Chinwe Sagna

21 Oct Chinwe Sagna

Ms. Ajene-Sagna is the Founder/Managing Partner of Catalyst Realty Solutions (CRS); a full service real estate firm offering strategic advisory, implementation capability and asset management in the property sector for private, corporate and institutional pan-African clients. She has over 20 years experience as a high-achieving senior executive. Her prior role was Group Head of Business Development Africa for Rendeavour – Africa’s largest urban land developers with over 12,000 hectares of land on 7 projects (averaging 1-2000 hectares) in 5 cities across Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, DRC, Zambia) and 250+ million USD in infrastructure investments over each projects’ lifetime. Ms. Ajene-Sagna spent over 14 years with JLL – a global full service real estate firm (Fortune 500, S&P, 5 billion USD revenue, 66,000 employees and 225+ Corporate offices). Her last role was as Head of West Africa out of Lagos/Nigeria with landmark mandates comprising of:

• Union Bank of Nigeria: Portfolio optimization of 300+ assets including 16 disposals equivalent to 10.08 billion Naira (approx. 32 million USD) – Lagos, Nigeria and UK
• KPMG Nigeria: 8000 sqm “Stay vs. Go” analysis/Space audit and Lease renewal – Lagos, Nigeria
• CISCO Nigeria: 2000 sqm Lease renewal – Lagos, Nigeria
• Ecobank Transnational Incorporated: Portfolio analytics – Pan-African including Portfolio rationalization of 500+ assets – Lagos, Nigeria

Previous positions at JLL included Head of the French International Desk in Paris/France, where she provided CRM and Portfolio/ Asset management services to key international clients such as Société Générale, Credit Agricole CIB, Sanofi, SAP, and France Telecom/Orange. In Washington DC/USA she established 50 year real estate master plans for the US Military Army/Air Force as part of the US Military Housing public private partnerships initiative (over 2000+ homes). Her projects received US Congressional approval for implementation. Ms. Ajene-Sagna holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Bachelor’s in Arts (High Honors) from Dartmouth College and a diploma from the Tuck Business School Bridge Program. She has qualifications with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) and is obtaining her boardroom Diploma in Company Direction with the UK Institute of Directors. She frequently shares her knowledge on strategy and asset management via various medium including CNBC, Business Day and industry-level forums, and has taught at the Lagos Business School Strategy Department. Ms. Ajene-Sagna serves in the investment committee for Rising Tide Africa (raising the RiTA fund) and sits on various boards.