Business Planning & Commodity Specialist at Olam Agri

Olam Agri is a market-leading, differentiated food, feed, and fiber agri-business with a global origination footprint, processing capabilities, and deep understanding of market needs built over 33 years. With a strong presence in high-growth emerging markets and products across grains & oilseeds, animal feed & protein, rice, edible oils, specialty grains & seeds, cotton, wood products, rubber and commodity financial services.

Olam Agri is at the heart of global food and agri-trade flows with more than 40 million MT in volume traded annually. Focused on transforming food, feed and fiber for a more sustainable future, it aims at creating value for customers, enabling farming communities to prosper sustainably, and strive for a food-secure future.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Business Planning & Commodity Specialist

Location:  Kaduna

Job Description

• We are seeking an experienced Business Planning & Commodity Economics Analyst to evaluate the commercial viability of a proposed groundnut processing venture, with primary focus on groundnut procurement economics, seasonal pricing patterns, inventory carry opportunities, and raw material sourcing strategy.
• This revision reflects management's emphasis away from a broad feasibility role and toward commodity market analysis.
• The successful candidate will analyze historical groundnut pricing cycles, supply-demand dynamics, storage economics, and procurement strategies to determine whether significant value can be created through peak-season procurement and inventory management. The role will also support business planning, financial modelling, and investment decision-making.

Responsibilities
Commodity Market & Pricing Analysis:

• Analyze historical groundnut pricing trends across key producing regions.
• Assess seasonality, harvest cycles, supply fluctuations, and price movements.
• Identify opportunities for value creation through harvest-season buying and off-season sales/processing.
• Evaluate the economics of inventory carry, including storage costs, financing costs, wastage, shrinkage, and quality deterioration.
• Build procurement and inventory optimization models.
• Develop price forecasting scenarios and sensitivity analyses.
• Assess market dynamics affecting groundnut oil, groundnut cake, and related by-products.

Raw Material Sourcing & Supply Chain Assessment:

• Map key groundnut-producing regions and sourcing channels.
• Evaluate supplier networks, aggregation models, and procurement risks.
• Assess availability, quality, logistics, seasonality, and supply reliability.
• Recommend optimal procurement and storage strategies.

Financial Modelling & Commercial Evaluation:

• Develop pricing and margin models for processing operations.
• Evaluate procurement economics under multiple market scenarios.
• Build cash flow and working capital models linked to procurement strategies.
• Perform sensitivity analyses covering commodity prices, storage costs, financing costs, yields, and inventory holding periods.
• Support investment decision-making through commercial and profitability assessments.

Business Planning Support:

• Translate commodity analysis into strategic recommendations.
• Develop commercial assumptions for the business case.
• Identify key risks, constraints, and mitigation strategies.
• Support preparation of investment memoranda and management presentations.

Technical & Operational Assessment (Secondary):

• Validate key assumptions relating to processing yield and operational efficiency.
• Review indicative processing capacities and operational requirements.
• Support development of high-level CAPEX and OPEX assumptions where required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Economics, Finance, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, Statistics, Business Administration, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years relevant experience in: Agricultural commodity analysis, Commodity trading, Procurement strategy, Agribusiness consulting, Market intelligence, Business planning and commercial analysis.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing agricultural commodity markets.
• Strong financial modelling and quantitative analytical skills.
• Strong understanding of commodity pricing mechanisms, procurement economics, supply chains, and inventory management.
• Excellent stakeholder management, reporting, and presentation skills.

Experience:

• Experience in the relevant [agricultural, food, oilseed, grain, ground nut cake etc.] processing industry will be an advantage.
• Experience working on projects in Nigeria and familiarity with local regulatory, infrastructure, sourcing, financing, and market conditions would also be advantageous
• Commodity trading firms, agribusinesses, procurement organizations, commodity research firms, or agricultural value chains.
• Commodity forecasting and market intelligence.