The African Development Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Souley Amadou as Acting General Counsel and Director of the Legal Service Department, effective 1 July 2020.
A transactional lawyer with a Ph.D. in banking and finance law from Clermont-Ferrand university, in France, Souley Amadou has over 24 years of substantive legal work experience, including 20 years spent at the African Development Bank Group. Amadou has also assumed the role of Acting Corporate Secretary & General Counsel of Africa50 from 2015 to 2018.
A highly recognized legal professional for his strategic leadership and management skills in multicultural settings, Amadou has a robust track record providing legal advice, support, and services to the Bank both in public and private sector operations.
As a Manager of the Private Sector Operations Division in the Legal Department, a position he has held since 2009, Amadou has worked effectively to ensure proper due diligence of legal aspects for all non-sovereign operations of the Bank Group. He has demonstrated innovation in people management and mentorship with strong backing from a core team of lawyers he has put in place.
Before that, Amadou has demonstrated an aptitude for addressing operational challenges and developing practical solutions in his capacity as Principal Counsel for both Public and Private sector operations from 1999 to 2019.
He has actively participated in the conception and implementation of ground-breaking initiatives to mobilize third-party funding from sovereign and non-sovereign entities such as Africa50. Other key achievements include effectively counseling governments in the development and preparation of legal and contractual regimes and the structuring of complex PPPs.
Prior to joining the Bank Group in 1999, Amadou held a series of positions in the regulation of futures markets in Washington DC and Paris, serving as lawyer and consultant for the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) and from EURONEXT in France, formerly known as MATIF SA. He also served at the then French future markets regulator (Conseil du Marché à Terme).
A senior corporate lawyer in major law firms, such as Cabinet TONINI and former Coudert Brothers, Amadou's work focused on legal support for privatizations, securitizations, and infrastructure project finance transactions.
Amadou holds a Doctorate Degree (Ph.D.) in Business Law, University of Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand I (1993); a Master of Research (MRes-DEA) in Tax & Business, University of Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand I (1990); and a Certificate of Aptitude for the Legal Profession (CAPA).
