LEADERSHIP
42 similar infrastructures across the Nordic region before connecting over 30 member-states across Europe . “ It showed that you could connect whole supply chains or even countries and regions , at scale , and move them from paper-based to digital trades ,” says Sylvest .
This proved to be the genesis of Tradeshift in 2010 . “ Instead of making money on the transactions , we thought about connecting companies and networks to create transparency in those transactions , which became the inherent value ,” he recalls , maintaining everything revolved around access to finance . “ Why was it so hard for
SMEs to get access to financing at a reasonable price ?” he pondered back then . “ With no transparency in how they are running their businesses and their access to markets , it ’ s difficult for them to show the quality of their relationships and what they produce .”
Tradeshift moved away from selling to governments , switching focus to the Fortune 5000 sector . “ We started by selling accounts payable automation , moving on to include the whole sourceto-pay cycle , product information management , procurement and financing on top of these transactions ,” he adds , noting SMEs in the supply chain can get the same software and
MAY 2019