The results of the elections for our new leadership team have been announced at our recent Annual General Meeting.

Mr Ahmed Elbosaty (Chairman & Managing Director, Modern Nile Cotton Company) takes on the role of ICA President. Ahmed will be supported by Mr Mohit Shah (Director, Gill & Co) as First Vice President and Mr Jean-Marc Derossis (Managing Director, Plexus Cotton Ltd) as Second Vice President, who re-joins the board this year. Also re-joining the board is Mr Jamie Welsh (Owner, DJ Welsh Consulting) and new to the board is Mr Richard Pollard (Senior Trader, Ecom Agroindustrial Asia Ltd).
Now consisting of 22 members, representing 14 countries, the new board line-up continues to represent our global membership across all sectors of the supply chain and builds on our goal to engage the entire cotton community.
On accepting the role of President, Ahmed said: “ICA’s fate and direction is not about its president, it is about a common vision shared by its entire board, its past presidents, its management and, most importantly, its members. As president, I see myself as ‘captain’, ready to sail a vessel with the destination set by our common vision.
“ICA’s ultimate goal is to provide a safer trading environment. One way we can do this is through membership, making sure it encompasses everyone along the value chain. Membership cannot be viewed as an exclusive club or a group of cotton merchants – it isn’t, we now have membership categories for all firms. It cannot be viewed purely to serve the interests of the big merchants – it doesn’t, I represent a small trading house out of Egypt. It is not about being English or European – I am African, the Vice President is Indian and our board is truly international. I know that my role as ICA President is not going to be easy, but I promise to follow in the footsteps of previous presidents and preserve the values of the ICA.”
Ahmed joined our Board of Directors in 2007 and was nominated as ICA Second Vice President in 2010. Based in Egypt, he began his cotton career at Modern Nile Cotton Company, whilst studying for his BA in Economics and Political Science at Cairo’s American University. Since then he has assumed several roles at Modern Nile – including Export Manager, Commercial Director, General Manager and Managing Director – and is now Chairman & Managing Director.
Ahmed is an active member of the cotton value chain and serves on the board of a number of companies. He is the current President of the Alexandria Cotton Exporters Association (ALCOTEXA) and a board member of several Egyptian foreign joint business councils, including the Indian-Egyptian, Chinese-Egyptian and Russian-Egyptian Council.