HOW TO GROW IN YOUR CAREER EP 251

D Narain | President, South Asia, and Global Head of Smallholder Farmingfor Bayer. As President for South Asia, D oversees Bayer’s Life Science business operations acrossIndia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, and as Global Head of Smallholder Farming, he leads theefforts focused on providing holistic and innovative solutions for farmers in developing economies toenable them to grow their farms into sustainable businesses.D has more than 3 decades of global experience in the Food and Agriculture sector, havingleadership roles in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. He is a passionate advocate of transformingSmallholder Agriculture globally to improve livelihoods and foster rural development throughbuilding and scaling socially focused commercial enterprises. He has also been a pioneer in bringinginnovative financing and risk management solutions to farmers across the world.He started his career with ITC in India and was part of the team that spearheaded ITC’s entry intoAgribusiness. In 1998, he joined Monsanto as Chief Financial Officer for the India Region and held various global Finance and Commercial roles worldwide. In 2015 he was namedMonsanto’s Executive Officer & Treasurer at its global headquarters in St. Louis, USA. Passionateabout driving leadership and organisation development including inclusion and diversity, D hasmentored hundreds of leaders across functions throughout his career. In 2017, he was named as one ofthe top Diverse Business Leaders by the St Louis Business Journal for his continued focus onexpanding the impact of inclusion and maximizing a growing diverse workforce within Monsanto andin the community. Post-acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer in 2018, D took over his current role, steeringthe integration of Monsanto with Bayer in the region, resulting in a significant acceleration in businessgrowth. He is also a Chartered Accountant.He holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Madras in Chennai, India, and anMBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA.