Once the milk truck goes out the farm gate it can be hard for most Irish dairy farmers to appreciate just how far their produce will eventually travel around the world. Farmers get some idea of where their milk eventually ends up when they see milk, butter and cheese in their local shop or perhaps on a trip to the US where they might spot a pound of Kerrygold butter on a supermarket shelf.

However, the reach of Ireland’s dairy industry is much further than Dublin or London or New York. Increasingly, more and more of Ireland’s dairy exports are being shipped to emerging markets in far flung parts of the world where the consumer probably has little or no knowledge of Ireland.

And leading those exports is a team of sales people helping to move Irish dairy products like milk powders and ingredients into some of the most unusual markets.

International

Based in Dubai, Barry Newman has spent the last 13 years working for Ornua, the dairy export co-op. A native of Rhode in Co Offaly, Newman first joined Ornua in 2007 and took part in the co-ops graduate programme which gave him his first taste of international work for the company.

Today, Newman finds himself leading one of the key regions for Ornua having worked his way up through the organisation and was recently promoted to Ornua’s regional head for food and ingredients in Africa.

I did two eight month stints in different parts of the UK working on retail sales

“I spent my first years with Ornua in the Dublin office working in procurement to get a feel for how the business operated before starting the Ornua graduate programme as an internal candidate,” says Newman.

“As part of that I did two eight month stints in different parts of the UK working on retail sales and in Ornua’s butter trading business. The next stage of my career took me to Algeria where I was offered the position as Kerrygold country manager,” he says.

Newman spent the next 18 months in Algeria building a distribution network and growing sales of Kerrygold branded cheddar and milk powder. With a population of 42m people, Algeria is a major milk powder market but it has also grown to be the second largest export market for Irish cheddar after the UK.

Consumer

Newman says pizzerias in Algeria and neighbouring Libya prefer to use cheddar on pizzas instead of mozzarella, while there is also a large consumer market for processed cheddar cheese sliced as small bites or snacks.

After building Ornua’s sales business in Algeria, Newman spent the next five years living and working in the South African office for the dairy co-op. In 2019, Newman then moved to his current location in Dubai after he was placed in charge of Ornua’s facility in Nigeria, along with markets in north and central Africa.

During this time, he oversaw the launch of Kerrygold Avantage into the market in Nigeria, which is a branded fat-filled milk powder. Since taking over as Ornua’s regional head for foods and ingredients for all of Africa, Newman now finds himself leading the team for the entire continent.

Of the 54 countries in Africa, Ornua sells butter, cheese and milk powder into 34 of them. Newman and his team have responsibility for driving sales of Irish dairy brands Kerrygold, Kerrygold Avantage, Forto and Beo milk powders as well as driving volume growth of Ornua’s ingredient business to food manufacturing and food service customers in these markets.

Career advice

During his career with Ornua, Newman says he’s been an ex-pat for pretty much the last 10 years. And while living away from home is not for everyone, the Offaly man says he loves what he does.

“When I first moved abroad for work I didn’t know that I would like it. But I really love it now. My advice to new graduates coming out of college is don’t follow the crowd,” says Newman.

Some of the things you will learn working in an emerging market will be invaluable for your future career

“Everyone wants to go and work abroad in attractive countries like the US or China but there are huge career opportunities working in emerging markets. I would say you need to be flexible. You will learn so much working in emerging markets and they are not common skills you will be learning either. Some of the things you will learn working in an emerging market will be invaluable for your future career,” he says.

As an example of the skills needed, Newman said he had to learn a basic standard of French in a very short space of time before he moved out to Algeria. Today, he speaks French with customers throughout Africa where French or Arabic are the dominant languages.

Another skill that Newman says graduates will learn working in Africa is agility.

“To work in Africa you have to be very agile. Hitting targets or budgets is not straightforward as there will always be unexpected hurdles in these markets. But it makes you react quickly to get around these challenges and meet your goals. Those are great skills to learn,” he says.

However, working in emerging markets does present challenges and unusual roadblocks.

Take Nigeria for example. The West African country has grown to become Ireland’s eight-largest market for dairy exports thanks to growing demand for milk powders.

However, Newman says it can be far from straightforward doing business in Nigeria, especially when the government will sometimes throw up protectionist trade barriers. Earlier this year, the Nigerian government introduced a blockade on milk powder imports on almost all dairy companies because it is trying to build up its domestic dairy sector.

And while Ornua is currently still trading into Nigeria that could change by the middle of 2021 unless a solution is found with the Nigerian government.

Daunting

While moving abroad to a continent like Africa can look daunting for a young person, Newman’s advice is to just take the plunge.

“You could be like me and end up loving it and find the work really rewarding. And companies like Ornua have great structures in place for any employees they are sending out to these markets so you can be assured you will be looked after,” he says.

The DRC is four times the size of France

“The other thing about working in Africa is that you will see things in these markets you will see nowhere else in the world. I’ve seen dairy traders in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) pushing 400t of milk powder up river by barge.

“The DRC is four times the size of France so it could take these guys a month to push the milk powder up river on the barge but it’s the only way to move bulk goods in the country as they have no roads,” says Newman.

An international career working in emerging markets in Africa may be the road less travelled for many graduates but it clearly offers a lot of opportunities – both to develop your skills and abilities but also in terms of climbing the ladder inside an organisation. As Barry Newman says, it’s all about having the courage to take the plunge and you never know where you might find yourself.

Ornua’s graduate programme

Ornua has announced that it is now seeking applications for its 2021 graduate programme.

The dairy co-op says it is seeking to fill 13 graduate placements within the company for 2021 across a range of roles, including procurement, sales, marketing and ICT.

Ornua says eight of the 13 graduate positions will be based away from the co-op’s Dublin headquarters in Germany, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and Chicago in the US.

The Ornua Graduate Programme is an 18-month programme, which the company says will offer graduates the chance to build a range of business skills and gain valuable experience in one of Ireland’s largest export businesses.

The Ornua Graduate Programme is open for applications now and the closing date for applications is 23rd October 2020.

Successful applicants will take up their position in Autumn 2021.

To apply for the graduate programme visit earlycareers.ornua.com