Vp – business unit head (food ingredients) - onwo

Kae Capital · India

VP – Business Unit Head (Food Ingredients)

Location: India (Global Exposure)

Reporting to: Founder / CEO Role

Type: Full P& L Ownership | Platform Creation | Entrepreneurial Leadership

ABOUT THE ROLE

ONWO is building a next-generation food ingredients company with a sharp focus on sweeteners and adjacent ingredient categories. Our ambition is not to build another trading or distribution company, but to create a globally relevant ingredients platform that combines sourcing, formulation, processing, strategic partnerships, contract manufacturing, acquisitions, and innovation. This is not a distribution leadership role. This is a build-from-zero opportunity for an entrepreneurial leader who can create a category-defining food ingredients business through a combination of trading, sourcing, processing, partnerships, acquisitions, and capability building. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to build a generational business with significant autonomy, direct access to founders and investors, and meaningful long-term wealth creation potential.

ROLE PURPOSE

To build and scale ONWO's Sweeteners & Food Ingredients Platform into a market-leading business with full responsibility for strategy, growth, profitability, capability creation, capital allocation, partnerships, and long-term value creation. The role owner will define which capabilities should be owned, partnered, acquired, or developed over time while building a scalable and profitable business model with global relevance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. PLATFORM STRATEGY & BUSINESS CREATION

• Develop and execute the long-term vision for ONWO's Food Ingredients Platform

• Identify attractive ingredient categories, adjacencies, and growth opportunities

• Build a differentiated market position beyond traditional trading and distribution

• Develop a roadmap for scaling the business into a leading ingredients company

• Define strategic priorities across sourcing, manufacturing, applications, innovation, and market development.

2. PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT

• Build and expand the sweeteners portfolio including sugar, invert sugar, liquid sweeteners, specialty sweeteners, and value-added ingredient solutions.

• Drive expansion into adjacent categories including starches, dairy ingredients, functional ingredients, and specialty food ingredients.

• Develop proprietary products, formulations, blends, and ingredient systems.

• Build category leadership through innovation and customer-centric solutions.

3. CAPABILITY BUILDING

• Build technical, commercial, sourcing, application, and supply chain capabilities.

• Establish application development, product management, and customer solution capabilities.

• Develop scalable operating systems, processes, and organisational structures.

• Create long-term competitive advantages through capability creation.

4. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS & ASSET-LIGHT SCALING

• Develop and manage strategic partnerships with manufacturers, processors, technology providers, and global suppliers

• Build contract manufacturing, toll processing, and outsourcing ecosystems

• Evaluate build-versus-partner decisions across the value chain

• Create scalable asset-light growth models while maintaining operational control and quality standards.

5. SOURCING, COMMERCIAL & MARKET DEVELOPMENT

• Build domestic and international sourcing relationships

• Develop customer relationships across food manufacturers, FMCG companies, foodservice, industrial users, and export markets

• Own pricing, margins, commercial strategy, and market expansion.

• Build strong supplier and customer ecosystems globally.

6. CAPITAL ALLOCATION & VALUE CREATION

• Manage working capital, inventory, cash flow, and business investments

• Evaluate manufacturing opportunities, acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic investments.

• Drive capital-efficient growth and maximise return on invested capital.

• Ensure strong EBITDA growth and long-term value creation.

Experience

• 15–20 years of relevant experience in food ingredients, specialty ingredients, sweeteners, agribusiness, food processing, ingredient manufacturing, or related sectors

• Demonstrated experience building, scaling, or transforming a business unit or platform.

• Proven P& L ownership with responsibility for growth, profitability, and capital allocation

• Experience managing commodity volatility, working capital, inventory risk, and margin protection • Exposure to contract manufacturing, processing, manufacturing operations, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships is highly desirable.

Capabilities

• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong builder orientation

• Exceptional commercial and strategic thinking capability

• Deep understanding of food ingredient value chains and economics

• Strong understanding of manufacturing, processing, and asset-light business models

• Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with hands-on execution

• Excellent leadership, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills

• High ownership, resilience, and execution intensity

SUCCESS METRICS (FIRST 36 MONTHS)

• Build a high-growth food ingredients platform with strong market positioning

• Establish leadership in sweeteners and selected adjacent ingredient categories

• Create a diversified and profitable portfolio of ingredient businesses

• Develop strategic manufacturing and processing partnerships

• Build proprietary products and differentiated customer solutions

• Achieve strong EBITDA growth, cash generation, and capital efficiency

• Build an organisation capable of scaling into a ₹1,000+ crore platform over time

• Establish a clear roadmap toward becoming a globally relevant food ingredients company

WHY THIS ROLE IS UNIQUE

• Opportunity to build a category-defining food ingredients platform from inception

• Direct partnership with founders and investors

• Freedom to shape strategy, organisation, and growth agenda

• Potential to evolve into CEO of a global ingredients enterprise

• Significant long-term wealth creation opportunity through value creation and scale

• Chance to build a generational business with lasting industry impact COMPENSATION

• Competitive fixed compensation

• Significant performance-linked incentives tied to EBITDA, cash flow, and value creation

• Long-term wealth creation through ESOPs, profit sharing, and platform value appreciation

• Entrepreneurial upside aligned with long-term business success.

COMPENSATION

• Competitive fixed compensation

• Significant performance-linked incentives tied to EBITDA, cash flow, and value creation

• Long-term wealth creation through ESOPs, profit sharing, and platform value appreciation

• Entrepreneurial upside aligned with long-term business success