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Advisory Board

Home/Advisory Board

Advisory Board

Meet the strategic think tank who come with vast industry experience and are driving change and innovation at FarmERP. They actively contribute to achieving the desired goals and objectives with their impeccable expertise in problem-solving and by giving the organisation’s operations a strategic direction.

Gautam Raj

He has worked with the Oberoi Hotels Group as the Executive Vice President of Strategic Development for 10 years and also as the Director and Head of Corporate Finance & Advisory for HSBC Investment Bank in India.

Raj Vardhan

He was the senior vice president as well as the regional head of Russia, Ukraine, and CIS regions at Olam International Limited. He was an independent director at Mcleod Russel and also works as an agricultural consultant for Auctus Advisors.

Gautam Raj

In a career spanning over 30 years, Gautam has worked extensively in London and Delhi in advisory and executive management roles within strategy consulting, corporate finance, investment banking, hospitality and real estate development.

Travel has been a big part of his work life travelling to and working in 60 countries over the last 30 years. He worked as the Executive Vice President of Strategic Development with the renowned Oberoi Hotels Group for 10 years, assisting its Executive Chairman with the development of new luxury hotels and with the expansion of the group.

30+ Years of Experience in Advisory and Executive Management Roles within strategy consulting, corporate finance, investment banking, hospitality and real estate development.

Current Role & Responsibilities

Gautam is currently advising a few companies on growth strategy and development as well as incubating a new startup, Zenia Living, to provide affordable modern serviced rental housing for young singles in India – students, young working professionals and executives. These places will enable them to live and work comfortably and provide access to shared amenity spaces with curated services for socialisation and collaboration.

Prior Experience

Group Chief Investment Officer for Nest Investments, a diversified family-owned group in Bahrain with significant operating businesses principally in Insurance, Reinsurance and Real Estate across 25 countries
Executive Vice-President, Strategic Development for Oberoi Hotels Group
Director & Head of Corporate Finance & Advisory for HSBC Investment Bank in India
Principal for Gemini Consulting, London
Senior Associate, Spicer & Oppenheim Consultants, London

Education

Gautam has a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from University College, London and a master’s degree in Management Science from Imperial College, London.

Raj Vardhan

Raj has had a career spanning over 30 years, working mostly in the agricultural sector across various emerging markets in different capacities. He joined Olam International Limited in 1993 in Nigeria and since then, has been a part of Olam’s operations in India, Vietnam, China & Former Soviet Union countries.

Besides mentoring the senior leadership team, his main role in these geographies included: start-up operations, initiating & executing investment proposals, project management, integration of acquired companies, scaling operations across geographies, executing a turnaround strategy, providing oversight on process design and risk management framework, federal government interface, providing a vision & strategy for various geographies, training & aligning teams.

During his stint at Olam, Raj has had exposure to different parts of the agricultural value chain such as large-scale commercial & dairy farming, establishing procurement & distribution networks of various agricultural commodities, and both primary & mid-stream processing of various agri-commodities, besides oversight of a private label packaging business. His role at Olam required managing various original functions such as Operations, Finance & Accounts, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Legal, IT & HR.

30+ years of experience, mostly in the agricultural sector, looking after start-up operations, project management, scaling operations, providing a vision & strategy for various geographies, and training & aligning teams.

Current Role & Responsibilities

Raj is the president of IFAMA (International Food & Agribusiness Management Association), a global not-for-profit organisation based in the United States. He was recognised as a ‘Fellow’ in 2019 for his contributions to IFAMA. Currently, he is an independent director at Mcleod Russel, the largest tea plantation company with plantation assets in multiple countries. He also works as an agriculture consultant with Auctus Advisors.

Prior Experience

Sr. Vice President, Regional Head – Russia, Ukraine & CIS at Olam International Limited.
A member of OPCOM, a committee of top management at Olam. Raj was a key resource person for the various internal training programs conducted by Olam.
Part of the ISAP mentor & advisor group focusing on agribusiness startup funding & incubation in India.
A board member of Souzmolko, a body which represents dairy farmers & dairy processors in Russia.
Selected by the Who’s Who Historical society to include him in their International Who’s Who Professional directory for the year 2011.
Part of various Singapore trade delegations to Russia & Belarus.

Education

Raj has a dual post-graduate degree in Economics and Business Management and has completed AMP (Advanced Management Program) from Harvard Business School in Boston, USA