OUR CHANGEMAKERS

ANKESH SHAHRA

Ankesh Shahra is the Founder and Managing Director of Agrimax Ventures. As an entrepreneur working in the food and agricultural sector for over 20 years, his passion lies in learning and adapting innovative technologies and bringing them to life at a grassroots level. His interest in the dynamics and economics of Agriculture and associated markets began when he was interning with brokers in Chicago and Buenos Aires.

While studying in Singapore, he started his first venture that involved building a proprietary global grains and oilseeds trading platform that focused on value trading and arbitrage, using crop-cutting experiments as the primary tool for fundamental research. To improve the quality of trading information, he also successfully developed an in-house research platform that used a combination of quantitative modelling, satellite imagery and crop cutting experiments to be able to predict global weather patterns and their impact on agricultural yields. Ankesh also spent a considerable amount of time from 2010 - 2013 working on greenfield plantation development in Indonesia, Madagascar, Ethiopia and Cambodia. These included developing projects for producing Oil palm, Soybeans, Corn, Cotton and Groundnuts.

With this experience of emerging market farming, yield uncertainties, shifting global grains and oilseeds trade flows and climate change induced weather disruptions, Ankesh set up a seed company in 2013, to provide emerging market farmers with superior seed varieties in order to protect their yields from increasing uncertainties. It was founded to research and develop high-yielding, climate resistant seeds for the Indian and global markets. The Company is now delivering their high yielding varieties in Soybeans, Chickpeas, Wheat, Mung-Beans, Paddy and various Vegetables (Okra, Tomatoes, Chillies, Gourds) to emerging market farmers in Asia. Ankesh serves on the Board of Directors and Agrimax Ventures is the largest shareholder.

In 2016, Ankesh founded Agrimax Ventures in Singapore, to focus on consolidating solutions that can bridge farming inefficiencies globally. In conjunction with its long-term goals, Agrimax develops, operates and/or invests in businesses that can turnaround imbalances in the food and agricultural input space.

SEAN ONG LAY KIAN

Sean Ong is a Director at Agrimax Ventures, bringing more than 25 years of hands-on experience in building, scaling, and steering operations across technology and food systems. A calm operator in complex environments, Sean blends strategic thinking with roll-up-the-sleeves execution—equally at home in the boardroom and on the factory floor.

He began his leadership journey in enterprise technology, where he led Just Commodity Software Solutions through a seven-year transformation culminating in a successful buyout. Under his guidance, the company grew into one of the leading risk-management technology platforms for food and agriculture businesses, navigating shifting markets, demanding implementations, and rigorous compliance to deliver reliable, real-world outcomes.

Sean then served as VP–Operations at VertiVegies—a subsidiary of Agrimax Ventures and one of Singapore’s premier controlled-environment farming companies. There, he helped operationalize a nascent sector and developed Singapore’s largest controlled-environment farm for a client, translating vision into scalable infrastructure and measurable productivity. His portfolio also includes project management across India, the Maldives, and Dubai, partnering with government agencies, aligning stakeholder interests, and managing investor expectations with clarity and accountability.

Today, Sean leads operations at Agrimax Ventures, channeling his cross-functional expertise—from digital systems and risk controls to supply-chain orchestration and regulatory navigation—into the company’s mission and long-term vision. An avid spotter of disruptive technologies, he actively engages with passionate founders who are redefining the future of food and agriculture.

Based between Singapore and Indonesia, Sean remains approachable, curious, and community-minded. If you’re building at the intersection of food, farming, and technology, he’s always up for a conversation.