Lachie Davidson. Photo supplied.Lachie Davidson has travelled to the other side of the world, been crowned a world champion egg thrower and has just embarked on a career with an internationally recognised company who pride themselves as being outside the box thinkers.

The 22-year-old former Ashburton College head boy is one of four to gain a place in the Synlait Future Leaders Programme. More than 300 people applied.

It’s a three-year accelerated development programme, developed by Synlait organisational development manager Tony Aitken, which will see him undergo leadership training as he learns different facets of the company.

It had a rigorous application process involving application, multiple interviews, psychometric testing and group assessments including working on tasks under pressure while under observation with other applicants.

But Lachie is no stranger to pressure.

In 2019 he and fellow Massey University student, Ben McColgan, under the team name New Zealand Yolk Ferns, took to the final of the World Egg Throwing Championships in Lincolnshire, England and won.

They were up against a Canadian duo and battled it out in 10-metre increments trying to throw and catch the most of three uncracked eggs in the longest distance. The win came down to a final throw by Lachie, made from the 60-metre mark and successfully caught by McColgan.

It was an victory and when national media came calling many egg references came too.

The free trip fitted in perfectly with the university break and he got to travel through Europe during the three week period.

Before global success Lachie was better known in Mid Canterbury for his role as head boy at Ashburton College back in 2015.

He attributes his career direction as being subliminally planted during his final year at high school during agriculture study with teacher Stephen Millichamp.

It involved an international view and looked into production systems with a deer focus, which Mr Millichamp farms.

In 2016 he took a gap year as a Lattitude Global Volunteer, travelling to Ecuador and then Argentina working with special need children and as an English tutor at a language school, respectively.

It was something he’d wanted to do while he was young and said it helped him mature and gave him a better understanding of having

bad happened,experience.

Midway through the year he applied to university.

While the world was his oyster, he chose Massey University in Palmerston North doing a Bachelor of AgriCommerce national Agriculture.

By the time Synlait launched their annual nationwide recruitment drive in early 2019, Lachie had an even better understanding of his world.

Impressed by the Synlait view of things differentlywith environment and sustainability listed among their top priorities, he applied to the programme.

blown away by the environmental side of what the company was doingby their message.

Among some of the initiatives were the change from coal-fired boilers to gas and electrical options, and the set up of the 15 hectare Whakapuawai native tree nursery. It will grow up to one million trees a year which will be given to farm suppliers, and incorporates an annual volunteer planting day for all Synlait employees to get out on farm and help plant trees.

In returning to Canterbury, Lachie has relocated to Christchurch and is living with high school mates, Matthew Rae, Jack Fleming, Logan Coote and Alicia Calles.

His parents, Niki and Rennie, have also moved from rural Mid Canterbury to Little River, at Banks Peninsula, although they have kept a little slice of 24 hectares, which is being used for cropping, along Greenstreet, just out of Ashburton.

the transition easier coming back (to Canterbury),of living with his mates.

The programme will give him insight into all areas of the Synlait operation, from milk supply to manufacturing, quality to business development and sustainability.

He has started in business development based at the Dunsandel site, but will spend four to six months in each role, working shifts where necessary, alongside others to learn the process.

understanding and be able to relate to people on the floor. It’s a good foundation,said.

He is also mentored by a company director to gain insight into senior leadership which is a valuable connection with a visible presence.

And there was a high likelihood of relocation to another of Synlait’s national sites; Auckland, Pokeno, Palmerston North or Temuka but less likely Shanghai in China. It teaches them how to relocate.

Mr Aitken said as a the programme allowed Synlait to ensure there were future leaders, with the necessary knowledge, to support the company’s purpose of differently for a healthier world’.

Synlait employs around 1100 employees; 800 of which work in various roles, and shifts, at the Dunsandel plant.

for the programme in late February, the year prior, targeting final year students at key universities around the country, which offer degrees (with) the best fit to our business operation.

The three year programme rotates participants, such as Lachie and fellow associates Issy Davies, Giorgia Miller-Thevenard and Claire Ye through a variety of roles while they receive leadership training.

By Toni Williams © The Ashburton Courier - 13 February 2020