OB research paper on OLAM INTERNATIONAL

1. OLAM INTERNATIONAL
Sharpening Focus, Accelerating Sustainable Growth
Submitted By: Raquib Adnan Akhtar
Date of Submission: April 23,2020
Submitted To: Prof. Tushar Marwaha

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INDEX
S.No. Title Page No.
1.0 Acknowledgement 2
2.0 Abstract 3
3.0 Introduction 4
4.0 Brief History About The Organization 5
4.1 Move To Singapore 5
4.2 IPO 6
4.3 Post IPO 6
5.0 Business Model And Governance 7
6.0 Opportunity that OLAM Identified: Growth Based on Differentiation 9
7.0 How Olam Is A Leader In Re-Imagining Global Agriculture? 11
7.1 Olam’s Vision & Principles 11
7.2 What does OLAM mean by Growing Responsibly? 11
7.3 OlamFarmer Information System(OFIS) 12
7.4 OlamFood Prize 12
7.5 Non-Negotiable Principles 12
8.0 Reorganizing And Restructuring Challenges 14
8.1 Corporate Governance Issues 14
9.0 Olam’s Leadership Programme 16
10.0 Recognition For Changing The World 17
11.0 Situation Amidst Covid ’19 Outbreak And Learning From Ebola 19
12.0 Conclusion 20
13.0 References 21

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1.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
An Acknowledgement of gratitude one owes to one’s teacher, parents, friends and a well-
wisher is beyond the ken of verbal encapsulation. However, the following words attempt to
express our sincere gratitude to them.
I would like to thank our former HOD Dr. V.K. Kaul for giving us this wonderful opportunity.
Our Professor, Prof. Tushar Marwaha who has always been a source of guidance, support
and prompt with reply to my queries over Whatsapp despite having a busy schedule. My
parents for not only supporting but also for showering their love and blessings. I express
my sincere thanks to them all.

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2.0 ABSTRACT
This paper discusses about one of the leading agri-business leaders “Olam International”. It
starts with giving a brief background about the organization, how it expanded from Africa to
globally. Then we take a look Business Model of Olam International and how it thrives on
making most of opportunity on leveraging growth on basis of differentiation.
The paper also discusses on how Olam emerges as a leader in Re-Imagining Agriculture. We
also see the challenges which lie ahead: restructuring and ‘Covid-19’; we believe
experiences from Ebola can help firm to overcome challenges ahead. Finally SWOT analysis
has been done before concluding the paper.

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3.0 INTRODUCTION
Olam International is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients serving
over 25,000 customers worldwide. Their value chain spans across 60 countries and includes
farming, direct and indirect sourcing network of an estimated six million farmers,
processing, distribution and trading operations. Since its inception, Olam has remained
focused on a single commodity asset class, namely the agricultural complex. This focus has
helped cumulate and compound skills over time, build deeper insights into product markets
and consolidate their competitive position
They are organised by two operating groups – Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and Olam Global
Agri (OGA) both held by the parent Olam International Ltd (OIL) which provides both
stewardship and acts as an accelerator incubating new growth engines.
Through the aim to ‘Re-imagine Global Agriculture and Food Systems’, Olam strives to deal
with various challenges involved in meeting the food, feed and fibre needs of a growing
global population, while achieving positive impact for farming communities, planet and all
the other key stakeholders. Olam is headquartered and listed in Singapore, it currently ranks
within the top 30 largest primary listed companies in terms of market capitalisation.
Mr. Sunny Verghese is Group CEO of Olam, and post the re-organisation of the Group, he
holds charge as CEO of Olam Global Agri and Olam International.

