Director - Procurement - Food Commodities - Pongamia/Karanja Beans - IIM/ISB/FMS/MDI/NITIE

OVERALL JOB PURPOSE

Primarily responsible for creating & executing the procurement strategy for sourcing of Pongamia/Karanja beans in India. The person will be responsible for program creation and field scale interventions with internal and external stakeholders in the domain of estimating & increasing availability, procurement & negotiations strategy, pre-crush processing of Pongamia beans in India. The primary focus of this position is to roll out interventions and build capacities of stakeholders - viz. Community resource persons, farmers, self-help groups, collection centers. The person will be responsible to manage and execute the forecasts for quantity & rate for feedstock procurement and ensure that timelines are effectively followed to meet the purchase requirements (traceability, quality, sustainability) of the business at international level. To efficiently manage supply of stocks in terms of volume and cost and manage risk associated with current market conditions to ensure security of supply. To maintain and improve quality, developing company's reputation, and strengthening the link between Organisation and bean gatherers/ suppliers/ partners in all the potential states of India.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Procurement

- Manage the procurement of Pongamia beans, pods & other value added products.

- Identification of potential bean cluster area in different states with the historical procurement statistics.

- Planning, coordination & leading the field teams & partners for pre-harvest position of Pongamia beans through visits and updates from potential bean gatherers & suppliers.

- Work closely with the government departments like forest, tribal welfare and agriculture for facilitate the procurement and logistics planning of the produce.

- Develop & manage the regional procurement team, during and after the procurement season.

- Collaborate with the Impact, Quality, Supply-chain & Tree team to increase the total harvest, procurement market share with right quality, sustainability, traceability & food-safety standards,

- Manage and execute forecasts for feedstock procurement for each season based on the company's annual demand forecast, to ensure supply security and timelines.

- Monitor contracts/purchase orders against requirements by product, quality, blend, by month, by Supplier Group, resolving any issues that arise.

- Developing rapport with the bean supply agencies and bean processing industries for achieving desired goals on a long term basis.

- Be commercially minded when negotiating quality differentials and price in order to obtain best deal for Organisation and suppliers.

- Support Organisation price risk strategy by providing timely and important market information.

- Proactively manage feedstock to ensure efficient stock levels at any time depending on latest supply and demand.

Partnership with Bean Gatherers/Suppliers/Partners

- Lead and organise pre-season Pongamia market survey and business updates for all gatherer/ supplier/partner groups prior to season's harvest

- Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges faced by the pod gatherers, gather systematic supplier feedback, and represent their interests

- Meeting with bean gatherers/suppliers/Partners regularly in their locations and ensure high quality information flows between their organisations and Organisation.

- Constantly assess harvests, demand in origin from other markets, and local knowledge, including significant environmental, political and economic factors which may impact the planning process

Technical Support

- Deploy quality enhancement programs for bean gatherers/suppliers/ partners in order to achieve consistent quality, reliability in supply (continuity), in the context of forest/ environmental sensitivities

- Leverage the TKS network to ensure adequate harvesting in collaboration with the Impact team

- Undertake mobilization training session with the bean gatherers and support staff and be responsible for implementation procurement policies on traceability, sustainability, etc.

- Seek requisite technical inputs and understanding from technical specialists (Technology & Tree R&D) of Organisation. to promote best practices for procurement, handling and processing of beans in India.

Creating Positive Environmental Impact

- Drawing experience at origin and at point of feedstock procurement, encourage environment friendly and efficient methods of procurement of Pongamia pods/beans.

- Work with villagers to encourage environmentally sustainable production, support suppliers to strengthen the positive impact they have on the environment, and to use these actions to bolster their livelihoods.

Other responsibilities

- Perform any other task assigned by the line manager as per company's requirement.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Skills and Knowledge

- MBA from a premier Business School

- Deep understanding of Procurement of Agricultural & Forest produce which includes farmer level interventions.

- Experience of working in a large project and as part of a diverse team is desirable.

- Experience in supporting and handholding farmers in adopting and adapting to best practices and new products.

- Familiarity with all the agro-climatic conditions of India.

- Strong facilitation/training and communication skills

- Willingness to learn from and replicate best practices from elsewhere.

- Strong commercial orientation & understanding of edible & non-edible oil sector.

- Price Risk Management

- Experience working with Smallholder producers, suppliers, and wholesalers, at origin

- Project management skills

Personal Qualities

- Passion for Sustainability, Social Upliftment, Agriculture, Forestry.

- Understanding of tribal/rural development and gender dimensions within climate smart agriculture and MFP procurement domains.

- Ability to work in a team and build capacity and connect to community stakeholders.

- Commercially Minded - keen to grow business (purchase, market share, profits)

- Ability to deliver innovative, creative solutions

- Communicates with impact

- Compassionate and respectful of all people

- Comfortable operating in a changing world, without clear structures, policies, and procedures

- Challenging - of business/partners to secure what we need to deliver

- Dynamic - relentless in pursuit of KPI delivery, acting with pace and urgency

- High level of integrity and honesty.

- Adaptable and flexible

- Results-focused - Proactive-Takes the initiative