, corporate governance, legal and regulatory compliance, and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Olivia holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, DC, USA. She also holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Graduate Degree in Law, and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Honours Degree in International Studies from Rhodes University, South Africa. She is an attorney admitted to the New York State Bar and is fluent in French, English, and Lingala, and conversant in Swahili.
Olivia’s practice spans Transactional Law, Project Finance, Private Equity, Banking and Finance, Mining, Corporate Law, In-House Counsel, and Government Relations. She has extensive experience across multiple regions, including Europe (France); North America (United States and Canada); North Africa (Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia); East Africa (Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania); West Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, The Gambia, Senegal, and Togo); Central Africa (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, and Republic of Congo); and Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
