In memory of a departed friend, advisor and mentor

The NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies has lost a key pillar of support. Ranveer Chauhan, was only 59 when he unexpectedly passed away earlier this month in Singapore. He was the Chairman of the Advisory Board and someone who I often turned to for counsel. Although he had been somewhat physically incapacitated since going through an invasive surgery to remove a brain tumour last year, he had been keeping himself busy networking with people over tea and coffee. His favourite place was P.S Café at Great World City. Always sharp and witty, Ranveer loved connecting people, investing in promising business ideas and, dispensing advice. I certainly benefitted much from the latter. To me Ranveer was more than an advisor. He was also a close friend and someone whom I saw as a mentor. So, when the news of his departure arrived, I rushed back from India, where I had gone to see my mother. Not that there was anything that I could do to prevent what had already happened, but I had to say farewell.

At his funeral were a galaxy of family, friends and associates whose lives he had touched in one way or another. Among them, his bereaved family – wife and two grown up children. My greatest honour was to be invited to help carry his casket on my shoulders from the entrance of the crematorium to the prayer hall, where he was given the last rites according to Hindu customs. A sombre, grim and moving experience. I will never forget the sight of his distraught wife and partner Anubha. She was the centre of his universe. Together they made a life for themselves and their kids in three different geographies – South Asia, West Africa and eventually South-East Asia.

Amit Jain with Ranveer Chauhan and his partner Anubha.

For much of his career Ranveer served as a business development executive with Olam, a leading agribusiness firm. That is when I first met him. I was tasked by the World Bank to attract private sector investors from Asia in agricultural special economic zone in Burkina Faso and Ranveer responded to my pitch by assigning his regional manager to participate in the investor conference in Ouagadougou. He joined Olam in Nigeria back in 1993 procuring cashew, cotton, shea nuts and cocoa. Briefly leaving the firm in 1997, he rejoined a year later and grew its commodity procurement business across West Africa, eventually becoming the global business head for edible oils and natural rubber managing a portfolio of over US$1bn. During his more than two decades long career at Olam Ranveer acquired extensive field experience building the agribusiness supply chain across West Africa and established a deep connection with smallholders on whose sweat and toil stands the US$3.3trn global agribusiness market. This is something he was acutely aware of until his dying breath. He was born in India, but his heart was in Africa. An admirer of the Singapore-model of governance, he remained an advocate of free market and private sector-led growth in Africa. 

Ranveer leaves behind a legacy of Afro-optimism that is sweeping quietly across Asia. It may be fitting to set up a scholarship or distinguished visitor lecture series in his name at the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies. Reach out to me at [email protected] if you would like to support this tribute to a departed dear friend and guide.

Amit Jain
Dir. NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies