Future Agriculture Leaders of India - Chief Executive Officer

Job Description for CEO of the Association of Future Agriculture Leaders of India (FALI)

Background - Future Agriculture Leaders of India (FALI) has been operating as a successful, high impact program for 8 and 9 standard students in government aided rural schools for the past eleven years. Today, FALI works with nearly 200 schools and nearly 20,000 students in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, with growth targets of 25% a year over the next ten years.

- FALI is a rigorous program in which students learn agronomy, ag tech, agro enterprise, agri finance, and dealing with climate change through interactive classroom sessions, practicums with shade nets, field trips to modern farms and agro entrepreneurs, webinars and videos with industry leaders, and participation in business plan and ag tech innovation contests, with the winners participating in the annual FALI Convention on Jain Hills in Jalgaon. The FALI program in schools is managed three days a week throughout the school year by about 100 FALI Agriculture Educators, passionate, top MSc and BSc Agriculture graduates.

- At present, there are over 40,000 FALI Alumni with the projection of having over 250,000 FALI alumni by 2035. FALI has active alumni programs including internships with participating companies, scholarships and venture funding. FALI Alumni outperform other Indian students in the pursuit of advanced education in science, engineering and agriculture while maintaining their connection to agriculture, with a good number having already built their agro enterprises.

- In early 2024, FALI e+ was introduced in top English medium urban high schools. The high-powered curriculum of FALI e+ webinars, videos, booklets and field trips has helped improve the FALI offerings in rural areas, build rural-urban linkages, and build a future revenue stream for the expansion of FALI in rural areas.

- The FALI management team is based in Pune. The present General Manager/CEO of FALI has been with FALI from the outset in 2014, after graduating from IIMA. He now feels it is time to pursue other opportunities. The Board of Directors of the Association for FALI is comprised of Anil Jain, Vice Chair and CEO of Jain Irrigation, Chair, Nancy Barry, President of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, Vice Chair, Nadir Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Industries, and Rajju Shroff, Chairman of UPL. FALI is funded by about 12 leading agribusinesses and banks including JISL, Godrej Agrovet, UPL, ITC, StarAgri, Omnivore, Tata Rallis, and SBI Foundation.

Job Description

The CEO of FALI is responsible for the following:

- Build and manage rapidly expanding and ever improving FALI, FALI Alumni and FALI e+ programs.

- Build and manage a strong FALI management team including the Manager of FALI, the Manager of FALI e+, FALI supervisors, and Coordinators of Alumni Programs, Company Funding and Collaboration, and Accounts Manager.

- Mobilize and manage CSR funding for FALI to support rapid growth from existing and new corporate, bank and foundation funders, including meeting with existing and new funders, preparing proposals, completing progress reports, and ing the provision of the needed compliance, accounting and other documents.

- Report directly to the Board of the Association for FALI including organization of regular meetings and all related strategy, progress reporting, budgeting and accounting documents.

- Introduce technology innovations to enable the rapid growth of FALI, including an online plus offering. anage the budgeting, accounting, audit and compliance processes.

Qualifications:

- Completion of advanced studies in agriculture or agribusiness, ideally both, with high marks.

- Excellent English and Hindi speaking and writing capabilities, ideally with proficiency in Marathi since the FALI head office is in Pune.

- At least ten years of successful work experience, ideally combining work in agriculture, agribusiness and education.

- At least five years of successful management experience, ideally with a Section 8 company and an agribusiness.

- Passionate about building future agriculture and agro enterprise leaders of India.

- Demonstrated, excellent motivational and communication skills tor with agriculture educators, students, and company top and middle managers.

- Able to attract, motivate and manage an excellent management and full FALI team.

- Highly organized, able to manage responsibilities with the board, the FALI team, funders, accounting an auditing, and Section 8 compliance.

- Strong familiarity with the use of technology for education and outreach.

Target Start Date: April 15, 2025, including participation in the FALI Convention on April 23 to 30, and overlap with present General Manager/CEO until June 30, 2025.

Location: Pune

Contact: Ms. Nancy Barry, Vice-Chair, Association for Future Agriculture Leaders of India