My Entrepreneurial Journey - Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo

Our Nigerian member, Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo, SAN, FCIArb , Partner at Tayo Oyetibo LP has shared with us his journey in entrepreneurship and answered our questions:

Over the past decade, Mofesomo has developed his core area of practice which are commercial disputes resolution and has invaluable experience in the arbitration and litigation of a wide range of disputes covering the areas of banking, commercial crime, contracts, corporate insolvency, marine and general insurance, securities, shipping, and international trade and oil and gas. 

He presently sits on the Advisory Board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration. 

Mofesomo is also a prolific writer and commentator on arbitration, commercial law, and public interest matters and his writing is regularly published. 

What was the driving force behind opening your own firm/ becoming a leading partner? 

My career path is that I previously worked in two of Nigeria's leading law firms before pulling out to establish Twelve Legal as a practice with a focus on commercial law and disputes resolution. The idea at the time was to push the boundaries of efficiencies and effectiveness in the delivery of legal services in Nigeria. After doing that for about four years, I rejoined one of my previous firms (Tayo Oyetibo LP) as a partner, pursuant to a merger between the firm and Twelve Legal. Being a partner at TOLP has enabled me do what we were able to do at Twelve Legal but on a larger and more significant scale. 

How did you decide to take that leap of faith to branch out on your own? 

I had always felt in the past that at one point I would need to branch out on my own to be able to fully express and execute my ideas about law practice and the delivery of legal services. Previously working at two very good firms and having the opportunity of working independently on some of the most important deals and disputes in the country gave me the confidence that I could successfully lead a law practice and win strong enough clients. With these thoughts, I felt ready to give it a go.  

Did you ever have doubts about the decision you had made and what made you push towards becoming the success you are today?

My idea from the start was always that we would not start small but go big in terms of the profile of clients we wanted. Therefore, in the beginning, when we had no real clients and had to build up a clientele from scratch because I did not want to poach from my old firm, there were doubts as to whether we could pull it off. However, with time, we demonstrated that we could do it and we did do it. I would say a big driver for me is my desire to always be the best at what I do and for this reason I try to keep pushing and trying until I obtain the desired outcome. 

What kind of culture exists in your organization and was that a conscious choice?

Our culture is fundamentally underscored by our core values of Diligence, Integrity, Proficiency and Professional Etiquette. We ensure that in all of our work and engagements with clients and other third parties that we reflect these values. We also have a culture of support for each employee of the firm where we attend milestone events celebrated by employees. 

 We thank Mofesomo Tayo-Oyetibo for taking the time to share his incredible success story and educating many aspiring entrepreneurs through his life experiences.