Liam Casey: The Irish farmer who tapped China’s growth

Liam Casey started with £10,000 working from the family farm importing electronic components to Ireland. Now he runs a $125m a year supply chain management company from China.

Liam Casey isn't your typical Irish farmer. The 44-year-old runs a $125m-a-year supply-chain management company from China's Shenzen province, the country's 24-hour-a-day industrial heartland. I ask him what he does when he's not working. "What do you mean when I'm not working? I'm working all the time!" It's a long way from the dairy farm he grew up on in West Cork.

After several years selling men's clothing, at 29 he went to California where a friend worked for a trading firm importing hardware from Taiwan and China, to sell to big American computer firms. Casey saw there was an "opportunity to bring this stuff into Ireland", to sell to multinationals such as HP and Dell. At the time, supply to such firms was dominated by distributors in Europe. "So I asked one of the Taiwanese guys working there, have you ever sold the product into Ireland? And he said to me Ireland? I've never heard of that company'. So I said Wow, great!'"

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.