Beatrice Chaytor is an international trade and environmental lawyer. She has specialised in providing advice and support to businesses, governments and non-governmental organisations in their engagement with regional and international trade policy as well as environmental policy processes, including multilateral environmental agreements, the World Trade Organisation and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). She was Head of Division – Trade in Services in the Directorate of Trade in Services, Investment, IPRs and Digital Trade at the AfCFTA Secretariat, Accra, from 2022 to May 2025 and prior to this was Senior Expert – Trade in Services in the Department of Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, from 2017 to 2022, working on the negotiations for the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). 

Ms Chaytor previously founded and ran her own law firm (Chariot Eight) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, providing legal services to local, regional and international clients on a range of corporate law matters including trade, investment, natural resources and environment. She holds a LLB (Hons) from the University of East Anglia (1987), and a LLM from University College London, University of London (1990).

Ms Chaytor is committed to the effective participation of women entrepreneurs and professionals in regional and international trade and investment opportunities and works to ensure they get equal access to finance and credit. Ms Chaytor is interested in research and analysis on a range of legal and economic policy issues affecting Africa. She has undertaken assignments on trade and development issues for development and donor partners.  She also has private sector interests in publishing, fintech, renewable energy, and creative industries.