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4.0 BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
Being established in 1989, Olam has evolved from a single-product, single-country
geography, to a multi-product, multi-national, agri-business today, with 70,000 employees,
contract, seasonal and temporary workers from 70 different nationalities.
In 1989, the Kewalram Chanrai Group established Olam Nigeria Plc to set up non-oil based
export operation out of Nigeria to secure hard currency earnings to meet the foreign
exchange requirements of the other Group Companies operating in Nigeria. The success of
this operation resulted in Olam establishing an independent export operation and sourcing
and exporting other agricultural products. The Group's agri-business was headquartered in
London and operated under the name of Chanrai International Limited. The business began
with the export of cashews from Nigeria and then expanded into exports of cotton, cocoa
and sheanuts from Nigeria.
4.1 MOVE TO SINGAPORE
Between 1993 and 1995, the business grew from a single operation into multiple origins,
first within West Africa (including Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea Bissau,
Cameroon and Gabon), and then to East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and
Madagascar) and then India. The move into multiple origin countries coincided with the
deregulation of the agricultural commodity markets.
Olam International Limited was incorporated in Singapore on 4 July 1995 as a public limited
company. In 1996, at the invitation of the Singapore Trade Development Board (now
International Enterprise Singapore), Olam relocated their entire operations from London to
Singapore. Furthermore, the Singapore Government awarded Olam the Approved
International Trader status (now called the Global Trader Programme) under which Olam
was granted a concessionary tax rate of 10%, which was subsequently reduced, in 2004, to
5%. On relocation to Singapore, the Group's agri-business was reorganised to be wholly
owned by Olam International Limited in Singapore. During this phase, Olam established
sourcing and marketing operations in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Papua New
Guinea, the Middle East, Central Asia and Brazil.

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4.2 INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING(IPO)
During 2002, Russell AIF Singapore Investments Limited (managed by OnAIF Capital limited),
became the first external investor to stake an equity stake in the Olam. In 2003, Seletar
Investments, wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings took a stake in Olam, followed
by International Finance Corporation (IFC). In 2005, Olam International Limited was listed on
the main Board of the (Singapore Exchange) on February 2005. Temasek made a strategic
investment in Olam in 2009.
By the end 2014, following a Voluntary General Offer it held majority of Olam. In 2015
Mitsubishi Corporate acquired a one-fifth shareholding (20%) making them the second
largest shareholder. The Management Team of Olam has a significant shareholding in the
company approximating 5.8% in the total issued share capital. Olam's free float owned by
public shareholders accounts for approximately 15% of the total issued share capital.
4.3 POST IPO
Olam is active in the SCM (supply chain management) of agricultural raw materials and food
ingredients. With operations across more than 70 countries, Olam supplies 47 agri-products
and markets them to over 23,000 customers with a global employee strength of 35,000+
totalling 70,000 when contract and temporary workers are included. In 2010, Olam
International discussed possibility of merger with one of its main competitors, i.e. the
Geneva-based Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the world's largest cotton and rice trading
company. This idea was called off in 2011, as the two parties could not come to an
agreement on the details of such a potential merger.
In July 2013,Olam announced, that it would sell its cotton assets in Zimbabwe, with the
preferred buyer being a private equity company.

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5.0 BUSINESS MODEL AND GOVERNANCE
Olam’s Business model is based on four elements which set their future direction:
 Defining The Opportunity- The agricultural commodity complex from a farm gate
production value of US$6.1 trillion complex is growing at approximately 2.0 to 2.5%
a year. Olam believes that it is a significant and a very steady and predictable growth
opportunity.
 Governing objective- To build and maximise long term intrinsic value for continuing
shareholders, by opening up capital spreads between the rate of return and the cost
of capital, increasing the rate of profitable growth, and sustaining the growth for as
long a period as possible.
 New Purpose- Olam has redefined a new purpose for the Company in 2017 and
further refined it to be “Re-imagining Global Agriculture and Food Systems” in 2019.
Our new purpose is to support and double the production of food, feed and fibre
(crop basis) to feed a growing world population estimated to be between 9.5 billion
and 10 billion people by 2050 without destroying the planet and with less resources.
It is also to transform the food system to produce more healthy food and reduce
food wastage.
 Vision and Aspiration- To be the world’s most differentiated and most valuable
global food and agri-business by 2040.
Governance
Olam believes in Intentional governance for sustainable and profitable growth. The 2018
Code of Corporate Governance (the Code) is applicable to the Company for its 2018 Annual
Report – the Governance Report. Olam complies with most of the principles and provisions
of the Code. Today, the Board comprises more than 50% independent directors with the
Board Chair being independent since 2015. With the optimal mix of expertise and
experience, the Board is equipped to effectively lead and direct the Company’s business and
strategy, ensuring the long-term success of the organization.
Olam recognises that a well-governed company involves putting in place good corporate
governance practices that will ensure the Company’s long-term success. The Company
focuses on governing purposefully, keeping in mind the Code while continuing to deliver on
the Company’s vision and objectives. In keeping with this objective, actions taken by the
Company to address differences between the Code and the Company’s practices.

