Cocogreen, winner of prestigious business awards including the Queens Award for Enterprise: International Trade, announces the appointment of Simon Shelbourn as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Joining the business with immediate effect, the move demonstrates Cocogreen’s commitment to continued growth and further international expansion as the global leader in low-carbon, high-yield and sustainable growth substrates for berries, salads, citrus and avocados.
With significant experience spanning numerous finance and senior leadership roles, Shelbourn brings invaluable knowledge, insight, and expertise in scaling internationally to Cocogreen’s senior leadership team. Prior to joining the business, he held the position of group finance director at County Milk Products and has also worked internationally over three decades, ending a hugely successful career as a finance director with multi-billion euro dairy conglomerate Arla Foods amba in the UK/Denmark, and remains a Pension Fund Trustee.
A key strategic hire for Cocogreen, Shelbourn’s appointment forms part of a wider, forward-looking, and highly ambitious growth strategy for the sustainable coir substrate brand. In 2021 the business secured a multi-million-pound growth equity investment from Circularity Capital, a specialist investor in the circular economy, which has already enabled accelerated expansion globally and helped the business deliver record performance.
Commenting on his new role, Shelbourn said: “Cocogreen is a hugely exciting company with an enviable customer base, unique products, unmatched technologies, and a globally renowned brand. This, alongside Cocogreen’s clear mission and purpose was a real pull for me.
“When I first met the senior team, the great success they had already achieved became immediately apparent, but more importantly it was clear the company was exceptionally well positioned to capitalise on the increasing global demand for high-performance growth substrates. The next phase of the growth story is set to be an exciting one that I am really looking forward to being part of.”
Thomas Ogden, Co-Founder and CCO of Cocogreen, commented, “Cocogreen is internationally respected for consistently delivering high-performance, sustainable growing substrates from our vertically integrated, traceable in-house supply chain. Cocogreen’s offering is essential for the large-scale cultivation of food, achieving this in a more efficient, sustainable and ethical manner. Simon’s appointment will help us to explore the many significant opportunities to expand our brand in existing, new, and horizontal markets.”
Dr. Sudesh Fernando, Founder and CEO of Cocogreen, added, “As a global company which believes in the vital importance of a circular economy underpinned by ESG with substance, it was vital for us to follow a thorough search process to appoint someone with extensive experience in senior finance roles as well as being equally committed to our core values. Simon’s knowledge and experience will further support our outstanding continuous growth globally and we welcome Simon onto the Cocogreen Executive Board”.
For more information about Cocogreen, visit: https://cocogreen.co.uk/
