Enterprise Europe Network - Food and Nutrition

Jan Hak is the President of QuaTerNes Holding. In 1925, his grandfather Hendrik Cornelis Hak started a family business in potatoes which his son Willem Hak expanded into a wholesale trading and packing business with several own retail outlets. After the Second World War, in 1956, Hak B.V. was established as contract growing and processing facility for preserving fruits and vegetables in glass jars. Nowadays this company is one of the largest fruit and vegetable processing companies in Europe.

Jan is experienced in all aspects of the agri-food chain. His professional career began with engineering and product development projects in the Middle East in the pickling and dairy sectors. Back in The Netherlands, he restructured the food machinery program at Komen+Kuin B.V. and spent 5 years at HAK B.V. with the responsibility for manufacturing and logistics at 3 locations. This hands-on experience later proved valuable during his term on the supervisory board of HAK before the business was handed over to the CSM Group.

In 1980, Jan founded QuaTerNes. Today, QuaTerNes is a holding with various companies and partnerships, all dedicated to the agri-food industry. The departments, divisions and companies itself, complement each other in various ways in the following segments: Environment & Agriculture, Nutrition & Preserved Food, Health & Api-Products, Systems & Equipment.

With over 15 years experience, Brian is a Senior Consultant with Mintel. He leverages his deep sectoral knowledge of the Food, Drink and Nutrition industry to explore the diverse trends that exits across Irish, UK and European ecosystems.

Mintel has provided research and intelligence solutions to consumer-focused businesses for more than 50 years. With a combination of world-class syndicated tools and custom insight solutions. They are renowned for their knowledge of consumers – who they are, what they see, what they do, what they buy. Their knowledge of food innovation – what’s new, what’s groundbreaking, what’s hot and what’s not, all around the world. They know markets and numbers – how much, how many, who sells what. They know trends – what’s changing, where and why. They know what’s coming next. They know competitors – their products, strategies, and tactical plays.

Brian will be presenting some exciting results and insigths from their 2024 Food sector trends analysis that was published in October 2023.

Mark is Executive Chairman and Founder of OCO Global.

A trusted advisor to governments across the world, Mark brings expertise and innovative thinking to the areas of Economic Development and Global Trade and Investment. He has broad experience in developing cutting edge strategy and designing and implanting large scale programmes on behalf of OCO’s diverse clients. He has worked in more than 80 countries and has cultivated in depth government, industry and trade association networks across the world.

Mark directly advises CEOs and the Boards of Economic Development Organisations such as the UK’s Department for International Trade, Invest Sweden Agency, Enterprise Ireland, Invest in Italy, Invest Hong Kong and Enterprise Florida among others. Mark is regularly cited as an FDI and export expert in leading publications such as the Economist, Wall St Journal and the Financial Times.