Summary

Develop commercial partnerships and Joint Venture Agreements with companies for development of commercial assets for Topian. Conduct market analyses, analyzing both product lines and overall profitability. Develop business cases to ensure viability of projects and partnerships. Negotiate terms with commercial partners and secure internal approvals necessary. Execute commercial agreements.

Key Accountabilities And Responsibilities

Introduction

NEOM aims at providing opportunities for people to live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives, while sustainably using the natural resources upon which they depend. NEOM partners with governments, local and international businesses, and knowledge institutes to transform ideas into policy, policy into action, and action into impact. NEOM uses its technical knowledge and experience, passionate staff, local presence, and global influence to make a lasting difference in people’s livability, especially in desert-like conditions in a world facing climate change.

Topian is NEOM’s food business. Our vison is to create ‘a global community with food at its heart, harnessing innovation to nourish both people and planet and guaranteeing food security for generations to come’. We aim to produce quality food sustainably, providing food security for NEOM and producing food that is better for the individual and the planet. To deliver this vision we are organized into 5 Business Units

Climate Proof Agriculture

Regenerative Aquaculture

Alternative Protein

Personalized Nutrition

Sustainable Food Supply

By doing this we aim to create a leading food business of significant scale by 2030.

Our Business Development team focusses on engaging with and securing commercial agreements with partners who can accelerate Topian’s growth by investing knowledge, resources and capital.

Responsibilities

Position description and responsibilities

• Work with Business Units to understand their strategy and identify commercial partnerships required
• Identify long list and short list of potential partners, verified by credible industry third parties
• Establish criteria for company selection that include financial stability, technological readiness, product differentiation, safety and quality standards, as well as impact in significantly contributing towards reaching Topian’s security goals
• Assess feasibility of, and budgets required, to establish companies at NEOM and support their initial and projected market activities
• Identify key needs (infrastructure, talent pool, etc.) in incentivizing companies to establish at NEOM and in ensuring market take-off. Partner with other tenant attraction stakeholders to draft and communicate effective incentive packages for agriculture related companies of interest
• Negotiate commercial agreement with selected partner organization to achieve win-win agreements, leading to co-investment and Joint Venture companies being set up
• Deliver internal presentations and business cases to enable internal Topian and NEOM approvals for recommended investments
• Work cross functionally with Business units, Finance, Legal, Entities governance and other stakeholders to ensure support for projects.
• Attend relevant industry meetings to maintain and expand current knowledge base on relevant food topics in Middle East.
• Build and maintain a partner engagement pipeline, CRM (customer relations management) tooling, and conduct industry scouting/research as necessary
  
  

Background, Skills

• Passion for NEOM’s and Topian’s mission in adopting the most innovative and meaningful trends in food technologies that can be leveraged to enhance sustainable and environmentally sensitive food production, support export initiatives, and provide the NEOM population with healthy, nutritious, and safe food
• Prior experience in a fast-paced international business development role ideally within the food industry
• Strong financial background and experience of negotiating complex commercial agreements
• Demonstrable experience of managing senior internal stakeholders and securing approvals for major projects
• Prior experience working with consultancy agencies and managing external projects
• Strong networking skills and willingness to initiate engagement with internal and external stakeholders
• Proven team-player with a minimum of 7 years’ experience contributing to multidisciplinary teams
• Highly effective communicator with strong oral and written presentation skills
  
  

Qualifications

• Minimum: Bachelor's Degree in Business and/or food related field. Preference will be given to candidates combining qualifications in business and food. Experience in a multicultural environment is a plus.