Venkataramani Srivathsan (“Sri”) joined Olam International in 1994 and has more than 25 years of experience in the commodities industry. He has held various positions in the Olam group, including country head, Ghana; country head, Nigeria; and regional head, West and Central Africa. Currently, he is the managing director and CEO for Africa and the Middle East, with oversight responsibility for the fertiliser business.

Mr Srivathsan belongs to the 12-member executive committee that is Olam’s top policymaking body and is a member of its human resource and crisis committees. He is also the vice-chairman of the Singapore Business Federation and a member of the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies executive committee. He was awarded a prestigious World Business for Peace Award in 2010.

With over 20 years of pan-African experience, Mr Srivathsan has presented many papers on smallholder farmways in the pan-African forums. He has also been part of the advisory committees for the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of trade and industry in Nigeria. Under his leadership, Olam Nigeria won several international and national awards.