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New Constitution
Adopted in April 2018 by our shareholders, Olam’s new Constitution is largely comprised of
the provisions of the Company’s existing memorandum and articles of association, as
updated to incorporate various changes, primarily to give effect to the changes to the
Companies Act introduced by the Amendments Act, as well as for consistency with all the
SGX-ST Listing Rules.

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6.0 OPPORTUNITY THAT OLAM IDENTIFIED: GROWTH BASED
ON DIFFERENTIATION
"Don't reinvent the wheel, just realign it." - Anthony J. D' Angelo. The best way to grow is
usually by replicating your strongest strategic advantage in new contexts. Companies
typically expand in one of the four ways:
 They create or purchase new products and services
 Create or enter new customer segments
 Enter new geographic locations
 Enter related lines of business.
A company can pursue each of these strategies in various ways—for example, adding new
price points or finding new uses for a product or service that will appeal to new customers.
The power of a repeatable model lies in the way it turns the sources of differentiation into
routines, behaviors, and activity systems that everyone in the organization can understand
and follow so that when a company sets out on a particular growth path, it knows how to
maintain the differentiation that led to its initial success.
The global agribusiness Olam is a case in point. The company began as a cashew trader. It
purchased nuts directly from farmers in Nigeria and sold them to a dozen customers in
Europe, managing a supply chain from the farm gate to the shop door. This approach was
unusual for the industry. It cut out middlemen, safeguarded Olam’s access to products, and
increased the company’s market intelligence and speed of reaction. To do this well, Olam
had to learn to work closely with small farmers. It also had to develop a risk management
system that drew on information garnered from farmers, customers, and commodities and
foreign exchange markets to minimize the risks of crop problems, price and currency
volatility, and supply disruption.
These capabilities translated into other contexts. Olam realized that its knowledge of small
farmers in Nigeria could be applied to small farmers in, say, Burkina Faso. Its risk
management skills could be applied to peanuts or coffee beans as well as to cashews. The
company accordingly added both farmers and customers in new countries and new
products. It now sources around two dozens of agricultural products from farmers across 60
plus countries and delivers them to lakhs of customers across the globe.

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“Rome wasn’t built in a day” alike, Olam’s differentiation evolved as the company grew.
Like, as it expanded into certain countries, it found opportunities to acquire and fold in small
operations based in those countries. Although Olam had no experience with M&A, its
capabilities and assets, including good contacts at the ground level in its countries of
operation, gave it an advantage in recognizing promising opportunities and understanding
how to negotiate with and integrate acquisitions.
Over time, the company has developed playbooks for M&A and deal integration and now
considers them important differentiating features that frontline managers (and everyone
else in the organization) understand and value. As Olam’s CEO, Sunny Verghese, explains,
“Our line managers find and consummate transactions at the local level. It is sort of a
hidden asset that we have because our people are in the market at a lower level of contact
than anyone else. Our ability in transactions is now part of our core, and we manage it
centrally with a unique repeatable formula of clear rules and criteria.”

