The market-leading substrate supplier Cocogreen has appointed Ian Riggs as Head of Business Development UK.

This strategic business appointment reinforces the company’s mission to broaden and increase the market and sales of their sustainable growing substrates.

Riggs comes armed with a wide spectrum of experience and knowledge of the UK horticulture sector.  He has been a grower, buyer, sales, and marketing executive for a range of businesses including Sainsburys, Homebase, Sakata, Gardening Direct, Kings Seeds, Desch Plantpak, Lechuza and Southern Trident. Furthermore, Riggs has received many sector accolades and awards for his work as an industry representative on NFU, HTA, BPOA and WSGA national and specialist committees.

Riggs will bring market insight and a network of contacts to his remit of Business Development, bolstering the existing experience and knowledge of Cocogreen’s commercial team to raise the business’s profile and drive sales.

Riggs says: “Cocogreen impressed me immensely. A highly professional company that, with its class-leading Growing Media Technology, is a Greentech innovator and the leader in coir-based substrates. I look forward to working with the Cocogreen team to bring the existing range and new products to new sales channels and markets.”

Thomas Ogden, co-founder and CCO at Cocogreen, said: “Welcoming into our team a highly regarded UK industry veteran like Ian will allow Cocogreen to position its unrivalled sustainable, innovative growing media into sales channels where he has 30 years’ experience. Having already moved the UK berry growing media market from 100% peat to 100% peat free as long ago as 2015, we are now firmly focused on sharing our expertise in a wide range of crop applications across all six continents of the world. Ian will be an invaluable asset as we continue empowering growers, buyers and industry partners to exploit the benefits of our unique, sustainable and technically advanced product offer and raw material supply chain.”