Vivian’s career started in dispute resolution and she made her mark at the prestigious Nigerian leading dispute resolution Firm of Chief Afe Babalola SAN & Co where she also qualified as an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK. She earned her law degree from Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma and obtained further certifications in Negotiation, Conflict Management, and Strategic Leadership.
Vivian is currently responsible for providing support to significant litigations, arbitrations and investigations in the Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa (APMA) region at Novartis, and also providing strategic legal support, in over 90 countries across 5 continents.
In addition, Vivian is currently lead lawyer responsible for the Emerging Market Brands Centre of Excellence, and for the Novartis Africa Regional Council.
In 2017, Vivian was appointed to the Global Diversity and Inclusion Board at Novartis as Legal Lead.
In the course of her work, she has supported the delivery of over 850million free malaria treatments under the Malaria Initiative program as well as the current $1 dollar per treatment sustainable access program first-of-its-kind portfolio approach in the healthcare industry, aiming to increase availability and affordability of 15 medicines against cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory illnesses and breast cancer offered as a basket to governments, NGOs and other institutional stakeholders in low and low- medium-income countries.
She is also a winner of the Novartis 2016 Global Legal Excellence Award and the 2015 Africa Leadership People Award, Vivian was also recognized by the global Legal 500 ‘GC Power list’ for Africa in 2016 and 2017 as well as the ESQ Nigeria Legal Awards in the ‘40 under 40’ category earmarked for Lawyers who distinguished themselves and are setting new standards in the practice of law in various jurisdictions.
Vivian continues to speak publicly for the International Bar Association and other organizations on issues affecting cross-border business and has consistently earned a mention in several ranking publications.
Before joining Novartis in 2013, Vivian successfully practiced as a commercial and transactional lawyer at Templars where she led several innovative and disruptive transactions including the $USD 5.5 billion acquisition of BJ Services by Baker Hughes and Google Inc.’s licensing exemptions for its Internet usage catalyzation project.
She has several articles and publications to her credit. She continues to mentor many young people and supports ‘the Bridge’, a non-profit set up to support female undergraduates in Nigeria and other similar organizations. She enjoys, cooking, writing, reading and running. She is married to Osaze and is mum to Oghosa and Osato
We are proud of her achievement and we name her Most Influential 100 Class of 2018Business and Entrepreneurship category.