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7.0 HOW OLAM IS A LEADER IN RE-IMAGINING GLOBAL
AGRICULTURE?
“Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they
have made life better for billions of people.” says Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Primary sector(particularly Agriculture) faces some of the world’s hugest development,
environmental and economic challenges. Lakhs of farmers, particularly smallholders, who
grow cash crops like cotton, cashew and cocoa, are living at subsistence levels, while natural
resources, such as soil and forests, are degraded or lost at a significant rate. Meanwhile
about one- third of all food produced is lost or wasted. With the population set to increase
to 9 billion (adding 2 billion more) by mid of 21st century, we cannot carry on the way we
are. Tackling these issues is a huge task as no issue is isolated. For example, deforestation is
often bound up with low yields and poverty. Similarly, many firms like Olam have
sustainability programmes in place, we must go beyond what is currently being done today
and achieve far greater impact at far greater scale.
7.1 Olam’s Vision & Principles
OLAM’s plantation and processing experience, coupled with the breadth of portfolio and
year-round presence working with farmers, means that they are in a strong position to
achieve it. It is their ambitious mission to drive transformation in our sector, in an ethical,
socially responsible and environmentally sustainable way. OLAM has defined our Purpose as
‘Re-imagining Global Agriculture and Food Systems’ within the boundary conditions of
Growing Responsibly. There are 3 outcomes we intend to achieve through their Purpose:
 Prosperous Farmers and Food systems
 Thriving Communities
 Re-Generation of the living world
7.2 What does OLAM mean by Growing Responsibly?
Conducting business in an ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable
manner has been part of Olam’s strategy for many years. Growing Responsibly does not just
mean protecting the environment and supporting farmers and communities. There are also
other clear commercial factors, such as having a sound business model with strong risk
management and governance, so that businesses protect investors, shareholders and

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employees, which in turn means they have a resilient and sustainable business for all the
stakeholders like farmers, suppliers and customers.
7.3 Olam Farmer Information System(OFIS)
Until recent past, accessing detailed information about farms was a struggle with Olam’s
vast network of smallholders living in remote areas. Their field staff have collected
information using pen and paper, a laborious process, limiting use of data and scalability.
Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS) helps them to solve this issue. So far over 430,000
farmers in over 20 countries have been registered in the system. With this data Olam can
now provide personalised farm management plans - something these farmers have never
had before.
7.4 Olam Food Prize
The OlamPrize for Innovation in Food Security, awarded in partnership with Agropolis
Fondation, recognises an innovative scientific research project for its potential impact on
the availability, accessibility, affordability and adequacy of food, in line with UN SDG#2: End
Hunger. The winner receives an unrestricted US$75,000 grant for the scaling up of proven
research. Entries are judged by an independent jury of experts and awarded in conjunction
with the Agropolis Louis Malassis International Scientific Prizes for Agriculture and Food.
In 2015, the inaugural prize was awarded to a research team based at Cornell University
who are revolutionising the way rice is grown. Read Professor Uphoff’s. The 2017 Prize
went to Durum wheat breeder Dr Filippo Bassi of ICARDA for his development of a strain of
heat-tolerant wheat, able to withstand the 40°C temperatures of sub-Saharan Africa. Since
receipt of the prize funding, the first 10 tonnes of certified grains have now been produced
by two Senegalese farming communities - one being a female cooperative of 50 women.
The most recent 2019 Prize was awarded to pioneering landscape mapping that’s re-
imagining subsistence farming.
7.5 Non-Negotiable Principles
Analysis of HBR’s 200-company database reveals that 83% of the best-performing
businesses had established explicit, widely understood principles across the organization,
while only 26% of the worst performers had done so. Indeed, a link between well-defined,
shared core principles and frontline behavior was more highly correlated with business
performance than any other factor we studied.

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To illustrate how companies use non-negotiables, let’s go back to Olam. A key differentiator
is that the company manages supply chains right from the farm gate. To support this, Olam
requires managers to live in the rural areas of developing countries in order to learn what
really goes on at the farms. This non-negotiable principle is the foundation for hiring criteria,
assignments, and the structure and content of training. Another non-negotiable is that each
manager give highest priority to relationships with local farmers. Olam’s field operating
manual captures many of the routines that support this requirement. The company’s
principles, and the practices that support them, are central to its culture and provide a
bonding experience for managers, who respond to trade-offs and challenges at all levels
with remarkable consistency.

