Legal Officer - Fund of Funds & Structuration

About Investisseurs & Partenaires

Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) is an impact investment group exclusively focused on African SMEs. Since 2002, I&P has financed and supported more than 300 entrepreneurs across 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and sponsored many African SME funds. I&P’s team is based in 9 countries including Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Uganda and Madagascar (see our website: www.ietp.com/en).

Our mission is to foster the emergence of entrepreneurs and SMEs that are at the core of inclusive growth and sustainable development in Africa. I&P manages several investment funds supported by development finance institutions, public donors and High Net Worth Individuals.

Fund Background

FASA (Financing for Agri-SMEs in Africa) is a multi-donor fund-of-funds managed by I&P that aims to mobilize capital for agricultural SMEs in Africa.

FASA’s mission is to reduce the funding gap faced by agri-SMEs in Africa by 1) mobilizing catalytic capital, 2) enhancing the capacity of investment fund managers to invest in impactful agri-SMEs, and 3) fostering a supportive ecosystem.

As a fund-of-funds, FASA's activities primarily focuses on investment fund managers, who will then provide funding and support to agri-SMEs aligned with FASA's mandate, which is to contribute to transform African agriculture by enhancing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, and offering climate-smart agricultural value solutions.

FASA is currently being deployed.

The Legal Officer is expected to be mostly focused on FASA activities while contributing to other legal and structuration activities within I&P. 

The Legal Officer is an in-house role within the Finance Department, working closely with the CFO and FASA Program Director. The role is built around two pillars:

Pillar One (primary) — legal support to the FASA activity: reviewing the legal structuring and documentation of underlying funds as well as key legal agreements, supporting the investment teams in their negotiations (mainly across the US, the EU, and Mauritius) and supporting the investment team in the legal and governance monitoring over the holding period.

Pillar Two (secondary) — legal support to the structuring I&P other activities and investment vehicles, principally in Mauritius and, where relevant, in Luxembourg and France, review of key legal agreements and support to the ongoing legal monitoring of some activities.

This is an excellent opportunity for a driven lawyer with approximately 5 to 8 years of experience ready to step into a broad, multi-jurisdictional in-house role with genuine responsibility and a clear path for growth.

The role is organised around two pillars — a primary fund of funds pillar and a second structuring pillar — together with an additional corporate governance dimension. In both pillars, the Legal Officer works alongside local external counsels, who will handle the drafting of legal documentations; the in-house focus is on reviewing, instructing, coordinating, and negotiating rather than producing documentation from scratch.

3.1  Pillar One (primary) — FASA Legal Support

The core focus of the role. The Legal Officer will:

• Act as primary legal support for the FASA investment activity, reviewing the legal structuring of underlying and target funds, mainly across the US, the EU, and Mauritius (other jurisdictions are possible)
• Review the legal documentation of underlying funds — LPAs, PPMs, subscription agreements, side letters, and ancillary documents — and assess fund terms, governance, economics, liquidity, and investor protections
• Conduct legal due diligence on target funds in their respective jurisdictions, identifying key legal and regulatory issues
• Support the investment teams throughout their negotiations with underlying fund managers, including the negotiation and review of side letters (MFN, regulatory carve-outs, key person, reporting, and transfer rights), working with external counsel on drafting where required
• Prepare and update standardized legal templates (Side Letter, standard provisions etc.)
• Support the investment team in the legal monitoring of the underlying funds (LPAC documentation, LPs’ decisions etc.)
• Monitor and update, as required, the legal documentation of FASA with the support of the finance team
• Review key legal agreements and contracts as required
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting the portfolio and flag material changes to underlying fund terms or status

3.2  Pillar Two (secondary) — Structuring & Legal Monitoring of Internal Vehicles

Outside the FASA activity, the Legal Officer, under the supervision of I&P CFO, will support the structuring and ongoing legal life of I&P other activities and investment vehicles, as well as I&P own legal framework, principally in Mauritius and, where relevant, in Luxembourg and France:

• Support the legal structuring of the Fund’s proprietary vehicles, SPVs, and co-investment or parallel structures, from concept through to completion.
• Advise on Mauritius-domiciled or Mauritius-routed vehicles, licensing and authorisation filings, substance requirements, and the tax treaty network for African and emerging-market investments.
• Review and comment on the constitutional and offering documents (LPAs, fund rules, Articles, PPMs, subscription agreements) prepared by local external counsel; advise on fund economics where relevant.
• Review and negotiate the contractual documentation of these vehicles and the related operations — IMAs, advisory, delegation, administration, depositary, service-provider, confidentiality, and other commercial agreements — drawing on external counsel for drafting where required.
• Assist with investor documentation (subscription documents, side letters) and respond to investor legal queries relating to these vehicles.
• Support the ongoing legal life of these vehicles — corporate maintenance
• Review and assist in the negotiations of key legal agreements involved in some I&P activities

4.1  Essential Qualifications

• Law degree (LLB, Bachelor’s degree in Law, Master’s degree, or equivalent) from a reputable institution; an LLM or postgraduate qualification in financial, international, or tax law is advantageous or qualified lawyer (solicitor, advocate, barrister, attorney, or equivalent) admitted in a recognised jurisdiction. Mauritius, French, English qualification are all relevant.
• Approximately 5 years of post-qualification experience (PQE), ideally combining private practice and/or in-house experience at a fund manager, AIFM, institutional investor, or financial services group.

4.2  Essential Technical Experience

• Experience with fund of funds or fund investment legal work — including third-party fund due diligence, review of LPAs / PPMs / subscription documents, and side letter negotiation.
• Solid, practical experience in investment fund structuration (drafting or reviewing LPAs, PPMs, subscription documents, and IMAs) as well as evergreen/open-ended vehicles.
• In-depth knowledge of at least one major fund jurisdiction (US, Luxembourg, France, ) and the ability to work across multiple jurisdictions.
• Knowledge of or genuine interest in Mauritius fund structuration and the FSC regulatory framework — candidates with direct experience in Mauritius vehicles are strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with the AIFMD framework.
• Ability to manage external counsel and coordinate multi-jurisdictional legal workstreams.

4.3  Preferred / Advantageous Experience

• Direct experience structuring Mauritius GBCs or FSC-licensed Collective Investment Schemes or Closed-End Funds.
• Familiarity with African and emerging-market structuring via Mauritius, and with the Mauritius tax treaty network.
• Experience with carried interest structuring, management equity plans, or GP economics.
• French language skills and communication with francophone counterparties.

6.1  Language Requirements

• English: fluent (written and spoken) — essential; the primary language of fund documentation and cross-border work.
• French: proficient or fluent — strongly preferred, given I&P French historic basis, francophone investor and co-investment counterparties.

6.2  IT Skills

• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Experience with virtual data room platforms.
• Familiarity with AI tools is an advantage.

• A substantive, multi-jurisdictional in-house legal role centred on fund of funds work, with real responsibility from day one.
• A distinctive opportunity to develop Mauritius fund structuration expertise alongside broader private equity legal practice.
• Close collaboration with senior legal, investment, and management teams in a flat, collegiate environment.

I&P is an equal opportunities employer, committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or any other protected characteristic. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates.

Interested candidates should submit:

• A curriculum vitae (CV) / résumé detailing professional experience, qualifications, and languages;
• A cover letter (maximum 1 page) explaining your interest in the role and your relevant experience, particularly in fund of funds work and, if applicable, Mauritius structures;

Applications should be submitted to: l.latreille@ietp.com and recrutement@ietp.com

Candidates selected for interview will be contacted; due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.