TELEPORTING would be Belinda Turner’s super power of choice.
The ability to travel in an instant would help the chief financial officer of Queensland’s biggest grain exporting company, Nidera Australia, straddle the demands of her corporate career with her commitment to her family’s farm at Inverell.
“In July I had a week of meetings in Singapore then I flew to Melbourne to the Australian Grains Industry Conference followed by another couple of flights to make it home for mum and dad’s annual on-farm bull sale. A teleporter would have been wonderful that week,” Ms Turner said.
The eldest of three girls, she is a key partner in the mixed-farming operation, “Marble Hall”, home to their Angus stud “Swanbrook”.
The Toowoomba-based executive began with Nidera Australia six years ago, around the time it started a joint venture with PentAg Commodities. Today the company (majority owned by COFCO) turns over $1 billion a year which includes more than four million tonnes of grain traded in all Australian and multiple international markets.
Earlier this week COFCO reached a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining minority stake in Nidera currently held by Cygne. The closing transaction is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of the year.
“We were already part of a top ten global commodity organisation but COFCO has linked us to some of the biggest demand points in the world. Our regional focus has been on how Nidera can add to COFCO’s global footprint, not just the China story. Right now we’re looking at how we can develop markets in South East Asia because we can see exciting things happening in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam,” she said.
Ms Turner has spent the majority of her career in the bulk grain sector but that wasn’t always the plan. When completing her final year of school at New England Girls’ School (NEGS) in Armidale she dreamed of a career in the live cattle trade.
“It was the late ‘90s and steers were going live to Japan for the first time. I was studying Japanese and had visited so I thought connecting the two in my career would be ideal.”
She studied a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Sydney and thrived on campus at The Women’s College.
After a short stint at KMPG she found her feet working for a number of grain co-operatives and developed a keen interest in risk management and pool accounting.
She had her sights set on the CFO’s job at the Australian Wheat Board and knew she would need to become a chartered accountant. That she did but when a chance to start a consulting business with a good friend arose, she took it.
The pair “trooped around the East Coast” consulting to medium-sized grain traders but wrapped up after 18 months having both landed job offers from clients, hers being Nidera.
Ms Turner has completed a post graduate agribusiness degree through Marcus Oldham, an Executive Masters of Business Administration through Melbourne Business School and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.