Coca-Cola and Enterprise Ireland have today announced the eight innovative food and drink companies that will participate in the 2019 Thrive Project.
The leadership programme offers founders and promoters the opportunity to gain insights and expertise from some of The Coca-Cola Company's most senior executive leaders to help the companies scale internationally.
The Thrive Project
According to a statement, The Thrive Project also gives the participants additional support from Enterprise Ireland through business planning and strategy workshops.
The Project begins next week with leaders from the eight ambitious Irish companies selected by Enterprise Ireland travelling to Coca-Cola's headquarters in Atlanta, it reveals.
There they will take part in a two day intensive bootcamp with senior Coca-Cola executives.
While in Atlanta, according to the statement, the founders will engage in interactive coaching sessions on strategy development, commercialisation and research and development.
Each participant will bring a current business challenge to the bootcamp and will have the opportunity to work through that challenge with a leading expert in that specific field from The Coca-Cola Company, it reveals.
After Atlanta, The Thrive project continues with a series of workshops on business planning and stratify led by Enterprise Ireland.
During these sessions, its said participants are challenged to apply their learnings from Coca-Cola to their own businesses.
The Thrive project concludes with a two day visit to Coca-Cola Western European Headquarters in London.
Here they will take part in strategy and innovation sessions with senior Coca-Cola executives.
Global Expansion
The entrepreneurs will also meet executives from Innocent who will share learnings from Innocent's inspirational global expansion journey from start-up to successful pan-European food company.
Throughout the six month programme, it revealed that Enterprise Ireland will support the participant with one-on-one coaching sessions and in the development of a robust financial plan for their future.
"The Thrive Project allows us to share our best practices and experience with innovative Irish companies." said Peter Sandru, country manager, Coca-Cola Ireland.
"We believe this year’s participants have the potential to become global brands and to that end we are delighted to partner with Enterprise Ireland and DCU to deliver this initiative." he said.
"The Thrive Project encourages entrepreneurs in the food and drink sector to succeed in international markets." said Amanda Ward, programme manager, food division, Enterprise Ireland.
"The programme combines Coca Cola’s market and global insights with Enterprise Ireland’s expertise in business development to give the entrepreneurs invaluable knowledge on how to go about scaling businesses and operations”. she said.
2019 is the fourth year of Coca-Cola's innovative Thrive Project, which has seen 23 entrepreneurs mentored to date.
According to the statement, the six month leadership programme will culminate with a graduation in October where participants will outline their ambitious growth plans for international expansion.
"The Coca-Cola Thrive Project enabled Strong Roots to reach new export markets and grow internationally. I came away from the two days in Atlanta with so much information and energy" said Sam Dennigan, Thrive Project graduate and CEO of Strong Roots.
"I credit the Thrive Project for challenging my thinking and for motivating Strong Roots to grow bigger, faster. I applied a number of things that I learned, and it has paid dividends as Strong Roots continues to expand both our product range and our geographic reach." he said.
The Companies
The companies selected to participate in the Thrive Project are planning to expand internationally.
According to a statement, all of the companies are run by a founder or group of founders who are ambitious, have a strong brand and a unique proposition in the sector in which they operate.
It also revealed that through participation in the programme, it is anticipated that they will acquire new skills and ideas which will help propel them to the next stage of growth and success.
This years participants are Ballymaloe Foods, a range of table sauces and relishes; Blanco Nino, a range of authentic tortillas; Boann Distillery, a range single malt, pot still and blended whiskies; Dairy Concepts, a range of healthy and nutritious hand-held dairy snack products; Keoghs Crisps, a range of premium potato crisps and popcorn; Killowen Yogurt, a range of yoghurts; Loughnanes, a range of premium breakfast meats and vegan burger; and Rye River, a range of over twenty beers.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Helen Galgey. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
