As a leader of leaders, the CEO of Future Agriculture Leaders of India has a unique opportunity to build and back leaders who will transform Indian agriculture and agro-enterprise.

For the past twelve years, Future Agriculture Leaders of India (FALI) has been operating as a successful, high impact program for 8 and 9 standard students in government aided rural schools. Today, FALI works with about 200 schools and 20,000 students in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, with growth targets of 25% a year over the next ten years.

FALI is a rigorous program in which students learn agronomy, ag tech, agro enterprise, agri finance, and dealing with climate change. FALI Agriculture Educators engage students in hands on interactive sessions, practicums with shade nets, field trips to modern farms and agro entrepreneurs, webinars and videos with industry leaders, and participation in business plan and ag tech innovation contests, with the winners participating in the annual FALI Convention on Jain Hills in Jalgaon.

The FALI program in schools is managed three days a week throughout the school year by about 100 FALI Agriculture Educators, passionate, top MSc and BSc Agriculture graduates who handle two to three schools each.

At present, there are over 50,000 FALI Alumni with the projection of having over 250,000 FALI alumni by 2035. FALI has active alumni programs including internships with participating companies, scholarships and venture funding. FALI Alumni outperform other Indian students in the pursuit of advanced education in science, engineering and agriculture while maintaining their connection to agriculture, with a good number having already built their agro enterprises.

In early 2024, FALI e+ was introduced in top English medium urban high schools. The high-powered curriculum of FALI e+ webinars, videos, booklets and field trips has helped improve the FALI offerings in rural areas, build rural-urban linkages, and build a future revenue stream for the expansion of FALI in rural areas.

The FALI management team is based in Pune. The present CEO of FALI, a graduate in agro engineering and IIMA, has been with FALI from the outset in 2014. He now would like to pursue agro enterprise opportunities. The Board of Directors of the Association for FALI is comprised of Anil Jain, Vice Chair and CEO of Jain Irrigation, Chair, Nancy Barry, President of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, Vice Chair, Nadir Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Industries, and Rajju Shroff, Chairman of UPL. FALI is funded by about 12 leading agribusinesses and banks including JISL, Godrej Agrovet, UPL, ITC, StarAgri, Omnivore, Tata Rallis and SBI Foundation.

Job Description:

The CEO of FALI is responsible to:

- Build and manage rapidly expanding and ever improving FALI, FALI Alumni and FALI e+ programs.

- Build and manage a strong FALI management team based in Pune, including the Manager of FALI Programs, the Manager of FALI e+, FALI supervisors, and Coordinators of Alumni Programs, Company Funding and Collaboration, and Accounts Manager.

- Mobilize and manage CSR funding for FALI to support rapid growth from existing and new corporate, bank and foundation funders, including meeting with existing and new funders, preparing proposals, completing progress reports, and providing compliance, accounting and other documents.

- Manage FALI finances, including supervision of accounting and auditing.

- Report directly to the Board of the Association for FALI including organization of regular meetings and all related strategy, progress reporting, budgeting and accounting documents.

- Introduce technology innovations to enable the rapid growth of FALI, including an online FALI e+ offering, a platform for FALI Alumni interaction and programs, and a platform for the continuous improvement of FALI Agriculture Educators.

Qualifications

- Passionate about transforming Indian agriculture and value chains, by building future agriculture and agro enterprise leaders of India.

- Completion of advanced studies in agriculture and/or agribusiness, ideally including education at an IIT, IIM or other top school.

- At least ten years of successful experience, with management and P&L responsibilities ideally combining agribusiness, agro-enterprise and education.

- Excellent English and Hindi speaking and writing capabilities. Ideally, proficiency in Marathi since the FALI head office is in Pune.

- Demonstrated, excellent motivational, communication and mobilization skills needed with company top and middle managers, management team and agriculture educators.

- Highly organized, able to manage responsibilities with the board, the FALI team, funders, accounting and auditing, and Section 8 compliance.

- Strong familiarity with the use of technology for education and outreach.

Salary: Rs. 4 lakhs per month

Target Start Date: April 1, 2026

Applicants are requested to submit, in addition to their resume, a cover letter and a three to five minute video outlining:

- Motivation to be a leader of leaders in transforming Indian

- Demonstrated leadership and management skills

- Strategy for expanding CSR funding by at least 25% a year

- Ideas for rapid expansion of the FALI Alumni Programs

- Approach to building a FALI internet offering.