Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Building the operating base for 24 to 190 people
The callPut the foundations in place ahead of headcount: a finance function set up from scratch on Xero, banking relationships and payroll under my ownership, external audit moved to Deloitte, and company-wide KPIs and dashboards. Hire the first CHRO with the CEO, and set the compensation structures, workforce planning, and employee handbook. Run a weekly cadence with the founder-CEO and with my direct reports, and a monthly all-hands for the whole company.
WhyGrowth at that speed outruns control. Investors and the Tokyo head office needed numbers they could rely on, and decisions had to keep pace with headcount.
What happened24 → 190 staff across Ghana and Japan, with revenue up roughly eightfold. An annual budget, three-year plan, and monthly reforecasts, with budget against actual reported to the board and investors every quarter. The financial analyst I coached is now Head of Operations at Degas.
Scale-upFinance functionPeople
Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Taking loan recovery from 76% to 97%
The callChange how credit was granted, not only how arrears were chased: cohort analysis of repayment, an AI-based credit scoring system I commissioned, and financing terms tied to each farmer's creditworthiness.
WhyRecovery had to improve without slowing growth. At 76%, every season of expansion would have multiplied the losses.
What happenedRecovery rose from 76% to 97% and held above 95% as the portfolio grew to 46,000+ farmers across c.20,000 hectares.
Credit riskDataPortfolio performance
Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Pricing each season, and a 30% premium from Nestlé
The callSet input prices before each season by farmer segment and crop, at 20 to 30% margins, and negotiate a fixed contract price with Nestlé, 30% above the market price at the time, as its exclusive supplier of regenerative maize.
WhyFarmers repaid their inputs in harvested produce, so the price set both our margin and how much of each harvest a farmer had to hand back.
What happenedWith the premium, farmers repaid their input credit with fewer bags of maize, their credit scores improved, and they gained access to more capital and inputs. The contract also backed the fundraising, making Degas more investable.
PricingUnit economicsCommercial negotiation
Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Turning field practice into standard process
The callSet the SOPs for warehouse receiving and storage, aflatoxin testing, input distribution, and harvest collection; contract and manage several Ghanaian haulage firms on location and price; and run the full-time field agent network, each agent serving 300 to 400 farmers, through an internal app and dashboard.
WhySupplying maize for Nestlé's Cerelac infant cereal left almost no tolerance for aflatoxin, across 12 warehouses and a field network covering tens of thousands of farmers.
What happenedAflatoxin held at near-zero, farm-to-warehouse traceability in place, and a 100% vendor-audit score as Nestlé's exclusive regenerative-sourcing partner.
Process designSupply chainQuality
SNV · Global Business Strategy & Risk Lead
An operating rhythm for a 26-country organisation
The callIntroduce a quarterly performance review joining financial, impact, and delivery indicators, backed by dashboards, escalation routes, and decision forums; redesign the enterprise risk and internal-control assessment; run workshops with technical teams, management, and global leads; prepare decision-ready material for the Executive Team and Supervisory Board; and build one business-case template so new revenue lines could be compared on the same terms.
WhyA decentralised organisation with a EUR 220m budget and 1,400+ staff needs a shared view of performance before it can make shared decisions.
What happenedThe risk and internal-control assessment cycle went from six months to three. SNV has since approved two of the three business cases built on the template and hired two principals to lead them.
Operating cadenceExecutive supportGovernance
Impact Terra · Head of Operations
Running product, data, and delivery at a 60,000-user platform
The callRun day-to-day operations across product, data, and delivery, with five direct reports leading a 25-person function; plan sprints and priorities with the product team; and redesign processes around the data.
WhyIn a high-risk frontier market, farmer, partner, and operational feedback had to reach the product quickly.
What happened60,000+ users, Golden Paddy Crop Insights launched as a B2B SaaS product with Wageningen University & Research, and operating margins up c.10%.
Platform operationsProduct collaborationFrontier markets
