FORMER Indi resident Mark McConnell will be among the high-profile panellists at Monday’s Agrifoods Opportunities Forum at the Wangaratta Regional Study Centre.
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The forum, an iniative of Charles Sturt University in partnership with AgriFood Skills Australia, will discuss opportunities in the agrifoods sector.
Attendees will hear from successful agrifoods enterprises about the state of play in the industry.
Mr McConnell, whose parents and two sisters live at Benalla, was named the 2003 and 2006 Canberra Entrepreneur of the Year and has been a stalwart of the BRW Young Rich list since 2004.
During the past 15 years he has been actively involved in the development and expansion of rapid growth businesses, several of which have been profiled in the BRW Fast 100 List.
He is also is developing export channels for premium beef products into China, through his angus stud at Murrumbateman, near Canberra.
Mr McConnell holds tertiary qualifications in science, logistics management, employment relations and business administration.
His company New Territory Investments, which he founded about nine years ago, has attracted more than $1 billion in investments in Australian mining, technology and property.
He said investors were now seeking opportunities in agriculture.
He founded technology business Citadel Group with a friend about eight years ago and floated it on the ASX last November; he said it was now valued at just under $200 million.
Mr McConnell said he was keen to be involved in Monday’s forum.
“I am a farmer, passionate about agriculture and want to make sure we don’t miss out on the opportunity for where the demand is for our agriculture products,” he said.
“It is no longer a case of the big swallowing the small; it’s now about the fast swallowing the slow.”
“We have to be innovative. Don’t whinge about the supply chain, do something about it like changing your land use to meet demand.”
Mr McConnell said Free Trade Agreements with China, Korea and Japan had put half the world’s population on Australia’s door step.
“And they place high value on Australia’s regulatory standards and biosecurity systems, our clean and green produce — but we don’t get value for it.
“For example, in one of my offices in China I look down on people queued around the block waiting to pay $8 litre for New Zealand milk; these are people who don’t trust local supplies,” he said.
Those wishing to book for the forum should visit trybooking.com/HQZG or phone Robyn Farley on (03) 5713 9061.
