DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO WORK WITH FRESH PRODUCE?

No, actually. In South Africa, I went to the University of Natal to do a BSC in agriculture and my majors were in animal science and genetic engineering. I wanted to get into animal breeding and advanced genetics but I’m so glad I didn’t now. I think I would have hated it. Instead, I came to the UK in 1998 and started out with MDS (Management Development Services).

I did four placements: first, I worked with JP Fruit as a marketing executive; then I went to Greens of Soham, as an operations supervisor, where I had to supervise a team of men grading potatoes and daffodils; Next, I went to Fisher Foods, owned by Del Monte, as a junior buyer in different salad products; my last placement was at Lingarden when everyone was talking about e-business - I did a project on how they could use the internet to improve basic processes as well as commercial sales.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE MDS PROGRAMME TO OTHERS?

Absolutely. It is the perfect way to get experience of the industry and you come out of it a well-rounded individual, with a strong skill set. Fresh produce is quite a fast-paced industry and everyone generally has to muck in and help people out so it’s a real advantage to have experience of that. MDS is a fantastic programme. It’s a sink or swim experience - it’s challenging and you learn an incredible amount in a short space of time - but you get great support and it really is the best way to get into a company.

WHERE DID YOU START OUT AFTER COMPLETING THE PROGRAMME?

I stayed on at Lingarden, working on the Asda account. I was looking after a brand new flowers account and bulked that up from one or two lines to a £21 million business. I enjoyed working with flowers because it is a fast-changing category. With that job I was moving more and more towards marketing and product development, which I really enjoyed, and then my old boss at JP offered me a job as marketing manager at Recreation Group plc, a toys and games company she had moved to, so I jumped at the chance to get into mainstream marketing.

CLEARLY, THE WORLD OF TOYS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE EXCITEMENT OF FRESH PRODUCE, THOUGH, RIGHT?

I enjoyed that job because I was working with some top brands like Pop Idol and Cranium, doing everything from PR campaigns to trade advertising in retailers but I realised that I prefer to work with things that are natural and growing. Coming back into fresh produce after toys and games, I realised the fast pace of fresh produce appealed to me more than purely commercial products.

So, when I got back from travelling the world for a few months, I got put in touch with International Produce (IP) because of my experience with Asda and Lingarden, and worked there for about a year and a half as marketing manager, looking after category development.

SO, HOW DID THE CHILEANS ENTICE YOU AWAY FROM THERE?

My job at IP was basically an extension of working for Asda. I was implementing a lot of promotions across the category and it was challenging getting the team up and running but I wanted to be stretched a bit more in marketing.

I already had some experience of working with associations and when the role came up with the CFFA, the scope of it and the opportunities were just too tempting. It was a chance to go back to true marketing and get experience not just of working in the UK but across Europe, and of lots of different cultures.

WHAT PROMPTED THE CFFA TO APPOINT A EUROPEAN FIELD MANAGER?

The association always had agencies which worked with them to implement marketing campaigns but they wanted to have someone on their own team, to act as an extension of Chile throughout Europe, as both growers and exporters are becoming more focused on Europe and the more they learn about it the more they want to do business here.

In essence, the association wanted to have someone on the ground to support the co-ordination of activities in those markets. Because I had the experience of working with the retailers, due to my role at IP, I had the experience of working on both the retail and supply side.

WHAT DOES YOUR ROLE AT THE CFFA ENTAIL?

A key focus of my role is to support the co-ordination B2B marketing activities for Europe; to build up the customer relationship management, ensuring a good flow of information both ways: to make sure growers and exporters understand the European marketplace in order to make better business decisions, and importers appreciate what Chile has to offer.

The Chilean fruit season really kicks off in February. This year we introduced the Chilean blueberry campaign. The exporters, growers and ProChile put some funds together and we have been doing a three-week sampling campaign in different UK cities.

We have also been finalising in-store promotional campaigns with retailers across Europe - in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.

I HEAR CHILE’S PRESENCE AT FRUIT LOGISTICA WILL BE BIGGER THAN EVER THIS YEAR. HAVE YOU BEEN ROPED INTO ORGANISING THAT?

Actually, the organisation of all the activities within the campaign, including Fruit Logistica is a team effort on the part of the association and Prochile. I’m still fairly new in this role and it will be great to meet people that I have been communicating with, face to face.

We have about 65 delegates coming out from Chile so we will spend some time with them, as well as meeting buyers, retailers, importers and journalists. And we have our industry reception on the Friday, which around 350 people will be coming to.

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