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8.0 REORGANIZING AND RESTRUCTURING CHALLENGES
On January 2020, Olam International announced division of its portfolio of diverse products
into two new operating businesses, Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and Olam Global Agri
(OGA). The decision followed from its business review last year, and a multi-year plan
announced early in 2019 to invest US$3.5 billion into key growth areas, such as edible nuts,
coffee and cocoa, while shedding other sectors. In the statement released by the firm, Olam
Food Ingredients (OFI), will consist of its cocoa, coffee, edible nuts, spices and dairy
businesses, Olam Global Agri (OGA) will include grains and animal feed, edible oils, rice,
cotton and commodity financial services. The company, trades in Singapore, says it may
later list the units as two separate entities. A new venue may be needed to convince
investors that Olam is serious about improving financial disclosure.
Olam operates in twenty-six countries across Africa, as well as in the South America and
Middle East .The company’s current structure, with has five business lines across various
distinct products and diverse geographies, means that “many investors find it difficult to
understand the group’s business fundamentals,” says Leonard Law, a credit analyst at Lucror
Analytics in Singapore. Creating two separate businesses would improve the overall level of
disclosure and allow investors to choose which part to invest in.
Shares in Olam have fallen since the plan was announced in January 2020. Law says that
Olam’s listing in Singapore does not favour transparency.
 Disclosure levels from Singapore-listed companies are weaker and less consistent
when compared with Hong Kong.
 The Singapore exchange also appears to lack the tools to penalize directors for their
disclosure breaches.
 The company could help investors with greater disclosures on operating and
accounting metrics, including those for margin accounts, inventories, asset
valuations, bank lines and joint ventures.
8.1 Corporate Governance Issues
The long-term outlook for food and agri-business is attractive, due to rising demand from a
growing global population, increasing urbanisation and affluence, Law wrote in research

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published by Smart Karma on February 6. He says the reorganisation plan will “help
address some of the concerns regarding the company’s complexity and low transparency.
”Yet Law argues the company’s debt is high risk due to low margins and high volatility in the
commodities supply-chain industry, high leverage and low cash flow visibility. The company
will find it hard to improve cash flows, he said.
Corporate governance at Olam is rated as “weak” by Lucror Analytics. This takes into
account:
 A ‘large and unwieldy board’, whose members ‘lack agricultural trading experience’.
 Aggressive accounting policies
 Poor regulatory oversight in Singapore.
Olam’s gross debt was around eight times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortization (EBITDA) in September 2019. According to Law’s research, liquidity is very
weak, as the company needs short-term working capital and depends on banks to extend
credit lines. Law pointed out that the company subtracts the value of liquid inventories and
secured receivables from total gross debt. “We are less confident that inventories and
receivables can be quickly liquidated in times of crisis,” he wrote. OLAM uses inventories as
inputs for its mid- and downstream operations, “the fire sale of inventories to raise cash
would adversely impact profitability.”
Olam’s main shareholders are Mitsubishi Corporation with 17% and Temasek Holdings with
54%. As long as Temasek continues to hold a majority, there’s no risk of Olam not being able
to refinance credit lines, Law says. But bond-holders would be exposed in the event of a
change of control. Law pointed to the absence of protective clauses in the indenture, which
might mean losses if ownership of Olam changes. While Olam remains listed solely in
Singapore, suspicions will linger that investors were not getting the full picture.

