AgriLedger is a pioneering blended finance fintech company that is leading the way in reshaping global food systems. Through the strategic utilization of advanced technology and extensive industry expertise, AgriLedger is addressing and tackling the enduring challenges within the agriculture sector. The company’s primary mission is to create a seamless, transparent, and reliable agricultural journey that benefits all stakeholders involved, ranging from producers to consumers. By bridging the gap between these various parties, AgriLedger is helping to establish trust and transparency throughout the agricultural supply chain.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Isaure Courcenet, Head of External Relations at AgriLedger:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
In and beyond the professional arena, I stand as a dedicated advocate for sustainability and innovation, leveraging the power of purpose to inspire meaningful change. Aiming to lead by example, my journey in the fields of carbon credits, blockchain technology, and public-private partnerships has been a dynamic one, marked by a relentless passion for collective action.
In a world where machines can do a better job answering strategic questions than an expert, the important thing to remember is to harness the power of artistic impact into hermetic financial markets by generating genuine human interest. I am also authoring a two-handed book on digital governance and decentralized sovereignty with a friend and respected colleague in my personal time, commissioned by an investment fund – Steinberg Protocol.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
Before stepping into the world of climate finance, blockchain, and carbon credit, I was an actor and ballet dancer, ex-Paris Opera ballerina and New York Film Academy alumni. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the performing arts to a standstill. In that moment of reflection, I decided to pivot my skills and passions toward addressing pressing global issues. I dove into the complexities of carbon credit markets blockchain, and governance, embracing a steep learning curve with dedication and enthusiasm.
It was a challenging transition. Fueled by a desire to make a tangible impact, to be part of the solution, my artistic background became an asset rather than a divergence. It allowed me to convey intricate concepts with passion and clarity, connecting with people on a human level and going back to my academic roots.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
In 2016, with a woman, a vision… and a hackathon.
The woman: our CEO, Genevieve Leveille, ex-corporate finance banker, Vice-President for Chase Manhattan Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland Head of Product, Director of Operations for General Electric, advisor for Estonian’s government identity management, and innovative thought-leader.
The vision: a blockchain solution which looks to address the issues of the ecosystem of agriculture and the global waste management crisis. It stems from a tragic observation: 125 thousand children die each year from food poisoning, and 53% of all food generation goes to waste – this number hitting 40% in the US alone (World Health Organization numbers).
The hackathon: after exploring different solutions, from early-CBDC’s to healthcare technology, Genevieve met Stellar, a digital currency and blockchain service provider, in Africa, April 2017. The R3 blockchain banking consortium had just been formed, and adding value to the supply chain was the topic at hand. Genevieve led a hackathon team to tackle the issue she pinpointed as being the most urgent at hand, and this is what drove her to create AgriLedger.
Which are the major services of the company and how does the company get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
We envisioned our solution through a customer-centric approach. People involved in our market care about two things nowadays: the environment, and the equitable distribution of wealth.
Following this focus, we offer a connected platform, automatizing via smart contracts the readability of the value chain to further liquidity on the markets and adding value to the ESG and carbon credit monetization.
This new way of envisioning a more transparent circular climate economy renders value to all parts of the food chain: provisioners – farmers -, buyers – agri-food industry actors, and dataproviders – financial and credit rating institutions. The lack of trust that has been emerging worldwide in the ESG system and carbon credit market is a pain that needs to be addressed, and the equation we believe in is a fairer distribution of liquidity from bottom-up to top-down.
To remain competitive, we invest in research and development on cutting-edge innovation, seek partnerships with technology firms, and explore emerging trends and technologies.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
We emphasize transparency, openness, and innovation. A winning explorer’s mentality is crucial to enhance global thinking, with a strong focus on keeping eyes on the ground to not lose sight of the reality of the market. When we build, we build through bridges, closing gaps in an economy that needs to speak all languages.
The main focus of our technology is to nurture transparency, thus ensuring that trust is maintained with our stakeholders. We foster an environment of accountability, communication, and innovation, critical to encourage creativity and adaptability in all aspects of our operations. We also invest to add value via a quantitative predictive approach of the ESG future market.
To foster our core values and daily commitment, we lead by example and ensure that all individuals align with these principles. Lately we have invested in the London Notting Hill Carnival, pulling in all members of our global team for a five-day event using tools from the Web3.0 ecosystem to highlight the Haitian community.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
The secret sauce for AgriLedger lies in its innovative solutions and strategic partnerships that ensure the scalability, efficiency, and user experience of our platform are top-notch. To stay ahead of the competition, we must continue to foster innovation in our platform and develop powerful partnerships with government entities.
Impact lies at the heart of its significance.
The Haiti project and the implementation in Tanzania are both integral to AgriLedger’s success. The Haiti project enabled us to gain an invaluable understanding of how our platform could be used to help alleviate poverty in developing countries, while the implementation in Tanzania allowed us to test the functionality and scalability of our platform in a real-world setting. These two projects have enabled us to develop our platform and demonstrate its potential to create real and lasting change in the lives of smallholder farmers.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
Both, at varying degrees. You need your team leaders to inspire through heroic and purposeful actions, but they can only be achieved on a global scale by fostering a team spirit. Some team members will prefer to only engage in backstage processes, while others will naturally catch the spotlight and reflect the values upheld by the company.
In our specific case, we seek to automatize every backstage process to only retain talent that stands out in the private and public eye with a high degree of performance and deep sense of responsibility. The main point to highlight is to always value everybody involved in the final success while encouraging personal prowess in achieving so.
What are your responsibilities as Managing Director of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
In charge of External Relations and Carbon Credit Market, I lead our fundraising efforts to scale up internationally, as well as all advocacy and public-partnership contracts. I maintain the importance of transparency in our value-chain and ensure that our message is not diluted in the public and private eye.
That means sometimes pressing buttons that are still delicate in the eyes of regulators and pulling back focus to the actual crisis. My main goal is to shift eco-anxiety to climate optimism, where everybody feels concerned by the huge task at hand – because we will need all hands-on deck to secure a better global stance on climate and waste issues. I am honored to work with highly skilled individuals that all share a common mindset. Our COO’s ability to tackle complex issues through on-point market knowledge leads by example, our CFO’s extensive background regarding hedge funding is inspiring to understand the finance market requirements, and I never cease to marvel at the way our Head of Data’s mind works in terms of algorithmic finance.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
Power comes from diversity. The best commanders share one superpower: the vision to prepare the battlefield in such a way that all members will see their skills purposefully used at the opportune moment to guarantee common success.
Never be afraid to seek advice from your peers. Nobody ever got anywhere alone, and you will find that those sharing your journey are often more than willing to share their knowledge and feedback.
We lead by example, so come prepared for accountability: humility is the most important value to keep in mind during all steps of the journey.
If you do not achieve what you initially set out for – and there will be times where redirection is on the agenda, despite your best efforts – remember a golden rule.
Never fail, always learn, and make improvising a second nature to seize success.
