Mark Burdett

Experience

• 

  Pannar Seed Malawi Limited

  Aug 2010 - Dec 2011

  Country Operations Manager

  • This role involved complete management of the seed farm as well as management of factory and operations right from the development stage. First of all I was involved in the logistics and facilitation of the building of the seed handling factory in Lilongwe.• I also managed the logistics and operations for moving the administration office from Blantyre to Lilongwe.• Implementation of the opening and start of the factory operations.• Control of all company logistics including transport of unprocessed seed to the factory as well as processed seed to the market place. Monitoring of all geo-tab data and management of transport fleet.• Management & continuous training of Sales team which included mobile sales representatives.• Control & management of the seed farm continued as outlined below in my previous position. • Development and management of all Demonstration sites and trials sites, from layouts to completion continued and increased during this phase – with a goal towards marketing and educating farmers about the benefits & importance of introducing strong hybrid varieties in to their farming programs. Show less

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  Syringa Enterprises

  Feb 2012 - Jun 2014

  General Manager

  • Management of all farming operations including production, Human Resources, Project & Farm Development as well as administration. Under my management the farm produced the following:1. 400Ha of Irrigated Winter Wheat and Barley2. 300 Ha of Soya Beans3. 80 Ha of Seed Maize4. Management of cattle herd – at 2300 head when I left.5. 90 Ha of Rye Grass for 2300 Cattle6. 260 Ha of Dryland Giant Rhodes Grass pastures• We embarked on a large amount of rapid development. Development is a strength of mine and I was extremely proud of the progress we made. Our developments under my management were as follows:1. Built from scratch a 3.6 million cube dam. This included management of the actual building as well as obtaining Environmental Impact Assessments and ensuring conformity to government requirements. This was invaluable experience within the Zambian Context. 2. Put in 3 complete irrigation schemes: 6 pivots (5 statics and 1 towable), 3 transformers, 1 night storage dam, 9kms of pipeline and underground cable, cleared land to crop on 340Ha and when I had left we had completed land clearing a further 100Ha for 2 more pivots.3. Built Grain storage facilities.4. Continuous building and development of workers houses and workers amenities. 5. Built a Cattle Managers House & new Cattle handling facilities. This was required urgently as – under my management we had grown the cattle section to so large that new facilities and a specific livestock manager became necessary. 6. My final development project was that I designed an office/admin block for the farm. Building of this was due to commence when I left Show less

• 

  Ingulube Farming Ltd

  Jun 2014 - Jul 2020

  Managing Director

  - I started this business From green field- Manage the finance, budgets and cash-flow- 2017 Had a total turnover of $1 230 000- I personally hand-picked and trained a core-management team that grew to 8 people. This team functioned at such an optimum level that business matters, human resources and social responsibility obligations all happened efficiently and effectively.- I trained our Human Resources Manager personally. At peak; the company employed 450 people and this department ran remarkably well under very difficult circumstances.- Manage all production and supply contracts.- I personally built and developed all financial & budgeting systems as well as reporting structures.- Implement and oversee the development of all the IT systems required for the successful day to day running of the company.- Implement and develop all company policies, (internal and trading) Show less

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  Cochrane Steel

  Jun 2017 - Feb 2020

  Regional/Country Manager

  • Management of all sections of the farming company from HR & Training to production & marketing as well as administration and Government compliance. I also developed and managed an environmental planning and sustainability program for the business• Development of sustainable workers amenities and welfare and training at the workplace for the benefit of long term sustainability of the business and its employees. This has included the training and placement of a “Malaria extension officer” who is responsible for spraying programs in and around the workers village as well as doing malaria tests and providing treatments and in finality recording & reporting data back to the local Malaria initiative.• Implementation and set up of administration of accounts and administration department for the efficient, viable and compliant running of the business.• The building and implementation of systems for taking care of our environment: this included planting trees, safe management of raw sewage, disposal of chemical containers, efficient use of water for both staff, animals and crops. This program also included staff education and training for long term environmental sustainability. Show less

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  RADX Construction

  Feb 2023 - now

  Group General Manager