Bord Bia is investing €1million in a scholarship programme in association with the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School for 25 future leaders in the Irish Food & Drinks Industry. The programme will allow high potential graduates from a range of disciplines, with a minimum of two years practical work experience, the opportunity to take part in a unique year-long career enhancement programme.
The MSc International Marketing Practice combines academic learning with a foreign industry placement involving a series of assignments from Irish food and drink companies to identify opportunities in overseas markets and has the potential to generate up to €20 million in sales for the companies involved over the next three years.
This is the fourth year of the programme and to date the placements of participants in overseas markets has benefitted more than 100 Irish food companies.
Michael Murphy, Director of Markets, Bord Bia said “This programme offers a fantastic opportunity for enthusiastic, self-motivated graduates to take part in a unique career acceleration programme which could help to position them as future leaders in Ireland’s thriving food and drink industry. The exciting thing about the programme is that not only does it benefit the graduates in their future career but it also contributes hugely to the success of the Irish food and drink industry as it helps to identify new opportunities in overseas markets”.
Examples of three Irish food businesses that have benefitted as a result of the programme are:
- The Irish Dairy Board Ingredients achieved €650,000 worth of new business as a result of having a Fellow based in the Spanish market in 2010. By 2012, that figure has grown to €2 million. “Dorene Mallon was in Spain in the first programme for period 2009-2010. Dorene was outstanding and made two significant breakthroughs with two new ingredient customers for us. Dorene’s introductions and work in defining the customer need and deployment of our product solutions was very productive to expanding our market in Spain. We did not do business with those customers pre Dorene's arrival."
- Broadway Bagels achieved €25,000 new business in Q3 of 2010 (€102,000 for the full year 2011) as a result of having a Fellow based in the French market.
- Silver Pail Dairy said “The Fellowship Programme has provided us with the resource to gather valuable market knowledge and marketing support. It enhances our ability to be the experts in the field for our customers. The Middle East is a significant market for us in terms of turnover. Our Fellow was consistently active with our customers in the market and feeding back crucial business opportunity information to us. The Fellow was able to feedback critical local market knowledge that we simply would not be aware of but for his presence. There is always a challenge when trading in a market that is geographically so far away. Having the presence of the fellow on the ground kept us in touch, up to date and allowed us to react to our customer needs.
Professor Damien McLoughlin of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School said “The MSc International Marketing Practice in partnership with Bord Bia is the perfect example of how merging academic learning with practical experience can benefit in the long-term. We are delighted with the success of the programme to date and are looking forward to welcoming a new batch of graduates and working with them to enhance their career potential”.
Applicants must be graduates with a minimum of 2 years work experience and an interest in business development and sales and will undergo a rigorous selection process. The 25 candidates demonstrating the most potential to add value to the Irish Food and Drink industry will be selected.
The closing date for applications is Monday 5th March at 9am and further details are available on www.smurfitschool.ie/bordbia