Stephen Blewitt has been appointed as the General Manager of the Aurivo Agribusiness Unit with immediate effect.
Blewitt, who has worked with Aurivo since 2006, will also become a member of the co-operative’s six-person Executive Team
Aurivo is an innovative multipurpose agricultural co-operative with business interests in dairy ingredients, consumer foods, agri-stores, animal feed milling and livestock marts and trading.
Holding third level qualifications in Agriculture, Business and Finance, Blewitt has worked as Store Development Manager, Operations Manager in Consumer Foods and as Supply Chain Manager in Agribusiness within Aurivo.
New General Manager of Aurivo’s Agribusiness Unit, Stephen Blewitt.
Prior to joining Aurivo, he held a number of sales, marketing and operational positions with Tesco, Kavanagh’s SuperValu Group and Aldi.
The new appointment comes at a very important time for company, according to CEO, Aaron Forde.
He will lead the development of our Agribusiness plan for 2017 and its ultimate execution.
“Importantly, he will also play a pivotal role in the development of the Co-operative’s five year strategy as a member of the Aurivo leadership team,” Forde said.
Aurivo’s Agribusiness consists of both the Homeland Retail Stores across the northwest and Northern Ireland and Aurivo’s Animal Feeds Business located at Ballaghadrereen, Co. Roscommon.
The company’s 33 stores stock a wide range of products including farm supplies, veterinary, DIY, hardware, paint and accessories, fuel, clothing and footwear, pet and gardening products.
Meanwhile, Aurivo also has a portfolio of award winning regional, national and international consumer foods brands, which includes the Connacht Gold butter brand.
The company also operates four livestock marts in the western region of Ireland, namely Ballymote Mart Co. Sligo, Mohill Mart Co. Leitrim, Ballinrobe and Balla marts Co. Mayo.
These marts, Aurivo says, sell in excess of 100,000 cattle and 35,000 sheep annually on behalf of farmers.
In total the business delivered a turnover of €101.4m in 2015, according to the co-op.