Michael Agaku

I did not plan to end up where I am. Most people doing interesting work never do.

I grew up in Nigeria, trained as a lawyer and spent sixteen years in active legal practice before something shifted. The most consequential problems in infrastructure and commercial delivery were not legal problems at their core. They were programme problems. Governance problems. People problems. Nobody was sitting at the intersection of all three.

So I moved there.

I founded Justice Gate, a professional services practice that grew to twenty five people operating across UK and Nigerian markets. I worked on transactions exceeding £10m, managed commercial disputes across three jurisdictions and learned that the difference between a deal that closes and one that collapses is almost never the contract. It is the quality of the relationships and the governance behind it.

Then Amazon. Five months inside one of the most operationally rigorous organisations on the planet. We recovered over two thousand operational minutes a day. Twenty five percent output uplift. I came out sharper and more honest.

Then the Environment Agency. Three years. Twelve concurrent infrastructure projects. A £40m flood risk portfolio. Fifteen organisations around the table. Two named storms. Real decisions for real communities.

Then life intervened. I had to step away for serious surgery that was not available through the NHS within the timeframe my doctors considered safe. I chose my health. The surgeries went well. I recovered fully and came back to the UK clearer and more motivated than I have been in years.

I am now building something deliberate. A consulting practice that brings everything together the law, the delivery, the commercial instinct, the West Africa market knowledge for clients who need someone who has genuinely been in the room where difficult things happen.

If that sounds like someone you want on your programme, I would be glad to talk.