Aelea Commodities Limited

Incorporated in 2018, as Aelea Commodities Limited (erstwhile known as Aelea Commodities Pvt. Ltd.), is engaged in business of Agro commodities viz. processing of Raw Cashew Nuts and trading of Sugar, Rice, Wheat Flour, Pulses, Beans, Vegetables etc. Promoters are associated with the Agro commodities trading & processing sector for more than a decade. The company has created a good market reputation and credibility with its suppliers and customers. Since the promoters are season professional of Agri Commodities sector group is aware of all the pros and cons of the industry.

Promoters are associated with the Agri Industry for over 10 years. In this period, the Company intends to create a good market reputation and credibility among the existing suppliers as well as customers of Aelea Commodities. Being in the line of Agri Commodity Trading since long the group is aware of all the pros and cons of the industry. Aelea Commodities have built up a reputation as a reliable supplier to all the existing customers Promoters are associated with the Agri Industry for over 10 years. In this period, the Company intends to create a good market reputation and credibility among the existing suppliers as well as customers of Aelea Commodities. Being in the line of Agri Commodity Trading since long the group is aware of all the pros and cons of the industry. Aelea Commodities have built up a reputation as a reliable supplier to all the existing customers

Aspiration

Being end to end player in value chain for chosen Agri commodities
Build significance in trading of chosen Agri commodities.

Pillars of Business:

Preferential access
logistical efficiency
capital efficiency
end to end value chain

arena:

customers - Industrial consumers to Retail outlets.
chennel -Brokers, Agents and Direct Sales.
products -Sugar, Pulses, & Beans, Coffee Beans and Cashew Nuts.
geography - asia and africa
Origination -Farm gate & Quality Producers

strengths

Aggregation at Origins and Sales in destination markets.
Risk Management
Information harnessing and knowledge management for business decision making.

Business Model

Aelea Commodities Limited is currently focusing on trading of Sugar, Wheat Flour, Rice, Maida and Cashews in India.

The Cashew nuts are mostly originated from Africa and sold in India. The company have processed more than 6000 MT of raw cashews each year of operation.
Sugar is sourced from various mills and ACPL sell their product mostly to large corporates. ACPL primarily is trading back to back basis approximately 2,000 MT of sugar every month.
ACPL deals only in physical commodities i.e. Agri. commodities are bought and sold on back to back basis, so there is no risk of price fluctuation.

Promoters Profile

The Promoters are professional and enthusiastic, with good market reputation and competence and are associated with this industry since many years. They are successfully handling their existing business affairs over the years with sound business and management policy and are achieving new heights of success in the industry over the period of time. Today the promoters are enjoying good market standing and reputation

Hozefa Jawadwala -Managing Director

Mr. Hozefa Jawadwala – Managing Director, is a Chartered Accountant and having experience in Financial Management, Treasury, Mergers and Acquisition, SAP Implementation, Fund Raising and Multi-Cultural team management. He has worked with Bank of America, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank till 2007. After that he joined ACC Concrete Ltd as Associate General Manager looking after Compliance/ Audits & Projects. He worked there till 2010. After that he joined Olam International Ltd as CFO working in Ivory Coast, from there he moved to London in same company as Director Integration of Cocoa Division (including Cashew Processing). He worked with OLAM till 2015. After that he joined ED&F MAN as Finance Controller at Mumbai Location, he was heading their SUGAR division. There he gained through understanding of Sugar Trade. After that he joined Tata International Ltd as Business, Finance & Accounts Head of their Agri Division. He was looking after Vietnam, India & Africa operations of the company. He was trading in Cashew Processing, Pulses, Sugar, Soybean & Raw Cashew. He was with TIL till May 2019. He has over 10 years of experience in Agri based industry and have intricate knowledge of the Industry. Key areas of expertise include:

Country CFO for past 5 years with Country turnover in excess of USD 1 billion.
Experience of working in different sectors, FMCG, Agri commodities, Cement and Banking & Financial services.
Experience of Fund Raising of USD 30 million in Western African Regional Stock exchange.

He is looking after overall business of the company and mainly focusing on business expansion, customer acquisition and negotiation with suppliers.

Ashok Patel, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Ashok Patel - Chief Financial Officer, is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Commerce Graduate from Calcutta University. He is having 20 years of experience into the field of Finance, Credit, and Project Funding etc. He has managed business operation, handled profit centres for Corporates, Financial and Operational Control, Business expansion through various channels and network. His experience includes working in HDB Financial Services Ltd., Landmark Group – Saudi Arabia, ICICI Bank and Surat Electrical Company Ltd.

Firoz Hathiyari, Non Executive Director

Shri Firoz Hathiyari is the Director of Aelea Commodities Ltd. and is a renowned practicing Chartered Accountant from Mumbai and having 25 plus years of experience into the field of Accounting, Auditing, Taxation and Project funding, Treasury, Merger & Acquisition, SAP Implementation, Fund Raising, Multi-Cultural Team Management and Management Consulting. His work experience spans from Olam International Ltd. In London as Director, Integration; ACC Concrete Ltd., Mumbai; Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of America and Aneja Associates. He has completed his B.Com. from K.P B Hinduja College, Mumbai, Mumbai University and is also a Certified Financial Risk Manager from GARP (USA). He looks after Business Development and Compliance related matters of the Company.

Cashew processing is multi-stage process with value addition at each stage. Every step in the cashew processing right from harvesting till packaging/storage is critical and impacts on overall quality and shelf life of Cashew. These steps are briefly discussed below.

SUN-DRYING: Once the cashew nuts are separated from Cashew apple, they are spread on the platform to expose them to sunlight. This is done for a day or two depending on the weather and moisture content in Raw Cashew nuts. Exposure to sunlight turns the cashew nuts brown and is sign that moisture in Cashew nuts has reduced to 7-8% and are completely dried. This also helps to reduce the oil content in shell. Post drying, RCNs are stored in gunny bags till further processing.

GRADING:Raw Cashews are graded for sizes to using sizing machine. This helps in even cutting of nuts after roasting. Trays are used to collect Cashews of different sizes.

ROASTING: Roasting is carried out by steam roasting process for 20 minutes at temperature of 90° C.

COOLING AND DRYING: Once the raw nuts are roasted, they are taken into separate room and are spread on the floor. Roasted nuts are cooled for 2-3 days and then sent for next cutting.

CUTTING AND SHELLING: Roasted and cooled nuts are fed into cutting machines to separate kernels from the shells. Cutting can be done by manual labours or semi-automatic machine or automatic machine. Skilled labours are required to get maximum unbroken kernel output. This process is entirely handled by women labours. The cashews nuts are then manually removed from the shell. Un-cut cashews are sent back to cutting machine.

DRYING CASHEW NUTS: The cut cashews are then dried in hot chamber for 8 hours with temperature of 81° C. Post this; nuts are cooled for one day.

HUMIDIFICATION:Nuts are either exposed atmospheric or artificial humidity to increase the moisture content from 3% to 5%. This is done to make nuts less fragile to minimize the risk of breakage during transport.

PEELING: The inner shell of kernel has to be removed to get while cashews nuts. This is done by using automatic peeling machine and skipped nuts are peeled manually by using knife.

GRADING: The whole cashew and pieces are graded based on colour, size and texture. The wholes are graded into 15 grades while pieces are graded into 9 grades.

CLEANING: Graded cashews are cleaned for dust and metal using blower and metal detectors before final packaging.