Thiagaraja Manikandan
President & Group CIO - Olam International Limited
Thiagaraja Manikandan, a.k.a. Mani is the President & Group CIO for Olam International Limited. In this role, he is responsible for the Information and Digital Technology strategy for Olam. He successfully spearheaded Olam’s 1st ever global IT strategy creating an end-to-end best of breed integrated IT ecosystem of a core technology backbone comprising of – a unique SAP Global Template, Digital Commodity Trading & Risk Management platform and Analytics along with special purpose bolt-on extensions supported by a strong underlying infrastructure and collaboration portfolio. Subsequently, he successfully embarked on an end-to-end digital technology vision to connect Olam’s business ecosystem starting from the farmers up to the customers while digitizing everything in-between as well, with an aim to bring greater efficiency, business transformation and disruptive innovations in its business model. Mani strongly believes technology should be looked upon for innovation and not just as an automation agent. Mani’s career spans across multiple industries including Media, Consumer Durable, Global Logistics, CPG, Retail, Food and Agribusiness Industries – implementing IT transformation journeys successfully across various companies.
Olam International – a leading global food and agri-business surpassing US$ 23 billion – is supplying food, ingredients, feed and fibre to more than 25,000 customers worldwide, spanning Cocoa, Coffee, Edible Nuts, Spices, Dairy, Grains, Animal Feeds, Cotton, Edible Oils, Rice, Packaged Foods as well as Infrastructure & Logistics businesses. The company also has service businesses including Commodity Financial Services, Risk Management and Sustainability Services. Olam’s value chain encompasses over 60 countries, sourcing from an estimated five million farmers with over 180 manufacturing facilities and 14 innovation centres across the globe.