Margaret Farrelly’s story is extraordinary. This is a woman who started her working career in the bank and, like many of us, kept a few laying hens. But unlike the rest of us, Margaret turned her 150 hens into a business that now has a turnover of €5.8million.

Just how she did it and the challenges she had to deal with along the way is what she will be talking about at the Women & Agriculture conference.

Margaret met her husband Leo at a dance in Coothill. He was a farmer from Mullagh and in 1988 they started a small venture producing free-range eggs for a packing centre. However, when local demand slowed down, they decided to stay at the business and started packing and selling their eggs around Dublin.

Their passion for real free-range poultry farming brought them to where they are today – supplying the Musgrave group with free-range eggs for the SuperValu brand. In 2012, they started the first pasteurisation plant in the Republic of Ireland. Now they have eggs and egg whites in a bottle in Tesco, Dunnes Stores and SuperValu.

The business, which includes the Clonarn Clover and O’Egg brands has grown from 150 to 150,000 laying hens today. Apart from the nine hectares they devote to free-range eggs on their own farm, they have contracts with 21 other farmers to supply them with free-range organic eggs.

In total, over 150 hectares of land is taken up with free-range egg production. In addition, the business employs another 30 full-time and part-time employees. So it’s hardly any wonder that Margaret was named Cavan business person of the year in 2013.

As the business grew, so too did Margaret and Leo’s family. They have three daughters – Aileen, Annmarie and Edel and one son, Killian. All of the family except Annmarie are involved in the company, making it a real family business.

Presentation

At this year’s conference, Margaret will share her experience of setting up and leading a family company in the food industry for over 26 years.

Margaret is still the face of the O’Egg and Clonarn Clover brands. She is involved in all aspects of the business and deals with all the supermarkets. Her story will include the struggles and successes they had in diversifying their dairy farm into free-range egg production. Remember, they did this at a time when this was considered a “housewife hobby” by their competitors and officialdom. She will also talk about adding value through pasteurisation for out-of -specification and surplus free-range eggs.

Action Breast Cancer

Margaret is no stranger to tragedy, losing a sister aged only 18 and two aunts to breast cancer. For over four years, she has contributed five cent from every O’Egg pack of eggs to help Action Breast Cancer.

She also participated in last year’s The Secret Millionaire which was aired on RTÉ. On the show, she supported four charities and has kept a close relationship with all of them.

One of them is Aoibheann’s Pink Tie, a charity that supports families who have children with cancer. This cause is also very close to her heart. Margaret says: “Over the years, it has been a challenge to raise a family while pushing for the growth of our business in what is a very competitive market.

“However, finding a strong and durable competitive advantage is key, something that is impossible for our competitors to copy. Keeping a niche product in our company has been very important to us and I look forward to sharing my story with all the ladies attending this conference.”