AB Agri has appointed business development specialist Graham Wong to head up operations in South East Asia as part of plans to significantly increase its market share in the region.
Wong, whose new remit as Head of South East Asia includes recruitment, technical development and innovation, joins the business having spent more than a decade in the animal nutrition sector, most recently as Managing Director, South East Asia in Nuscience of the Royal Agrifirm Group.
Wong’s appointment follows that of Visiel Tolentino, who joined the company as Head of Strategic Marketing for Asia last year.
“With a rapidly increasing population and higher levels of disposable income, the scope for growth in Asia is considerable,” explains José Nobre, AB Agri’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Strengthening our presence in the region with key appointments such as Graham and Visiel, as well as growing the team more widely will give us the strong foundation we need to achieve our ambitious commercial targets.”
“Graham has a fantastic track record in developing commercial businesses so is a real asset to our team,” adds Nobre.
Wong says, “We have some very large customers in Asia and our expansion plans will help us serve them even more effectively, as well as giving us scope to bring new customers on board. Our distribution partners will continue to play an important role as we grow our businesses together.”
He adds, “With 9 per cent of the world’s population in South East Asia, there is a huge opportunity for us to significantly contribute towards meeting the growth of animal protein demands, sustainably and responsibly.”
AB Agri plans to recruit for more roles in the region in the coming months including technical support and commercial colleagues who will work alongside well-established local teams from its animal nutrition divisions AB Vista, AB Neo, Premier Nutrition, and new alternative protein specialist, Livalta.
AB Agri manufactures animal feed, nutrition- and technology-based products and offers data services for the agri-food industry. It operates all along the food industry supply chain. It produces and supplies compound animal feed, feed enzymes, specialised feed ingredients and a range of value-added services to farmers, feed and food manufacturers, processors and retailers.
Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £13.9bn and 133,000 employees in 53 countries. It has significant businesses in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Its aim is to achieve strong, sustainable leadership positions in markets that offer potential for long-term profitable growth. It looks to achieve this through a combination of growth of existing businesses, acquisition of complementary new businesses and achievement of high levels of operating efficiency.
