Argus Fertilizer Africa Conference

Seelan Gobalsamy

CEO, Omnia Holdings

Seelan is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Omnia Holdings Limited, having previously held CEO positions at STANLIB Asset Management, Liberty Holdings Emerging Markets, Liberty Corporate and Old Mutual Corporate. With extensive international experience gained across multiple geographies and sectors in complex emerging and developed markets, Seelan has a proven track record of redefining the strategic direction of companies, turning around businesses and delivering sustainable growth.

Julian Palliam

CEO & President, Foskor

Mr. Julian Palliam is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Foskor since 2022. He is a seasoned executive, having worked for Metso as the Administrative Managing Director before joining Foskor as the Chief Financial Officer. He was previously employed by ABB South Africa both the senior management and executive levels in the finance and operations. Mr. Palliam has also worked across the globe and has been involved in numerous merger and acquisitions transactions as well business reorganisations programs. His speciality over the years has been linked closely with business turnarounds and optimization.

Wandile Sihlobo

Chief Economist, Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz)

Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books, “A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions” and “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture“. Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018. He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).

Brad Barritt

Head of Africa, Agridex

Brad Barritt is an experienced business leader and entrepreneur with a strong background in operational and management roles across fintech, social impact investment, FMCG, and digital advertising. During his highly successful sporting career, Brad achieved multiple European and English Premiership titles and represented England and the British & Irish Lions. Alongside his rugby achievements, he completed an MSc in Business Management, demonstrating his commitment to excellence both on and off the field. Brad’s early business experience includes advisory and executive roles in biotech and social impact investment. With a passion for coffee, he founded Tiki Tonga Coffee Roasters, a thriving business with operations in Europe, Africa, and the USA, who operate across, retail, wholesale and hospitality. His keen interest in early-stage ventures continues to drive his entrepreneurial pursuits, leveraging his leadership skills and strategic insight to help foster innovation and growth.

Gerald Maithya

SME and Startups Lead; Africa Transformation Office, Microsoft

Gerald Maithya is Startups and SMEs Lead at Microsoft Africa Transformation Office. As the Startups and SMEs Lead for Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office, Maithya leads a team focused on empowering these organizations through digital technologies. Prior to this Maithya held various positions at Barclays Bank, where he gained experience in strategy, commercial development, consumer, and corporate banking. His most recent role with the bank was as Head of Global Clients and Financial Institutions team for Barclays Bank in Kenya, which later rebranded to ABSA Bank Kenya. Earlier in his career, Maithya worked at Cadbury Schweppes between 2001 and 2007 where he held positions in Sales and Marketing with responsibility covering emerging markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Ricardo Rosa

South Africa Enterprise Commercial Director, Microsoft

Ricardo Rosa is the Microsoft South Africa Enterprise Commercial Director. He previously worked at KPMG and PwC, as well as Standard Bank, where he was a director. Rosa has also built numerous companies around the world, and he leverages this valuable experience to help others improve and lead their own businesses. He is passionate about helping his clients leverage Microsoft’s extensive range of technologies, innovations, capital, and partners to get strategic advantages, accelerated business transformation, and improved business value

Habiba Mouttaki

Chief Commercial Officer, OCP Africa

Mrs. Habiba Mouttaki is currently the Chief Commercial Officer of OCP Africa, a subsidiary of OCP Group, present in 12 Countries with more that 2,5Millions tones of phosphate product delivered in 2023 to the continent. Prior to holding this position, Mrs. Habiba spent more than 6 years at OCP Africa as VP Sales, Marketing & Strategy, Head of Marking and product development. Before joining OCP, Mrs. Mouttaki was marketing manager position in French divers companies specialized in the travel industry and automotive industry. Mrs Mouttaki has graduated from Ecole Centrale Paris where she received his diploma in Aeronautic and mechanical engineering. Additionally, she holds a master's degree in Operational Management, further solidifying her expertise in strategic leadership and execution. She has also master’s degree from HEC-Paris on geopolitics and geoeconomics in Africa.

Edward Monckton

Chief Strategy Officer, Agridex

Edward brings 15 years of military leadership, diplomacy and strategic advisory experience. He has lived and worked across Europe, the Middle East and Africa specialising in resilience, sovereign partnerships and multilateralism.

Hatim Lahmiym

Managing Director, OCP Kenya

Mr. Hatim LAHMIYM is the Managing Director of OCP Kenya, a subsidiary OCP Africa. In this role, he oversees the company's operations in Kenya, focusing on enhancing agricultural productivity through the provision of quality fertilizers and enhanced services to smallholder farmers. Hatim is committed to advancing agricultural practices across Africa, aligning with OCP Africa’s mission to support sustainable agriculture and food security on the continent. Prior to this, he was leading the Human Capital department for Africa managing HR for 12 subsidiaries across the continent. Before joining OCP, Hatim specialized in executive search consultancy business. He acquired extensive experience in identifying and C-level executives for multinational companies operating in Africa. Hatim holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from NEOMA Business School in France, an Executive master’s degree in Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Emerging Africa from HEC Paris and UM6P and an Executive Leadership certificate from Harvard Business School.

