Olam Agri in Nigeria, an agribusiness in food, feed, and fibre, has further strengthened its position as one of the top investors in the local agriculture value chains. The business’ robust value chain investment was recognised at the Nigerian Business Leadership Awards (NBLA), on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at the Landmark Event Centre, in Lagos.
The NBLA is organised annually by BusinessDay, a leading provider of business intelligence and market-moving news, to recognise remarkable business leaders and organisations that have sustained a commitment to excellence in enterprise across the country. At this year’s edition of the awards, Olam Agri in Nigeria’s Country Head, Ashish Pande, was recognised as the Most Admired CEO in the Agriculture sector in acknowledgement of the business’s positive impact on the sector, and support for the Federal Government’s economic development agenda.
Speaking about the rationale behind the awards, Frank Aigbogun who is the organiser of the awards and publisher of Businessday newspaper said, “A top rating agency, Moody, recently raised Nigeria’s economic outlook for next year to positive. This news provides a reason for us to hope. In this context, we are glad to recognise the leaders and the companies that daily strive to put their businesses at the forefront to successfully navigate the operating environment and contribute to the growth of the economy. We celebrate these businesses and their leaders. I salute their courage and resilience. They deserve to be recognised.”
Commenting on the recognition, Ashish Pande, who was represented by a strong team of top-level executives from Olam Agri, said, “We are grateful to the organisers of the awards for this recognition. The award recognition underlines Olam Agri’s rising investments across the agriculture value chains. These investments are part of our pursuit of food & nutrition-secure and sustainable Nigeria under the Seeds for The Future (SFTF) initiative. The Seeds for the Future initiative is our social sustainability investment vehicle with five levers, namely, supporting farms and farmers, enabling wider education and skill development for young people, empowering indigent women, promoting health and nutrition across the country, and reducing carbon emissions in our business operations.”
He explained that the business’s investments continue to enable improved productivity in the rice milling, wheat milling, animal feed & poultry, edible oil, tomato, and cotton production segments, in addition to generating thousands of employment opportunities for the teeming local population.
The Olam Agri in Nigeria’s top-level executives that attended the awards comprised Abhishek Singh, Vice President of the wheat milling unit; Moshood Quadri, General Manager, Human Resources; Uduak Joshua, Manager, Human Resources; Bishesh Jha, Vice President, Supply Chains; Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Animal Feeds; Bola Adeniji, General Manager/ Head of Marketing; Damilola Adeniyi, Manager, Corporate Affairs, and Elizabeth Nnoko, Manager, Communications.
