Malachy O’Connor is a business strategy consultant & commercial skills trainer. Malachy works across all sectors, having spent +20 years in senior positions in the ultra-competitive supermarket
retail sector. Thriving in this cut-throat world required deep resilience but also a deep sense of empathy around how to get the best out of people and how best to serve your customers. Malachy reckons this comes from his early years, born in England but spending his formative years in the troubled and turbulent society that was Northern Ireland in the 80’s and 90’s.
Malachy has +20 years’ grocery retail experience. He spent his early career in M&S, Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and SPAR, then from ’06 as Buying & Marketing Director at Aldi Ireland and from 2014 as
Fresh Foods Commercial Category Director at Tesco Ireland.
Malachy’s core values are impact, comradeship and diversity: making a positive impact with clients and in the world, nurturing high integrity relationships and harnessing diverse thinking to conjure creative solutions.
Malachy set up ‘Food First Consulting’ in 2017 where he bridges the gap between suppliers and buyers, helping better business through insights, negotiation skills & strategy development.
He joined IPLC (International Private Label Consult) in 2018, a consulting firm specialising in Private Label strategy for both retailers and suppliers. In 2020, Malachy joined the team at Uspire, launching Uspire Ireland and the Irish networking POD (peer orientated discussion) in summer 2021.
Malachy also volunteers as a director on the retail board of the National Council of
the Blind in Ireland.
