Rosemond Phil-Othihiwa is a Corporate and  Commercial Attorney who has garnered experience in providing legal advisory services to business owners and corporate clients for close to a decade. She  is the current Secretary of the Corporate Governance and Compliance Committee of the NBA.

She was Chairperson of the Continuing Legal Education Young Lawyers Forum, Nigerian Bar Association Ikeja and hosts her Mentorship programme for Young Lawyers which has hosted global thought leaders.Phil-Othihiwa tells WO about her transition from law to tech, why tech startups need to get the necessary licence from the government, how Nigerian laws provide coverage for startups, opportunities for females in the tech industry and other issues.

What is the service you provide for tech start ups? 

I am a lawyer that provides legal services for tech startups. When they are building products, I provide the necessary legal documentations they need to consider.

For instance, what are the regulations and what are the licences they need to get? What are some of the ways they need to understand their negotiations with their investors and their shareholders? What is the structure of the company they are building? Are they trying to raise funds? What are the laws that govern that new market? So basically, anything that has to do with corporate governance and the ability for them to truly use the laws to their advantage. 

When was the transition from law to tech?

I came out of law school in 2014 and like a typical person who comes out of law school, I was very confused but two things were clear, I wanted to serve and learn under somebody who had the knowledge, expertise and competence of what truly a good lawyer looks like and I found that person. He was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; his name was Olatunde Adejuyigbe, SAN. I served in his chambers for four years. He was an insolvency practitioner but he was so good in litigation. Insolvency is an area of law that deals with companies that are trying to restructure. I had a solid foundation.

As an entrepreneur, you are in charge of HR, you are in charge of the process,  operations, you’re doing people management, tech management, platform management, stakeholder management, you are a shareholder in the company, you are a director. You are not just a legal adviser, you are playing the game.

How many years did it take for all these to happen? 

The melting point was in 2021 when I was able to have clarity and it has just been ongoing from there. I have worked as the legal compliance officer for several tech startups. I look at the companies and I am like, you guys need to put A, B, C and D together. I draft a strategy, we execute the strategy and they get from A to wherever they want to be. It’s like a passion of mine; it’s like I am fulfilling my purpose. That’s exactly what it’s been for me.  

Tech is male-dominated. What do you think can be done to encourage more women to get into tech?

Tech is not a gender-specific industry as long as you have the skill, the competence and you can deliver. We all talk about gender equality, diversity and inclusion when it comes to trying to earn as much as your male counterpart.  That is a conversation that will always keep happening, it’s not going to go away anytime soon. But I can tell you that we have a better chance in the technology-driven space as women because it depends on skillfulness.

However, women must know how to position themselves as a brand because one of the things that women are perceived to be is that they are not as confident as their male counterparts. That confidence comes from exposure and experience and that’s one of the things that a lot of organisations are trying to solve. 

My advice would be that women need to brand themselves better than their male counterparts. We can’t be shy about saying we are ready and available for opportunities but we must also have the skill to deliver  as women. You  need to prove that you know what you are doing because no one is going to use emotions to reward you