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As 2020 marks the 30 years in business of shamrock Enterprises we would like to share some of our stories from the beginning to this end of the year.
In 1990 Shamrock was created, it started with 5 people on staff, and 5 Peugeots car-vans ( see one of the actual vans in the picture ) for each member of our staff. We had our first show that same year at the Royal Welsh Show.
The company was set up to develop natural products for use in agriculture. One of our first product was an alternative to acids which were being used in silage preservation up to the 90s. We introduced the use of a natural biological silage additive named Cutzyme to the market in early 1990. To this day Cutzyme is still being used all over the world.
In the 1990 we started incorporating seaweed into all of our products, as seaweed is one of the most natural products that can be used for both human and animal health. We teamed up with a company that was at the time harvesting seaweed in Castletownbere in Co. Cork.
The group picture above is the Shamrock Staff visiting the harvest site around 1996. The Marigot Bay was the name of the ship used for harvesting the seaweed. Two of our most senior sales staff were Ben Chapman ( On the left) and John O’Brian.
Another company which we teamed up within the 90s was Alltech International. In conjunction with Alltech and the then Managing Director Aidan Brophy we ran a competition to give one of our customer a holiday to Florida in the United States of America. Our winners were the Norris Family from Rochestown, Ardfinan, Co. Tipperary.
In 1996 we became the main sponsors of a local club, Sologhead GAA. To this day we are still the club main sponsor.
A few months later we were delighted that our main supplier Celtic Sea Mineral achieved ISO Status, a very enjoyable day was held by James O’Doherty, CEO of Shamrock Enterprises and Michael Ryan, Managing Director of Celtic Sea Mineral.
In the early 2000s, we embarked on building our own manufacturing plants, we built a liquid plant in Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary, and a solids plant, in Dundrum, Co. Tipperary. Once we had them built, we realised that there was a need for our products worldwide. We then started attending trade shows around the world, making our Shamrock products available for all, everywhere. As we were expanding worldwide, our team in Ireland grew substantially, with more and more Shamrock Vans on the Irish roads.
In the recent years, Shamrock Enterprises R&D department, in conjunction with our inhouse veterinarians ( Led by Noreen Walsh; MVB) and nutritionist, have developed a wide range of Agri and Equine products in order to be able to offer a full range of nutritional solutions for horses, sheep, goats, cattle, beef, buffalos, camels, deer etc..
In 2015 our Shamrock Equine Nutritionist, Elizabeth Ryan was participating in the Dublin Horse Show where Shamrock was the sponsor of the accumulator event.
We were exhibiting for the first time in Italy at the Italian International Horse Event 2016 in Cremona.
In early 2017 our own Little Miss Shamrock, a horse we bred from a foal won the Rathbarry Maiden Hurdle in Cork racetrack on her first day out. It was for all in Shamrock a day to celebrate! Catherine Cashman presented the winning trophy to James O’Doherty, also in the picture can be seen Jimmy R. Finn, horse trainer.
In 2017, we were busy enhancing our solid plant in Dundrum, co. Tipperary by adding a robotic arm to increase our production capacity.
Later that year, Hamza (as shown in picture) opened an office for us in Sudan, continuing the worldwide expansion of shamrock. He is still our distributor in Sudan. The next year we were invited to visit the different ministries in Sudan and were hosted by the Red Cross. Our CEO James O’Doherty after intensive travel around Sudan realised the enormous contribution our products will make to improving the agriculture output and profitability around the country.
In 2018 we sponsored Shamrock Enterprises Handicap Hurdle event at Punchestown, where the event was won by an Irish horse bred by one of our customers; John Nallan. The Jockey was Noel Fehily from Co. Cork, he was riding for English Trainer Harry Fry. As can be seen from the flag, there was another Irish connection to this win: the owner was a developer from Co. Mayo, which made this win a truly great Irish Victory.
In 2018 our Sales Manager, John Caplice was at ITBA Expo 2018 in Ireland, continuing the development of Shamrock within our Irish borders.
A few months later, one of our customers, the Fairview Farm in Northern Ireland, brought Teresa May who was then the Prime Minister of the UK, to see calves being reared on our shamrock Milk Replacer.
Later that year a horse on our Minerals at the Goffs Ireland yearling sales made a record price of €3.2 Million.
After registering a company in South Africa in December 2016 namely SHAMROCK RSA, we got a number of our products registered with the South African ministry which enabled us to sell in South Africa. In May 2019, we were delighted to have two stands at the annual Nampo Harvest Day agricultural show, which was held at Nampo Park near Bothaville.
In August 2019 Shamrock was delighted to become the main sponsor of Clonmel Rugby Club in Ireland, Co. Tipperary. Clonmel Rugby Club was just about to embark on their first year in senior rugby since the club’s inception. As we were delighted to sponsor a local team, we also decided to support Irish sport abroad by becoming a sponsor for the Dubai Celts GAA Club.
2020 marked the 30 years in Business of shamrock, and it turned out to be a very busy year for us.
At the start of the year, we were in Australia exhibiting at the Australia’s International Dairy Week, which is the biggest dairy show in Australia. We found a distributor for our products in Victoria, but unfortunately due to COVID-19 lockdown, no products are allowed into Victoria yet.
In the early March, we exhibited at the AgraME show in Dubai Worldtrade Center where we met Noel Collins, the Irish Agriculture Attache to the Middle East. Also, Dr Alwaleed Yousif Ahmed Alryiah can be seen in the picture, he is our Representative in the Middle East, and a qualified veterinarian.
As borders around the world started to close, we decided to concentrate more on Europe, particularly in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Our sales in France started in June and continued steadily since we now have several testimonials from French customers and we have our own French Website as well as French social networks.
As more shows were cancelled around the world, Les 5 Etoiles de Pau in the South West of France was allowed to be held in October in conjunction with all the COVID-19 safety guideline. Our French Business Manager, Clarysse Beauchef, can be seen here on the stand.
As we concentrate on closer territories, we decided to revamp our Irish Website, to develop our visibility on our social media, and to create brand-new brochures. The pictures below show the first Shamrock Brochures from the 90s and our new Agri and Equine Brochures for 2021. Those are now available in most languages.
For the past 30 years, Shamrock has been the number 1 company in the world to promote the use of Seaweeds to improve nutrition and soil fertility.
We intended to put 30 pictures, like the 30 years in business. But unfortunately, the last picture we intended to have was a picture of all of our current staff but because of Covid-19 health restrictions, we are unable to bring our staff together. We will add it in the future when we are all in a safer place!
We would like to thank all our staff, past and present, all our suppliers and partners, all our customers, which many have been loyal to us from the start and we are looking forward to the next 30 years!
Finally, we would like to wish you all a Merry and Peaceful Christmas, and a Happy New Year, which hopefully for everybody will be a safer and easier year.
