Lozindaba Mbvundula
Partner
About me
Lozindaba is a Partner at Ritz Attorneys at Law, specialising in competition law. She is a legal practitioner with 6 years standing at the Malawi bar. Her experience spans diverse practice areas, including in competition law, consumer protection law, general commercial law, the law of business organizations, employment law, environmental law, public procurement law and constitutional and administrative law. She is adept in legal research, legal drafting, and in providing advisory and dispute resolution services through litigation and alternative dispute resolution methods She has handled instructions from a wide range of clients, including Chibuku Products Limited, Illovo Sugar Malawi Plc, Earnst & Young, Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, FDH Bank Limited, HLB Reliance Consulting Malawi Limited, HMS Foods and Grains, and Yellow Card Malawi, among others.
Contact Details
Practice Area
Lozindaba has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from the University of Malawi in 2018, a Master of Laws Degree in International Trade Law obtained from the University of Cape Town in 2022 and a Master of Laws Degree in Law and Development obtained from the University of London in 2024. Additionally, she holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public International Law and a Postgraduate Certificate in International Environmental and Natural Resources Law, obtained from the University of London in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Lozindaba heads the Procurement and Recruitment Committee of the firm. In the past, she has served as the firm’s Public Relations Officer, Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator and a member of the Practice Management Committee. In 2024, Lozindaba underwent the Young Professionals Programme at the World Trade Organization, where she enhanced her proficiency in competition law, public procurement law, and international trade law. She has also undertaken leadership training under the Mandela Washington Fellowship in 2022. She has also undergone training in Alternative Dispute Resolution, facilitated by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Lozindaba is also an avid researcher. She is an author at Econolicy Africa, a blog that focuses on economic trends and the state of policy implementation in African markets. She has presented informative papers at seminars/conferences organized by the COMESA Competition Commission, Competition and Fair Trading Commission, African Economic Law Network, University of Johannesburg, Malawi Law Society, the University of Malawi and Research ICT Africa. She is also a contributor to legal guides on Lending and Secured Finance, Telecommunications and Energy for Global Legal Insights and ICLG.
Portfolio
My Works
Provision of Legal Opinion to an integrated logistics company working in over 130 countries on Compliance with Data Protection Laws in Malawi.
Provision of Legal Advice to an India-based Company seeking to acquire a parent company based in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in Rwanda and Malawi on the requirements for notification of mergers to the Competition and Fair-Trading Commission.
Provision of Legal Advice to a tea company on a determination by the Competition and Fair-Trading Commission against the Company regarding alleged anti-competitive practices.
Provision of Legal Advice and Representation to Chibuku Products Limited on securing their interests against anti-competitive behavior by rivals who used tax evasion and trademark infringement to gain unfair competitive advantage.
Provision of Advisory and Representation services to Chibuku Products Limited in product liability claims.
Part of the team of acting for an International Finance Institution in Africa on a USD 10 000 000-00 export finance facility extended to a local agricultural enterprise and on a facilities restatement to a local tobacco export operation which is part of a multinational firm where local facilities are being increased from USD 80 000 000-00 to USD 100 000 000-00. The instructions involve conducting legal due diligence, reviewing and drafting security instruments, facilitating their registration and perfection, and reviewing English law governed instruments and advising on their validity and capacity of parties to enter into the contracts.
Team member acting as local Counsel conducting legal due diligence in USD 12.5 million carbon credits financing scheme by a foreign company to a local entity in the renewable and sustainable energy sector. This involved advising on the corporate standing of a local institution with a product from which carbon credits could be generated, advising on the verifiability and transferability of carbon credits under the gold standard™ and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), and advising on prepayment agreements for the future credits in this scheme where the international client would finance the local target’s activities in exchange for future carbon credits that the client will market.
Part of team acting as local counsel in a cross-currency swap transaction for USD 30,000,000 between the central bank of an African country that was going through a foreign exchange crisis, an international bank based in London and a local commercial bank. Instructions involved drafting the currency swap agreement in line with standard International Swap Dealers Association terms and providing for a local bank to act as an agent to hold and invest the local currency given by the Central Bank.
Representing insurance companies such as Liberty Health Insurance Company Ltd, Britam Insurance Company Limited and formerly General Alliance Company Ltd and Prime Insurance Company Ltd, in civil litigation.
Representing banks such as FDH Bank Limited and MyBucks Banking Corporation in civil litigation on debt collection and banking claims.
Part of team representing a pharmaceutical trading company in a civil claim contesting Malawi’s taxation authority’s classification of a medicinal lozenge that they imported as a sweet rather than a medicine.
Part of team representing client in a claim for unpaid agency fees in the sum of USD 905,598.19 incurred from a multinational company in securing a lucrative energy contract with the state electricity producer. This involved arguing against vacating an interim injunction obtained against the opposing party and preparing documentation for arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules.
Representation of a Korea-based company in recovery of the sum of $ 203, 412.50 sums of money owed to it by a local plastic producing and trading company.
Advising and Representing a multinational energy sector company with offices in various countries including China, South Africa, and Singapore in debt collection.