Reflections on Transformation and Change

Interview of Katie Schaefer by Rita Bouhout

Just like the Oscars, there are so many people to thank and acknowledge. But, before we do that, a brief walk down memory lane…

Our EXCO selected BanQu in 2024, to not only replace our older versions of Integrity, but to create a globally aligned first mile data collection and digitize chain of custody traceability. 

In earlier newsletters and EXCO briefings, we highlighted that BanQu is far more than just a traceability system.

To deploy quickly and adapt to the shifting EUDR deadline, we decided to pilot and launch BanQu as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to demonstrate ECOM’s readiness and competitiveness to customers, for future EUDR challenges and beyond. 

Why was an MVP approach chosen? 

The MVP approach allows for rapid global deployment of a baseline system, and then, with all ECOM countries connected to the platform, upgrades and augmentations can be made to achieve global scale and efficiency. The flipside is that an MVP doesn’t have all the attractive additional features yet, which some of our older legacy or local deployed systems have.

Who was able to test it?  

To build the MVP, Vietnam (Coffee) and Nigeria (Cocoa), were selected as origins. Angus Dunbar and Johan van der Merwe’s teams worked tirelessly to help us understand their unique local and commodity specific contexts.  

Going first is really brave - being a first adopter of a new system means that the local teams help work out all the bugs, and wait the longest for all the fixes. The upside is that they are first-to-market and gain the confidence of their suppliers, and are able to provide the key learnings and input into the initial design. In Alain’s year-end message, he talked about our ECOM values and supporting change, and these are really apparent in our first adopters.

How did the business select the next countries? 

With those learnings under our belt, our first iteration of Integrity powered by BanQu was built in July 2024. Guatemala, Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Uganda and Mexico (both coffee and cocoa) were identified as priorities for deployment given their volumes, EU market impact, and current local environment. 

How is it different in each country? 

Each country has unique and necessary local processes and enormous complexities in their respective supply chains, from farmers and farms to local suppliers, to multiple warehouses to port. Before a deployment, there is a thorough “as-is” mapping to understand local processes, roles, responsibilities, and key actors within the supply chain, down to every document, paper or digital, report, and system that either interfaces with BanQu, or will be replaced by BanQu.

The gap between what is currently being deployed and the new MVP is where the magic happens. This work is a multi-team engagement, and many flipcharts, chocolates, and coffees later, and with over 100 days on the ground with our teams, BanQu was tested in local contexts, in fields, with farmers, online, offline, with suppliers, warehouse managers and procurement.  

And how do we train people in-country? 

The champions in-country are the “Super Users”. Through testing and training, they led training sessions across their multiple geographies, executing what we call their 100-day plan. This is the real work, post implementation, to make the change “stick”, from training teams across countries, engaging with farmers and suppliers and amending local processes and ways of working.

Very cool. What are the milestones that we want to celebrate with our ECOM family around the world? 

In-country innovations, enthusiasm and openness to testing, experimenting and challenging the status quo. 

We also celebrate the talent within ECOM – the super smart folk that deliver every day in complex, difficult environments. As numbers tell the story, what we have achieved together is (drumroll please…):

• • 8 BanQu Go Lives
• • 100 days in-country in 2024
• • 180,300 farmers migrated to BanQu
• • 225,800 farmers migrated to BanQu
• • 13,200 forms 
• • 13,900 transactions (in our current 4 live countries already in season)

Those numbers are very impressive! Could you talk to me about the superheroes in each country?

Like the Oscars, there are almost too many people to acknowledge, so I thought I’d use some of the amazing pictures… because a photo tells a thousand words.

Vietnam:

Nigeria:

Guatemala:

Cameroon:

Cote D’Ivoire:

Uganda (Go Live & congratulating Cameroon):

Mexico:

These are so nice, you can see the energy that is being put into all of this! So, what is next for Integrity powered by BanQu in 2025?  

A much needed Christmas break for all of us! 

In early January, the teams will be reviewing all the 2024 learnings and engaging with each of the teams that have been using BanQu. Our best ideas came from the field, and we want to make sure that our next version is globally scalable. Our ExCo team will be taking a true One ECOM view to prioritise the next group of countries as we continue to future proof our business. 

Coming soon will be those building blocks for scalability - standard operating procedures, a near real time global data lake house, the iRely CTRM and so much more! Apologies, I am getting a bit too carried away with the technical details! 

But before I sign off, from Kakay, Gaby, Paul and myself: 

A huge, huge thank you and Season's Greetings to all our ECOMers.  Thank you for the opportunity to keep innovating with y’all, building our OneECOM vision together.