Ben O’Connor, who is just 16 years old, is already a serial entrepreneur, and his latest innovation is a piece of farm management software that he makes available for free.
O’Connor from A Dairy A farming family in Co. Down, like many farmers, she has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
He said Agriland: “I started my first business when I was 11 years old, which was a firewood business.”
His first “major” business was Giftery, a mail-order gift basket business.
Giftery was founded when Ben was 13, and went on to sell 200,000 units within three years.
“It can be difficult to get respect when you are much younger than the people you meet,” O’Connor said.
But he added that Giftry’s experience taught him “not to give up.”
“This year I set up FarmFlow.”
Pharm Flow
The FarmFlow product aims to manage tasks for farmers, or as O’Connor said, “try to solve problems on the farm.”
He mentioned wide-ranging issues such as relief for dairy milkers, feed rations and tracking the weight of livestock, saying: “There’s nothing really holding it together.”
FarmFlow Dashboard
FarmFlow “learns over time” and “aims to adapt to the farm,” he said.
The product is still in its early stages, but is currently usable, and farmers are invited to participate in the “long-term trial launch.”
“The system can only handle so many, so we’re kind of trying to keep the numbers limited while we test it further,” O’Connor said.
“But once it actually launches, we’ll be more than happy to have anyone who wants it.”
One of the planned features of FarmFlow is to be usable offline.
“Right now, it looks like a web-based app for demos, but it will also be relaunched in August,” O’Connor said.
“This feature will work offline and all the data is stored locally within the phone, so it will never be disconnected or to the servers or anything like that.
“Operational data is encrypted, and never leaves end-to-end encryption. We are working to figure out how to improve it.”
Plans
O’Connor said he plans for FarmFlow to be “completely free,” though there will be “revenue models in it.”
He added: “There will always be a free tier available because I understand the issues many farms have with cash flow and we don’t want to add another strain to an already difficult farming environment.”
So, while its intention is to “try to help farmers,” there are plans to add paid features when it fully launches.
As for himself, O’Connor has GCSEs ahead of him and will start his apprenticeship in September, although he says FarmFlow is still a “priority”.
“I’m just trying to balance those things right now,” he said.
But he added that he was keen to “stay busy”.
“I will always be an entrepreneur,” he added.
