Olam Agri’s Country Head Ashish Pande recognized as the Most Admired CEO in Agriculture

NIGERIA – Olam Agri’s Country Head Ashish Pande, has been recognized as the Most Admired CEO in the Agriculture sector during this year’s edition of the Nigerian Business Leadership Awards (NBLA), 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.

Pande was recognised in line with acknowledging Olam business’s positive impact on the agribusiness sector and support for the Federal Government’s economic development agenda.

Olam Agri is a leading agribusiness in food and feed in Nigeria having positioned itself as one of the top investors in the local agriculture value chains. 

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.

In this context, he added, we are glad to recognize 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, they deserve to be recognized.”

Commenting on the recognition, Ashish Pande expressed gratitude for the recognition noting that the award recognition underlines Olam Agri’s rising investments across the agriculture value chains.

“These investments are part of our pursuit of food & and nutrition-secure and sustainable Nigeria under the Seeds for The Future (SFTF) initiative,” he said. 

According to him, the Seeds for the Future initiative is Olam’s 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.

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