Lichtenburg Nut Company Business Plan — Management and Organisation

The management, technical and operations establishment supporting an integrated processing business.

Section 16 of 37

Management and Organisation

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15.1 Required executive capability

The company does not yet have an assembled management team. Rather than describe hypothetical individuals, this section specifies the capability that must be recruited and the compensation provided for in the model. Investors should treat the completion of these appointments as a condition precedent.

Table 37. Executive team specification

Role	Non-negotiable experience	Principal accountabilities	Cost (Yr 1 real)
Managing Director	Twelve or more years in South African food manufacturing, including profit and loss ownership of a plant above 3,000 tonnes and direct experience of national retailer negotiation	Commercial strategy, retailer relationships, board reporting, capital discipline	R1.35m
Finance Director	Chartered accountant with manufacturing costing experience and a track record of managing a working capital facility through a seasonal cycle	Financial control, treasury, covenant compliance, APSS claims, investor reporting	R1.05m
Operations Manager	Ten or more years running a food processing plant; commissioning experience is essential given the greenfield build	Production, maintenance, engineering, utilities, health and safety	R0.95m
Quality and Food Safety Manager	Food science qualification; FSSC 22000 lead implementer; direct experience of mycotoxin management in nuts or grain	The entire control architecture in Section 14; certification; recall readiness	R0.85m
Commercial Manager	Eight or more years in food sales with existing relationships across national retail and industrial channels	Account acquisition and management, pricing, trade spend, own brand launch	R0.85m
Supply Chain and Procurement Manager	Agricultural commodity procurement experience; understanding of the groundnut marketing season	Grower contracting, intake planning, inventory position, logistics	R0.78m

Costs are fully loaded annual packages in Year 1 real terms, escalated at 5.5% a year in the model. The quality manager appointment is the one that should not be compromised on cost.

15.2 Governance

Table 38. Governance structure

Body	Composition	Frequency	Mandate
Board of directors	Independent non-executive chair, two lead investor nominees, one development finance nominee, managing director, finance director	Bi-monthly in Years 1 to 2, then quarterly	Strategy, capital allocation, executive appointment, risk appetite
Audit and risk committee	Two non-executives, chaired by an independent; finance director in attendance	Quarterly	Financial reporting, external audit, covenant compliance, the risk register in Section 18
Food safety and quality committee	Managing director, quality manager, operations manager, one non-executive	Monthly in Years 1 to 3, then quarterly	Aflatoxin performance, non-conformance trends, recall readiness, certification status
Social and ethics committee	As required by the Companies Act	Half-yearly	Employment equity, grower programme, community and environmental performance
Executive committee	The six executives in Section 15.1	Weekly	Operational delivery against the dashboard in Section 32

15.3 Incentives

Management holds 10% of the equity at close, acquired for R8.0 million in cash. A further 5% is reserved for a management incentive scheme vesting against three conditions measured at the end of Operating Year 5: cumulative EBITDA of at least 90% of plan; no aflatoxin-related product recall; and net debt to EBITDA below 2.5 times. Weighting these three conditions rather than EBITDA alone is deliberate, a scheme that rewards volume alone would encourage exactly the tender-at-any-price behaviour that Section 11.3 identifies as the greatest threat to margin.