Keele Management School News
08
they now?
Daniel Coyne, MA International Business,
Business Development Manager, Eden Pet Foods
Daniel completed his MA
International Business at
Keele Management School
in 2014 when he was voted
‘Student Consultant of the
Year’ after completing his
consultancy project with
Eden Pet Foods.
Daniel’s project focussed on strategic
market development for the organic
pet food company, the owner
of which, Paul Conquest, was so
impressed with Daniel that he
offered him a full-time job!
Twelve months later Daniel
tells us that:
“The student consultancy
projects are one of the best
features of a master’s degree
at Keele Management School.
In fact, the chance to develop
and use the skills learnt in the
classroom within a local business
environment was the main
reason I chose the International
Business (MA) course to begin
with. My student consulting
experience took place at a
local pet food company based
in Trentham, with the objective
of identifying ways to develop
the business through sales and
marketing. Over a period of 10
weeks, I worked closely with the
managing director of the company
to get an understanding of how they
sold their holistically focused foods,
and what their channels to market
were. On the back of that I did my
own research, both into the pet food
industry and also through talking
to existing customers and retailers.
Eight weeks of detailed data
collection and proposal formulation
formed the rest of my project,
Paul Conquest,
Owner of Eden Pet Foods,
was so impressed with
Daniel that he
offered him a
full-time job!
before I delivered a presentation and
final report centred on the impact
that product presentation and social
media use can play in supporting
consistent financial growth.
Following my time at Keele, I was
offered a full-time position at Eden
Pet Foods, putting my project into
action. The chance to exhibit at
dog shows, implement new ways
to add retailers to our portfolio,
advertise the brand in national
dog publications and get the ball
rolling on a re-brand has been
fantastic. Seeing the results of
transferring the knowledge learnt in
the classroom at Keele to a financial
uplift with a local company that is
willing to invest in young people
is the most rewarding part. Being
trusted with such a great level of
responsibility and representing the
business in meetings with multinational organisations and in front
of customers is a testament to the
preparation you get on a quality
master’s course like International
Business at Keele.”