Yesterday was yet another busy and exhausting day. It was nice to get out of the city center and visit FoodCloud, our only non-profit site visit! I was fortunate to be the lead on the Board Bia site visit  because I have always been interested in the food industry so I was excited to learn about how FoodCloud is championing technology to reduce food waste and also support Ireland’s food industry. Of all of our site visits, I think that FoodCloud felt the most warm. The staff member who presented to us and toured us around the company was very conscious of our interests and even our comfort! He kept the tour fun and laid back and seemed very passionate about their cause. I wish we could have heard what made him want to switch his career away from Tesco and into the nonprofit side of the industry. I think that his insights in retail and seeing the magnitude of food waste first hand definitely helped him in his current career with FoodCloud. Though we didn’t get to interact with very many staff members at FoodCloud, being lead by such young and innovative CEO’s gave me the impression that they were passionate, driven, and had a talented yet laid back office. I really enjoyed learning about their cause and how they addressed such a pressing need in Ireland. One of my main takeaways was hearing him say that they would love to be put out of business because it means that their cause, their issue, was eliminated. I think this is a great basis for nonprofits across all sectors and should lead most nonprofits’ decision making.

As for the Enterprise Ireland presentation, I really appreciated their dedication to giving us a structured presentation. Maybe it is because of the nature of their “industry” or working with the government, but they were by far the most organized company that we visited! However, I still feel that their presentation was very dry and not very relevant to us at certain points. I enjoyed learning about their company but had trouble finding where I would fit in as a business student and future marketer. I think that their department has a very noble cause and it’s exciting to see the Irish government’s involvement and support for startups. In the future, I think CBA students would benefit from hearing about how the EI staff utilized their business degrees towards their positions.