Faith Ngarama is a Senior Associate at O’Bang Law under the Corporate, Commercial, Cross-border Practice and Real Estate Department. She has completed a Data Protection Course at CIPIT, Strathmore University and is a Professional Mediator accredited by the Judiciary of Kenya. She brings a wealth of expertise to her role, offering tailored legal services across a wide spectrum of areas, including financial transactions, estate planning and management, transaction restructuring, corporate governance, legal audits, risk monitoring, and data protection compliance.

In her portfolio, Faith advises a diverse clientele comprising local and international corporations, individuals, not-for-profit organisations, digital platform owners, and brands. Her holistic approach combines legal acumen with practical insights to meet each client’s specific needs and challenges, ensuring regulatory compliance and improving operational efficiency.

Real Estate

1. Advise on the acquisition, structuring and documentation of property for major residential and commercial developments. Experience includes advising on the acquisition of strategically located property in central Nairobi and subsequently handling a development on the same property (Hephé Palace) valued at approximately KES 10 billion, currently progressing an acquisition intended to support an approximately KES 15 billion development, and advising on the acquisition of commercial property intended for a warehouse and office development valued at approximately KES 8 billion.
2. Conduct legal and regulatory due diligence extending beyond title searches to whether a property can practically support the client’s intended development. Depending on the property, this includes engagement with the Lands Registry, licensed surveyors, physical planners, NEMA, Water Resources Authority, NCA, KeNHA/KURA/KeRRA and Kenya Railways, as relevant, to investigate title history, boundaries, access, road and railway reserves, riparian restrictions, environmental approvals and development constraints. Findings are translated into acquisition advice, price negotiations, conditions precedent, warranties and other contractual protections.
3. Advise clients on how to move property from its existing legal status to the status required for their intended investment, including change of user, subdivision, amalgamation, leasehold/freehold considerations and other land processes. This is particularly relevant to foreign investors entering the Kenyan property market, where ownership restrictions, agricultural land, tenure and proposed commercial use must be considered together before an acquisition structure is selected.

Corporate & Commercial

1. Advise businesses on restructuring their ownership, governance and operating arrangements to support investment, acquisitions, business separation, regulatory compliance and changes in commercial objectives. This includes assessing existing corporate structures, identifying legal or regulatory constraints and implementing the corporate actions and documentation required to move the business into a transaction-ready structure.
2. Conduct legal due diligence for acquisitions, investments and corporate restructurings, examining ownership and group structures, constitutional documents, shareholder arrangements, beneficial ownership, financing and security arrangements, material contracts, licences and regulatory compliance. The focus is not simply identifying deficiencies, but determining what must be regularised, restructured or protected contractually before an investment or transaction proceeds.
3. Draft, review and negotiate commercial agreements with a focus on turning commercial objectives into workable contractual protections. Experience includes negotiating warranties, indemnities, liability allocation, termination rights, payment obligations, default remedies and risk-transfer provisions, helping clients close transactions with clearer exposure, stronger remedies and fewer unresolved commercial risks.
4. Advise on equity ownership, shareholder arrangements, investment structures and related corporate authority and governance approvals, including transactions involving changes in ownership and control. This includes ensuring that governance rights, decision-making, transfer restrictions and exit arrangements reflect the parties’ intended commercial relationship.

Banking, FinTech & Licensing

1. Advise digital lenders such as Unidirect LTD and 254 Capital LTD through the Central Bank of Kenya regulatory process, including DCP licence applications, regulatory follow-ups and approval of new lending products. Work includes addressing CBK queries on pricing, credit operations, loan recovery, consumer disclosures and supporting policies and procedures, helping clients translate their commercial lending model into a regulator-ready operating framework.
2. Advise businesses such as Payecards navigating Kenya’s payments regulatory framework, including National Payment System licensing and regulatory requirements, with a focus on aligning proposed payment products, corporate structures and operational models with CBK requirements.
3. Act on the perfection of securities for banks and microfinance institutions, coordinating the documentation, execution, stamping, registration and other perfection requirements necessary to establish and protect the lender’s security position.

Intellectual Property

1. Advise businesses and brand owners on trademark protection in Kenya, from conducting searches and registrability considerations through preparation, filing and prosecution of applications before KIPI, helping clients secure and protect the commercial identity of their brands.
2. Handle objections and other issues arising during the trademark registration process, including responding to examination queries, advising on conflicting marks and navigating opposition proceedings, with a focus on overcoming registration barriers and protecting clients against competing brand rights.
3. Advise on and implement transactions affecting registered and pending intellectual property rights, including assignments, licences, changes of ownership and other necessary requirements before KIPI, ensuring that IP rights properly follow the underlying commercial transaction or restructuring.
4. Advise on unauthorised use of trademarks and competing brand rights, assessing infringement exposure and available enforcement or defensive options to protect the client’s brand and commercial position.
5. Review intellectual property ownership and registration status as part of acquisitions, investments and corporate restructurings, identifying gaps in ownership, protection or that could affect the value or transferability of a business or brand.

Regulatory Compliance

1. Advise businesses entering or operating in regulated sectors on identifying, obtaining and maintaining the licences and approvals required for their operations. Experience includes matters involving the Central Bank of Kenya, Communications Authority of Kenya, Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, Private Security Regulatory Authority, and other sector regulators, including assessing licensing requirements, preparing applications and supporting compliance documentation, and engaging with regulators through the approval process.
2. Advise organisations on compliance with Kenya’s Data Protection Act, including controller/processor registration, data governance, technical and organisational safeguards, DPO considerations and cross-border data issues, conducting data protection impact assessments and training, translating operational and technology arrangements into practical compliance frameworks and regulator-facing submissions.
3. Assess regulatory compliance in connection with investments, acquisitions, financing and corporate transactions, identifying licences, approvals, filings and restrictions that could prevent completion or expose the incoming investor to inherited regulatory risk.
4. Advise on transaction and compliance issues arising within specialised regulatory environments, including Export Processing Zones, where ordinary corporate, financing and property arrangements may be subject to additional approvals or restrictions.

Family and Estate Planning

1. Advise individuals and families on estate and succession planning, wealth preservation, asset protection, and intergenerational transfer of wealth, including preparing wills and establishing and structuring family trusts. Draft and advise on trust structures addressing settlor involvement, trustee and Enforcer governance, minor beneficiaries, income and capital distributions, vesting, succession and ongoing trust administration and tax considerations.
2. Assist parents in resolving children-related matters outside court through assisted negotiations and negotiated parental agreements, including arrangements concerning parental responsibility, custody, care and control, access and maintenance, with the objective of achieving workable arrangements without unnecessary litigation.