Chinyere Okafor is a dual-qualified lawyer from Nigeria and Canada with extensive experience in startup law, venture capital, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure finance, and private equity. Before joining Labarge Weinstein, she led a boutique law firm specializing in startups, small businesses, and funds, providing hands-on legal consulting and advisory services to startups, knowledge-based businesses, and the investors who support them.
Chinyere also worked at G. Elias, a tier 1, full-service commercial law firm, where she advised a diverse range of clients in both the public and private sectors on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, private equity, venture finance, and infrastructure/project finance transactions.
She further developed her expertise as Legal Counsel at Trium Limited, a venture capital firm, and as Head of Legal Services at Africa Plus Partners, a private equity infrastructure fund, overseeing legal and compliance services for the fund and its seven portfolio companies.
Outside of her professional work, Chinyere is passionate about volunteering and offers legal, deal structuring, and negotiation mentorship to early and growth-stage startups within the Black and Caribbean communities through the Liftoff Accelerator Program, which focuses on diverse founders. She is also an amateur runner, embracing each new day as a fresh start when lacing up and heading to a new starting line.