THE OWNER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Dr. Nerlita M. Manalili an agribusiness and strategic planning consultant in the region, owns and manages NEXUS Agribusiness Solutions. Prior to consulting stint, she has more than 30 years of agribusiness development work that cuts across organizations (government, academe, regional research institutions and International NGO) and through varying capacities as chief planning officer, program proponent and implementer; research and development manager, market access advisor, capacity developer and Asia Pacific representative to global and regional initiatives.
Dr. Manalili has both the academic preparations and field exposure in agribusiness development. She holds an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Business and graduate degrees in Business Administration- MBA and DBA all from the University of the Philippines (Los Baños and Diliman Campuses). She was a Doctoral Fellow of the Peace and Happiness for Prosperity (PHP), the research arm of the Matshushita Group of Companies of Japan.
Her previous full time posts include a) Regional Adviser for Asia on market access for VREDESEILANDEN, a Belgian NGO into sustainable livelihoods for organized family farmers with duty station in Bali Indonesia, b) R&D manager of the Philippine based SEAMEO SEARCA, c) Graduate faculty member of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and d) Chief Planning Officer of a World Bank funded Integrated Area Development Project (IAD).
Among her involvement in global and regional initiatives while concurrently holding full time jobs are as follows:
Spokesperson Southern Advisory Group (SAG) of the European Research Area- Agricultural Research for Development (ERA ARD), a network of 14 European countries on agricultural research for development, under the ERA NET Framework of the European Commission and as concurrent representative of Asia Pacific through the endorsement of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institute (APAARI), 2007-2010. The SAG is a 10 member group of regional representatives from the South.
Coordinator for Asia and Co Proponent Europe-Asia Master Program and Executive Training for Food Industry in partnership with CIRAD of France and in collaboration with Kasetsart Univesity of Thailand, The Wageningen University of the Netherlands, NRI of the Greenwich University of United Kingdom, 2003 to 2005
Coordinator for Southeast Asia Regoverning Market Project of the International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED, UK) and with financial support from Fund for International Development (DFID). Regoverning market was a multi-regional, 16 countries collaborative research project analyzing a) growing concentration in the processing and retail sectors of national/regional agri-food systems and their impacts and implications for rural livelihoods and communities, b) the role of primary producers/ their economic organizations in negotiating market access and improving terms of trade in specific agricultural supply chains
Proponent and Project Leader Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded project on Curriculum development “Technical Assistance in Agricultural Entrepreneurship for Lao PDR, in partnership with The University of Guelph, Canada and with Study tour in Chiang Mai University in Thailand and other Universities in the Philippines