Few names in Nigerian corporate law carry the weight of Dr. Myma Adwowa Belo-Osagie. A lawyer, board director and philanthropist, she has spent four decades advising businesses and governments across West Africa, and helping to shape the institutions that train the continent’s next generation of leaders.
Born Myma Bentsi-Enchill in Accra, Ghana, in 1954, she began her legal training at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she earned her LL.B in 1975. She qualified for the Ghana Bar after attending the Ghana School of Law, then went to Harvard Law School for an LL.M in 1978 and a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in 1985. She was later called to the New York Bar and is also admitted in Nigeria, which allows her to practise across three jurisdictions.
In 1985, she co-founded Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO), now one of Nigeria’s best-regarded corporate law firms. Over the years, she led its telecommunications and oil and gas teams and built a reputation in corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment, regulatory communications, equity finance and infrastructure projects. Chambers has ranked her among the world’s leading corporate and M&A lawyers.
She retired as Senior Partner in 2019 and now serves as Of Counsel, continuing to lend her experience to the firm. She has said that a modern law firm must be run like a business that solves clients’ problems efficiently, and that ethics must never be compromised.
Beyond the courtroom and the deal table, Dr. Belo-Osagie has built a significant presence on corporate boards. She has chaired Africa Opportunity Fund since 2014 and has served as a director of Boston Investments, African Fabrics and Ghana Airport City Development. She also sits on the board of Pensions Alliance Limited (PAL Pensions) and previously served as a non-executive director at FSDH Merchant Bank until 2016. Alongside her husband, businessman and lawyer Hakeem Belo-Osagie, she is also associated with Metis Capital Partners, the couple’s family office.
Her influence extends well beyond business. She serves on the advisory boards of institutions including the African Leadership Academy and Ashesi University. She chairs the Africa Advisory Board of Harvard’s Center for African Studies, and she and her husband fund the Hakeem and Myma Belo-Osagie Distinguished Lecture on African Business and Entrepreneurship, held annually since 2015. In 2018, she was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, alongside Barack Obama and other leaders from across the world.
Dr. Belo-Osagie is married to Hakeem Belo-Osagie, and they have four children. One of them, Yasmin Belo-Osagie, is the co-founder of She Leads Africa, a platform that supports young African women entrepreneurs.
From Legon to Harvard, and from Accra to Lagos, Dr. Belo-Osagie’s story is one of ambition, discipline and the value of building institutions that outlast their founders. Her career shows what is possible when expertise, integrity and a commitment to Africa’s growth come together.
