Chinwe Ajena- Sagna

E-mail: cajene-sagna@lbs.edu.ng
Brief info

Ms. Ajene-Sagna is the Founder & Managing Partner of a full-service real estate firm Catalyst Realty Solutions (CRS). She is a Non-Executive Director and Senior Executive with over 20 years of experience in the real assets/property management industry operating at CEO and C-suite level across the public and private sectors within the US, France, and in both Francophone and Anglophone West Africa. Recognised as one of the leading Women in Real Estate in Nigeria and West Africa, Ms Ajene-Sagna has a demonstrable track record of accomplishment delivering strategic advisory, asset management, and portfolio rationalization solutions for private and institutional pan-African and International clients.

Having spent over 14 years with JLL, a Fortune 500, NYSE listed global real estate market leader, Ms. Sagna, as Head of West Africa, opened up offices in Lagos and successfully executed the business strategy. Her landmark 32 Million USD transaction with Union Bank of Nigeria secured the JLL brand in West Africa. Her prior position was Head of the French International Desk in Paris/France where she executed portfolio rationalization transactions for key corporates including Société Générale, Credit Agricole CIB, Sanofi, SAP, FFD, and France Telecom/Orange.

She possess in-depth experiences building master planned communities for both the public and private sectors. Ms Ajene-Sagna developed 50-year community master plans for the US Army/Air Force as part of the Military Housing PPP, and more recently was Group Head of Business Development Africa for Rendeavour – Africa’s largest private city developers with over 12,000 hectares in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, DRC, and Zambia.

Ms. Ajene-Sagna sits on the board of Amandla Capital/Sunu real estate, and is a member of the investment committees for AfricaWorks (pan African real estate firm) and Rising Tide Association (women’s angel network) where she also Heads the education committee. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Lagos Business School teaching in the Strategy department.

Ms. Ajene-Sagna holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA (High Honors) from Dartmouth College, has a UK Institute of Directors Certificate in Company Direction, and an MRICS from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. She is fluent in French, is learning Arabic, enjoys running, travelling and golf, and is married with two children.