Nicholas Obby Mainza

Chief Agriculture Economist - Trade and Agribusiness , Ministry of Agriculture- Zambia

Nicholas Obby Mainza (Ph.D, MSc, MBA, PGD, BSc) is Chief Agriculture Economist - Trade and Agribusiness for the Ministry of Agriculture, in Zambia and current National Secretary for the Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ). He has served both in public and private sectors, with some time spent as a lecturer with some Universities and Colleges. Nicholas is an active TV discussant with international television stations on issues surrounding African economies and Agri-Food systems of Africa and he is an Author of the book "I SEE GOLD WHERE OTHERS SEE DUST".

Ashish Lakhotia

CEO, ETG Agri Inputs

Ashish is a forward-thinking professional with over 20 years of experience in the Agri inputs industry (Fertilizers, Crop Protection, Seeds and Farm implements). He oversees the company with over 1600 employees, a turnover of $1.5 billion and impacts over 20
million of farmers across 30 African countries and is currently expanding the business beyond Africa in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and North Africa markets. He holds CA degree from ICAI and has completed his
Master of Management Studies from VESIMSR -Mumbai specialized in Finance.

Patrick Heffer

Deputy Director General, IFA

Patrick Heffer joined the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) in Paris in 2002, where he is Senior Director of the Agriculture Service. In this capacity, he coordinates IFA’s global activities relating to fertilizer consumption. In addition, at the regional level, Patrick leads IFA’s Africa programme. More specifically, his duties focus on agronomic, market and policy issues that relate to fertilizer and nutrient management in a global context. Before joining IFA, Patrick spent 15 years with the seed industry, including five years in Switzerland at the joint secretariat of the International Seed Trade Federation and International Association of Plant Breeders (FIS/ASSINSEL), advancing to the position of Deputy Secretary General before his departure, and two years in Rome with the Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He has also worked at GNIS (French parastatal seed organization) in Poitiers, France and at the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, Morocco.

Louis Strydom

Sales & Marketing Director, Omnia Holdings

Louis Strydom is a seasoned Sales and Marketing Director with three decades of experience in the fertiliser and agricultural industries. Beginning his career as an Agronomist at Omnia in 1995, Louis steadily advanced to executive leadership, developing expertise in supply chain management, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, sales and negotiations, business strategy, and operations management. Throughout his career, Louis has been instrumental in transforming Omnia from a fertiliser business into a holistic institution that positively impacts the agricultural industry. As a driving force behind Omnia Agriculture Technology (AXIOTEQ), he has a particular passion for precision agriculture. This work focuses on developing innovative equipment-, product- and data solutions tailored to South Africa’s unique crop production conditions while reducing environmental impact, reducing risk and maximizing the return for customers. Committed to integrating sustainable farming practices with cutting-edge global technology, Louis positions himself as a vital link between the company and its market. He prioritises responsible business practices, balancing customer value through the Nutriology® model with the company’s broader goals.

Sebastian Nduva

AFO programme lead, International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC)

Sebastian is a fertilizer market specialist with a special focus on sub-Saharan African fertilizer market systems. He is currently the AfricaFertilizer.org (AFO) programme lead at the IFDC. The AFO initiative collects, processes and publishes fertilizer-sector statistics for key fertilizer markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jacques de Villiers

Executive: Manufacturing, Operations & Supply Chain, Omnia Holdings

Jacques joined Omnia in 2001 as a mechanical engineer in Sasolburg. He was later transferred to Rustenburg to serve as Technical Manager on the Phosphoric acid plant. In 2006, he joined the Omnia Group Projects team and acted as Project Manager for the construction of the Nitrates complex at Sasolburg. In 2015 he was appointed as General Manager: Supply Chain for Fertilizer.

Marcus Meadows-Smith

CEO, Bioconsortia

Tim Cheyne

SVP - Global Head of Agriculture, Fertilizers, Ammonia, DEF, Argus

Tim is Senior Vice President for the fertilizer sector at Argus. Tim worked a process manager at an ammonia/urea plant in South Africa before moving to the UK to join KBR (then M.W. Kellogg) as a process engineer in the ammonia technology team. More recently Tim has covered fertilizer and industrial nitrogen as a market analyst.

Oliver Hatfield

VP Fertilizers, Argus

Oliver Hatfield, is VP Business Development for Argus Media in London. Oliver joined Argus in October 2018 following its acquisition of Integer Research, where he spent 15 years as head of the fertilizer market research team. Oliver has more than 20 years of experience in business analysis and consulting, and he was also one of the founders of Integer. Oliver has worked extensively on multi-client and bespoke fertilizer market analysis studies, covering market forecasts, strategy, due diligence, market entry and project feasibility. He has worked as an analyst on all the key fertilizer and related chemical markets: nitrogen, phosphates, potash, sulphur and sulphuric acid. Oliver is a graduate of economics and development economics from the University of Manchester in the UK.