Employee Profile

“With Cargill I have found the perfect match between a corporate environment, with its benefits as such, and the entrepreneurial space and freedom to take responsibility, ownership and to make my own choices. I like taking control over my own future.”

At Cargill, there are numerous business opportunities, which can both benefit the company as well as your own development. By choosing where to focus your efforts and energy you not only directly impact the future course of the company, but also choose your own career path. Cargill expects you to take that responsibility.

Describe your work responsibilities and the importance of your role.

My responsibilities include initiating and executing both a long term Cocoa & Chocolate strategy for METNA, as well as short term objectives to win with customers. I work with a team of Development Managers for other products as well as with sales and technical support teams. Together, we serve customers in a rapidly growing and developing market with our quality products and services. As member of the sales & marketing leadership team in CCC and commercial leadership team in METNA, I help to find alignment and implement our business plans. In order to be successful in my role, I depend on my social skills, commercial sense in doing business and understanding differences in cultural habits. By combing my conceptual strengths with a pragmatic approach I’m working to get the business in METNA to the next level in the years to come with direct results today.

Describe your career path. Where did you start and how did you get to where you are today?

After University, I joined Unilever for a management traineeship. I learned to be effective in a corporate environment and to work with processes and procedures in the supply chain department. As I am not naturally thrilled by borders and limitations, rather by opportunities and possibilities, my next step was an entrepreneurial one. After three years I left the secure environment of Unilever and moved to Pakistan to manage a Dutch financed start-up in the Punjab. It was a very exciting and a great development experience in all aspects. After three years of Pakistan I returned to the Netherlands and joined Cargill in 2010, Initially in a commercial role in Wormer, followed by a commercial management position at Schiphol. Today I’m based in Istanbul with a business development role.

Why did you choose to join Cargill and what keeps you here? In other words, how has a career at Cargill helped you to thrive?

With Cargill I have found the perfect match between a corporate environment, with its benefits as such, and the entrepreneurial space and freedom to take responsibility, ownership and to make my own choices. I like taking control over my own future. In my current job I combine the experience in understanding cultural differences, my conceptual strength to build a plan for developing market share and the pioneering spirit to actually making it happen on the ground, together with the team and our customers.

What advice would you give someone interested in a career at Cargill like yours?

Don’t accept a job. Choose a career, join Cargill and make it happen.

Share an interesting tidbit about yourself such as hobbies, volunteerism, favorite foods or activities, accomplishments inside or outside of work.

In order to be a corporate athlete and to stay one, I balance my physical, mental, spiritual and emotional energy levels in private life by boxing with friends, playing the piano in a band, traveling to discover new worlds and by being a father of a wonderful family with three kids.