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Shamrock Enterprises is delighted to announce that we were interviewed by Enterprises Ireland France to be featured in their Newsletter as the Client Interview of the month!
” When it comes to doing business in France, we know that the best advice comes from those with direct experience in the market. To facilitate peer to peer learning between Enterprise Ireland clients we want to share you and your story. If your company is interested in being featured, please get in touch.
This week we spoke with James O’Doherty, CEO of Shamrock Farm Enterprises and Clarysse Beauchef, International Business Manager of Shamrock Farm Enterprises….
Clarysse, tell us a bit about the business and your export experience to date.
From a local Irish Company 30 years ago, Shamrock has grown into an internationally recognised leader in the Equine and Agri seaweed-based supplementation industry. Shamrock products can now be found not only in Ireland but also in the UK, the Middle East, South Africa, Australia, Italy, France… We offer a range of premium products for all types of horses, cattle, sheep, camels, deer, goats, buffalos etc. All our products are seaweed-based, completely natural and are all formulated by our in-house nutritionist and veterinarians. We also offer premium seaweed fertilizer to ensure the grass they are grazing has optimum nutrition.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business and plans for expansion? Has it changed your strategy or vision for the business?
Although a lot of borders have been closed and had stopped us from expanding internationally in some countries, we have taken this opportunity to concentrate on closer territories like France. Like the foot and mouth disease a few years ago the COVID19 pandemic has been a challenge, but thanks to our team and customers, we were able to adapt to everybody’s needs and thankfully continue our growth. While it certainly did change the direction Shamrock Enterprises was taking it allowed us to focus on new territories that were closer and which the borders were still open to us. We have also looked at developing new products and we intend to start a new R&D project in the new year.
James, you’ve had a very successful entry into the French market- what advice would you give to Irish companies considering the French market?
We have been looking at the French market for a number of years and my son completed a degree in Commerce with French and spent a year in a University in France in order to understand both the language and the market. It was our intention to start looking at the market in the coming years and fortunately an employee we took on in our sales department is from France and once COVID-19 hit we redeployed her into looking after the French Market. We’ve had a lot of success for two reasons: the first one is the excellent training we give our staff on the benefits of Shamrock products, the second one is that we were fortunate that the person we picked had a good work ethic and a complete understanding of animal nutrition, as well as a qualification in International Business We monitored our customers from the start and by doing this we ended up with good testimonials on our products from French customers. From the start, we were liaising with an independent consultant who was able to put us in touch with individuals and companies who could successfully distribute our products. After several meetings, we decided we needed to meet our potential distributors and customers and therefore we exhibited in the 5 Etoiles de Pau in the South West of France in October. For any companies who would want to penetrate the French market, we would advise them to put in the time, dedication and above all to be proactive from the start in understanding of how their competitors operate within the French Market.”
About Enterprises Ireland Enterprise Ireland is the government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. We work in partnership with Irish enterprises to help them start, grow, innovate and win export sales in global markets. In this way, we support sustainable economic growth, regional development and secure employment.