Company: Confidential large unlisted family-controlled consumer and agri-processing group
Board base: Ahmedabad, with operating reviews at Kandla and inland refining locations
Sector: Edible-oil refining, branded foods and oilseed sourcing
Appointment: Independent Director, Non-Executive
Intended committees: Audit & Risk Committee Chair; member, Family Governance and Sustainability Councils
Time commitment: 25–32 days annually
Application deadline: 13 October 2026
Expected appointment: January 2027
Company context
The group imports and procures crude edible oils, operates refineries and packing plants, trades bulk products and sells consumer brands through general trade, modern retail and institutional channels. It is diversifying into value-added foods while transitioning operating authority from family principals to professional leadership.
Market hint: A port-linked refining base, broad edible-oil portfolio, national consumer brand and adjacent food ambitions may suggest several major Indian groups. Family, brand and capacity are not disclosed.
Board mandate
The director will bring independent discipline to commodity exposure, food integrity, related parties, working capital and family-to-professional governance. The role is not to mediate family relationships privately; governance must occur through agreed institutions and documented decisions.
Strategic priorities
- Create one economic view of physical inventory, purchase commitments, sales contracts, derivatives, currency, freight, duties and basis risk.
- Define trading limits, hedge purpose, authorised instruments, counterparty exposure, margin calls, exceptions and independent valuation.
- Govern food safety from vessel or domestic source through storage, refining, blending, fortification, packaging, release and complaint investigation.
- Verify label, purity, nutrition, origin, fortification, health and sustainability claims with controlled evidence.
- Review palm and oilseed sourcing for traceability, land-use, supplier conduct, smallholder economics and import concentration.
- Challenge channel schemes, distributor stock, price protection, returns, credit, brand investment and secondary-sale evidence.
- Separate branded, bulk, trading and adjacent-food economics after working capital, commodity risk and shared services.
- Establish arm’s-length rules for family entities, transport, storage, property, procurement, brand ownership and management services.
- Clarify Board, family council and management decision rights; build CEO and next-generation succession around capability and accountability.
- Stage-gate acquisitions and new food categories through food safety, route-to-market advantage, brand permission and return on capital.
Decisions expected at Board level
- Whether a hedge protects committed margin or represents an unauthorised market view.
- Whether to hold or liquidate high-cost inventory during a duty or price change.
- Whether a family-related contract remains defensible against an external benchmark.
- Whether an adjacent food category merits further investment after full working-capital cost.
- Whether a product-quality concern requires withdrawal before laboratory conclusion is final.
Candidate profile
Essential: Former food, edible oil, agri-commodity, consumer-goods or trading CEO/CFO/CRO, independent director or senior regulator; commodity and working-capital literacy; food-safety and channel judgement; experience professionalising a family enterprise.
Preferred: palm/oilseed supply, derivatives, branded foods, related-party governance, succession, Audit Committee chairing.
Eligibility and conflicts
Active IICA Databank registration and test/exemption evidence are required as a company policy condition. Candidates must disclose commodity positions and relationships with traders, suppliers, distributors, family entities, logistics providers, lenders, auditors, regulators and competitors.
First-year outcomes
- Independent daily visibility of commodity, currency and liquidity exposure.
- Board-owned food-safety and claims assurance.
- Transparent profitability by branded, bulk, trading and adjacent categories.
- Arm’s-length related-party controls and clear family/Board/management rights.
- Evidence-led capital gates for diversification and acquisitions.