The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD today welcomed the start of a new Food Marketing Graduate programme involving 15 graduates working with Irish food and drink companies in key export markets.
Minister Coveney said that “the programme, developed by Bord Bia in partnership with IBEC, is a direct response to the Food Harvest 2020 recommendation for industry to initiate graduate internship programmes and will position Irish food and drink companies to reach new markets”.
Fifteen graduates have commenced the 18 month programme which has been designed to assist companies to strengthen marketing capability while also attracting new talent to the food industry. “As part of the programme, graduates will undertake a post graduate Diploma in International Business Development with Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), starting with two weeks executive education this month. The graduates will then move to markets in China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, UK and US”, according to Aidan Cotter, CEO of Bord Bia.
There, they will complete assignments and market research for food and drink companies in the meat, dairy and drinks sectors. Paul Kelly, Director of Food & Drink Industry Ireland welcomed this initiative and added that “graduate programmes such as this deliver long term talent to food and drink businesses. We have found from similar programmes that up to 90 per cent of graduates end up the programme with exciting careers in their sponsoring companies”. The programme builds on the key learnings from IBEC’s Export Orientation Programme and Bord Bia’s Marketing Fellowship, launched in 2008 for more experienced graduates.
