Among the mega brands on display throughout the World Cup one irish brand has stood out. Moy Park, the Chicken producer in Northern Ireland is part of Marfrig, one of Brazil’s biggest food companies and it has used it’s Irish brand to lead much of it’s branding as part of its global sponsorship.
The full impact of the confidence Marfrig has in the irish business was highlighted yesterday when an additional 528 jobs, on top of another 100 announced last month were revealed as coming to Dungannon, Craigavon and Ballymena over the next four years.
Moy Park is the European hub for the global business now and has management responsibility over a total of 11,500 employees in 16 different sites across the continent.
Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said yesterday that the new jobs would be worth an additional £10.5 million per year in terms of wages for the region and will make the business one of the largest private sector employers on the island.
Food and agri business has always been a strong point in the telling of the Irish story and so it has proved once again on the biggest global stage of them all.
Neither the Republic of Ireland nor Northern Ireland’s players might have made it to Brazil this time around but the tournament will have a lasting impact on the fortunes of this one major employer.