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9.0 OLAM’S LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with
change. Founded hardly three decades ago, with one product, Olam is today a leading agri-
business operating from seed to shelf supplying food and industrial raw materials to over
millions of customers worldwide. The team of more than 70,000 employees across 66
countries have built a leadership positions in several of our eighteen platforms including
cocoa, coffee, edible nuts, spices, rice and cotton.
Effective leaders build leadership more than leaders by creating a Leadership Brand.
Individual leaders matter, but leadership matters more. Leadership comes from building the
infrastructure that develops the next generation of leaders. Future Leaders Programme is a
12 month structured experiential development Programme that will test candidate’s
initiative, stimulate ambition and creativity, and demand their energy and intellect.
Candidates would gain global exposure and networks, perspective and the edge they
require to have a high-impact career.
Credentials and Experience OLAM targeting for its flagship Programme:
 Post-graduate student from a leading business school with 2-3 years’ experience
working in Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance or Operations.
 High cognitive ability. Candidates approach to projects and problem solving will
ensure success in delivering on the complex tasks that lie ahead.
 Leader and change agent. Candidates to have the attributes to lead and manage
complexity and the perseverance to achieve outcomes.
 Mobility as career in Olam is strengthened by multi-location experience in emerging
countries.
Olam International has been making headline during B-school placement season in India; as
they offer compensation package above Rs. 1 crore ($150,000) at coveted Indian institutes
like FMS,IIFT and NITIE. This offer is made under the above leadership programme.

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10.0 RECOGNITION FOR CHANGING THE WORLD
Olam International was placed at the twenty-third slot in Fortune’s second annual ‘Change
the World’ 2016 list, that recognised firms that have made a positive social impact through
activities which were part of their core business strategy.
Since the launch of the Olam Livelihood Charter (OLC) in 2011, Olam worked directly with
around 3.5 lakhs smallholders in its supply chains to improve crop yields and quality,
livelihoods and wellbeing, access to finance and markets, and reducing environmental
impact. Supporting farmers in this way has added consistent volumes of sustainable
product for Olam customers. Fortune Editor Alan Murray writes: “The best businesses, of
course, have always put purpose at the center of their strategies. Increasingly, they are
building intentional efforts to address social problems into the core of their business plans.
It is these efforts that we highlight in our second annual Change the World list.” Almost 40
partners are in active OLC programmes across cocoa, cotton, cashew, coffee, hazelnuts,
sugar, chilli, black pepper, rice and sesame across 17 countries.
Change the World is a global, multi-industry list compiled of nominated companies
evaluated and ranked by Fortune writers and editors for:
 Measurable social impact was the most important factor. The reach, nature and
durability of the initiative is identified and validated through independent sources.
 Business results particularly profitability and contribution to shareholder value.
 Degree of innovation relative to that of others in its industry and whether its
impactful actions have prompted other companies to follow its example.
Fortune editors wrote: “We set out to identify 50 companies across the globe that are
tackling major societal problems – reducing damage to the environment, strengthening
communities, serving the underserved, and significantly improving lives as a function of
their business model – and whose good works contribute to their bottom lines.
And this year, as last, Fortune’s reporting staff, our partners at FSG, and an expert panel of
outside advisers found dozens of inspirational examples.”

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In the Fortune interview Chris Brett, Global Head of Olam Corporate Responsibility and
Sustainability emphasised upon how the OLC was “an opportunity to create partnerships.”
“The OLC’s impact would not be so great without the support of our customer, NGO,
certification, trade, foundation and development partners,” Chris adds. “By learning from
one another, we have been able to improve and expand our programmes year-on-year.
This recognition in Fortune’s Change the World list is testament to the commitment of all
our partners, and also our product teams across the globe, who believe in the importance
of investing in smallholder farmers.”

