Bord Bia is investing €1m in a UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School scholarship programme that will see 25 graduates placed in Irish food and drink companies where they will focus on looking for export opportunities.
Bord Bia is investing €1m in a UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School scholarship programme that will see 25 graduates placed in Irish food and drink companies where they will focus on looking for export opportunities.
The programme will give high potential graduates from a range of disciplines, who have at least three years’ practical work experience, the opportunity to take part in a year-long career enhancement programme.
The MSc international marketing practice combines academic learning with a foreign industry placement and involves a series of assignments from Irish food and drink companies to identify opportunities in overseas markets. According to Bord Bia, the programme has the potential to generate up to €20m 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.
“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,” said Bord Bia’s director of markets, Michael Murphy. “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”.
According to Bord Bia, 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. That figure has since grown to €2m. Broadway Bagels, meanwhile, 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.
The closing date for applications is Monday 5 March at 9am.
