Hailing from the UK, Ayesha Connaughton began her career as an assistant category manager at Tesco's headquarters.
“It’s a rather unusual story, but what truly inspired me to pursue this industry dates back to a geography lecture I attended on the concept of globalisation at Durham University,” said Connaughton.
“We watched a documentary about a farm in Zimbabwe that supplied mangetout (snow peas) to Tesco at such an immense scale that the workers believed the Tesco flag on the farm was a national flag, not that of a retailer.”
The documentary captivated her, and it was no surprise that Tesco was the company she applied to upon graduating.
A year later, with Tesco's experience under my belt, Connaughton was approached to join the graduate programme at Premier Foods, a British food manufacturer known for iconic brands like Bisto Gravy and Oxo Cubes.
For six years, the company supported Connaughton in several roles and departments, giving her a cross-functional understanding of FMCG, from idea conception under procurement to in-store activation with RGM and sales.
At 29, she and her husband moved to New Zealand, where she joined the Simplot NZ team and learned everything from the ground up about the New Zealand market and Foodstuffs North Island.
She then moved up to a Foodstuffs ‘National’ position with Red Bull New Zealand, which broadened her knowledge of Foodstuffs South Island and the beverage world.
Today, Connaughton is the National Business Manager—Foodstuffs at The Collective NZ, managing not only Foodstuffs nationally but also the field team across the country.
In each company, Connaughton has had some incredible highlights, such as bringing a Formula 1 car into the Foodstuffs Head Office and Pak N Save stores in partnership with Red Bull New Zealand. The latest with Epicurean Dairy would be being nominated as a finalist by Foodstuffs North Island in the Grocery Partnership Awards.
Read Connaughton's full story in this special edition of Supermarket News here