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11.0 SITUATION AMIDST COVID ’19 OUTBREAK AND
LEARNING FROM EBOLA
Olam’s experience with Ebola and broken supply chains leave it in a stronger operational
position than its peers. The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa in 2014-16 has left food and
agri-business company ‘Olam International’ ready to respond quickly to the coronavirus
pandemic, Ventkatamani Srivathsan, CEO for Africa and the Middle East, told The Africa
Report. Due to Ebola, the company is well stocked with protective masks and cleaning
agents, Srivathsan said while working from home in Singapore, where Olam is based.
Temperature controls for people entering Olam buildings and hygiene protocols have been
quickly rolled out. The company has been able to supply masks and thermometers for
health workers in hospitals in Gabon. The key issue is “inventory planning,” he said. “We
started early.” West Africa’s 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic was the largest since the virus was
first discovered in 1976. It began in Guinea before spreading to Sierra Leone and Liberia. A
further outbreak in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo started in 2018.
“Given the Ebola experience, Africa operations planning has been credible,” in the current
crisis, Srivathsan said. Olam operates in 25 countries across Africa, as well as in the Middle
East and South America. The company, which doesn’t have any manufacturing operations in
China, has been able to keep manufacturing running.
 It has set up a central committee on Covid 19 and imposed a complete ban on
company travel, including within Africa, which has now been in place for two
working weeks.
 There have been no African port shutdowns so far, he added, though conditions in
southern and eastern African ports have become “slightly more difficult.
 Olam is used to managing supply chains that are broken up. In Nigeria’s capital
Lagos, the company has its own fleet of trucks – and its own private diesel stations to
ensure they are filled.
“It’s too early to start to quantify the financial impact of the pandemic on the company”,
Srivathsan said. The collapse in oil prices will lower Olam’s energy costs, while affecting
countries such as Nigeria which now face “huge headwinds,” he said. But Srivathsan does
not see demand for Olam’s products being destroyed. “People still have to eat.” He argued
that the stock market reaction to the crisis has been exaggerated, as in the great financial
crisis of 2008. It’s “normal human psychology” to look for safety. Rapid government support
packages show they have learned from past crises that they can’t afford to delay.

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12.0 SWOT ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION
SWOT analyses the Organisation with its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
The strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors whereas opportunities and threats
are the external factors. SWOT Analysis is a proven management framework which enables
an organisation like Olam International to benchmark its business.
Going through this research paper we can safely conclude that Olam is a ‘Transformational
Leader’ as it goes beyond managing day-to-day operations and builds strategies for taking
company to the next level. It focuses on team building, motivation, and collaboration with
all stakeholders across different levels of to accomplish change for the better. It has
transformed lives of not only thousands of its employees but also millions of farmers in
West and Central Africa. We have also witnessed Olam’s capability to adapt to changes and
emerge out as a leader during crisis: with Ebola and hopefully now with Covid-19.
The organization’s vision and mission would last till decades to come as it is building a cadre
of future leaders who have the capacity to shape an organization’s culture and create
patterns of success. We hope ‘Olam International’ continues to thrive and other
organisations look up to it as their ‘Role Model’.
Strengths
1. A leading global integrated SCM
2. Business model is based on adjacency expansion to create
systematic, repeatable organic and inorganic growth initiatives
3. Superior origination, trading and risk management skills
4. Used to deal with Broken Supply Chains.
5. Significant presence across Packaged Food categories in key
West African markets
Weaknesses
1.Decline in agricultural productivity and declining arable land
2.Logistics and storage chokes and Water and carbon constraints
3.Incidence of droughts, floods leading to supply disruptions and
thus resulting in rising commodity prices
Opportunities
1.Rapid urbanization resulting in higher per capita consumption
2.Growing population and increase in food consumption per capita
with rising income
3.Dietary shift to protein and fat rich diets
4.Growing use of biofuel
Threats
1.Risk of tightening credit markets and reduced liquidity
2.Export bans, differential taxes &tariffs could create short term
distortions in margins and impede free flow of trade
3.Impact of climate change and other environmental constraints
4.Covid-19 Outbreak

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13.0 REFERENCES
John Labate, 2019. The Wallstreet Journal [Online] Available at:
https://deloitte.wsj.com/cfo/2019/12/06/olam-international-cfo-business-alignments-that-
drive-growth/ [Accessed 30 March 2020].
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https://www.olamgroup.com/content/dam/olamgroup/investor-relations/ir-library/annual-
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