NKG Holding “who is who”: Treasury Department of Neumann Gruppe
NKG Holding “who is who”: Treasury Department of Neumann Gruppe
Meet the Treasury team:
Mirja Lyke, Heiko Steppack, Jaap Braaksma and Kannathal Lakshmanan (f.l.t.r.)
The Treasury Department is one of the departments that has undergone a significant transformation in recent years along with the digitization of many processes. Once being very transactional and Hamburg-focused, Treasury is now more strategic and acts as a partner and service provider within NKG worldwide. Greater cooperation and collaboration with other departments and functions is now leading to a stronger finance function overall, also thanks to mutual trust, as Heiko Steppack, Head of Group Treasury underlines. “Our overall goal is to facilitate a stronger alignment between NKG’s finance functions – both in Hamburg and between the Treasuries worldwide,” he explains. “In addition, we want to ensure the transfer of knowledge to and within the group and make sure that banks and investors have access to the information they need. All in all, this should ensure the financial stability of the group.”
Treasury is the place to go for anything to do with treasury or corporate finance: banking or cash management issues, questions about our treasury IT landscape, and questions about risk management in FX, interest or payment fraud.
But it is not just about crunching numbers. “Treasury is a very versatile function. The issues we deal with are constantly changing and evolving. This applies to technical changes in systems and banking as well as regulatory changes that we have to deal with, or finding ways to add value to the business,” says Mirja Lyke, Group Treasury Manager. “There is daily business – but it doesn’t take up most of our time. The goal is to have a day-to-day business that does not require a lot of manual input. We aim for a high degree of automation so that we can use our time for more value-adding tasks.”
Team Treasury brings together a number of different backgrounds, both educational and cultural, making the team itself very diverse. Kannathal Lakshmanan, Group Treasury Manager, tells us: “We are a small team of just four, but we manage to cover all aspects of treasury. In this small team, we support each other – and everyone has to be able to do everything, at least to some extent.”
Jaap Braaksma, Senior Group Treasury Manager adds: “We have a very personal and trusting working relationship. This allows us to work freely within our areas of responsibility. We value close communication and strive for transparency within the team. This gives everyone the opportunity to get involved in topics that interest them and to learn and develop in different ways.”
“And we share a passion for good food and cake. This leads to surprises before or after one of us goes on vacation, and cooking together makes for a really good team Christmas event,” Heiko reveals. What a nice habit! 🙂
Heiko Steppack,
Head of Group Treasury
Kannathal Lakshmanan,
Group Treasury Manager
Mirja Lyke,
Group Treasury Manager
Jaap Braaksma,
Senior Group Treasury Manager
Our work is constantly shaped by forces beyond our control. Market volatility affects our daily pricing decisions, while climate change impacts our farmers’ yields and coffee quality. Consumer preferences are evolving rapidly, pushing us to adapt our sourcing strategies and quality standards.
The EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) aims to minimize the EU’s contribution to global deforestation, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global biodiversity loss. Commodities included are cattle, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, soya, wood and coffee. Coffee is a crop that is extremely sensitive to weather conditions. Being ‘All About Coffee’, we are aligned and committed to the objectives of the regulation to reduce deforestation, contribute to mitigating climate change and preserve biodiversity.
NKG Indonesia Imports is a dynamic platform designed to revolutionize the coffee supply chain for roasters across Indonesia. Founded with a vision to address the challenges roasters face in securing a consistent supply and adapting to shifting market trends, we are at the forefront of a new wave in the coffee industry.
