Nourishing the World Richard Kennedy is chief executive of agri-tech company Devenish. Headquartered in Northern Ireland, with sites across Ireland, the UK, USA, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda, the Devenish Group is made up of companies working together to develop sustainable food solutions.
In episode two of NI Chamber’s In Conversation podcast, delivered in association with Narratology, Richard speaks to host Mark Devenport about his early life, which led him to a career in nutrition, his take on leadership and hopes for the future of the group and the people who work there. Growing up in Aclare, Co Sligo, working at the family livestock market sparked an interest in agriculture early in Richard’s life. He tells listeners: “It kindled a passion in me around the business of agriculture. There was no passing trade, so I saw that you had to attract people in. You had to get the raw material by enticing farmers to bring their animals to the market. And then when you had them in the same place, you got them to do a deal. I continue to be inspired by that concept to this day. “My mother was a domestic science teacher and she inspired me to understand biology and biochemistry. She got me to do a science course one summer and I realised then that you could combine agriculture and science in an agricultural science degree, which I managed to just scrape myself into. I wasn’t very good at sitting down and studying. I was never top of the class but I absolutely adored it.” Devenish was acquired by its current management team in 1997, when the company name changed from Devenish Feeds to Devenish Nutrition. “When we started, we were very much animal nutritionists. But then we realised the impact we could have as nutritionists was actually very significant. And as the need for the world to become more sustainable opened up, it was very aligned with how we approached the market. We added the tag line to our business ‘Beyond Nutrition’ because we know the impact that animal production can have on the
RICHARD KENNEDY Chief Executive of Devenish 32
