Jones Day partner Rémy Fekete has won the Chambers Africa 2022 Award for "Outstanding Contribution" in recognition of his work in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sector in Africa. The "Outstanding Contribution" award category reflects notable achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth, and excellence in client service.
The text of Mr. Fekete's acceptance speech is presented in full below, along with the video of his remarks.
Thank you very much Chambers and Partners for this wonderful honor. I'm very pleased to receive your prestigious "Outstanding Contribution" award in recognition of my work in Africa over the last 25 years.
I want to express my sincere congratulations to the rest of the nominees and winners as they are all a clear example of professionalism, dedication, and fellowship. I also wish to convey my great thanks, of course, to the Jones Day team who work tirelessly with me to serve our clients across Africa. My warmest thanks go in particular to our clients, heads of state, governments, international investors, sponsors, lenders, and small private companies. It is our honour to assist you, make the deals happen, and defend your interests.
When I reflect on my twenty five years, it is with some mixed feelings. On one hand, I feel extraordinarily lucky to have taken part in the telecom revolution throughout Africa, and yet note how demanding it has been to me and to all those who have been working so intensively with me to achieve such success.
Of course, a challenge still remains in providing energy, drinkable water, broadband connectivity, and internet coverage across Africa and at Jones Day we will strive, along with our clients, to help achieve that goal.
There are few such rewarding careers as that of a lawyer in working on infrastructure projects that have a real impact on people's lives in developing countries. We see the benefit of the rule of law and will continue this important work going forward.
Many thanks again for this much appreciated honour and all the best from the team at Jones Day.