Good news has been rolling for the EcoVadis team these last few weeks. After becoming a unicorn in June (a unicorn is an unlisted firm valued at $1 billion or more), in July EcoVadis announced that it acquired Ecotrek!
Ecotrek is a company founded in 2020 by Alexander Doudkin, Jolene Ernesti, Philipp Würfel and Rena Kleine, who met during a hackathon in Berlin, and decided to contribute to rethinking sustainability in the context of business decisions: “We understand the complexities and the manual process involved in the traditional way of sustainable supply chain management - and that's exactly why we invented new data-driven technologies to collect and manage sustainability information about companies and make it actionable through technology.”
EcoVadis People team asked a few questions to our new teammates.
Let’s start with a warm up question. Did you find the similarity of the companies’ names (eco + a word related to movement) a good omen?
Rena: More and more eco companies are being added to the green-tech network, so the odds of having a similar name have been getting higher recently. :)
Moving on to the WHY, what’s the story behind EcoVadis and Ecotrek joining forces?
Alex: We want to capture a certainly high pace market in the DACH region that is connected to the German Supply Chain law, which makes it compulsory for companies to monitor and assess their suppliers on sustainability. At Ecotrek we’ve developed a technology (sustainability data mining) which is enabling procurement teams to screen a high amount of suppliers almost instantly, to get an initial risk profile, which is excellently fitting to EcoVadis’ in depth ratings and the overall customer journey.
What results of EcoVadis and Ecotrek working together would you like to see within a year’s time?
Rena: Firstly, there will remain only one team: ecovadians. This integration is also about amazing minds joining forces. We are happy to enhance our knowledge and time of delivery with the existing EcoVadis team that we start working with. The symbiosis does not really end on the customer level.
Secondly, as mentioned before, we are convinced that procurement is one of the most important business areas to implement sustainability into. Beginning with the DACH market, but thinking globally one of our key results is to deliver a compliance-driven product with a seamless user experience, giving also mid-market and smaller companies the possibility to enable their sustainable procurement journey.
How does EcoVadis’ team culture resonate with you?
Alex: A lot!! We were cautious regarding this since our team culture was a thing we definitely wanted to preserve while doing such a major step in our entrepreneurial life. But after more expanding talks and insights into the EcoVadis work environment, we are now truly confident that we share the same culture.
For you, what are the strongest points of the culture?
Alex: Combining traditional business goals with impact, as I believe it’s a core future business goal. The fact that EcoVadis implements the achieved impact, including the measurement of it into its culture, resonates with me personally and with our entire team.
Both EcoVadis and Ecotrek offer careers in sustainability and technology. Seeing how successful you have been during the last 2+ years, what advice would you share with people who want to pursue careers in the combined field of sustainability and technology?
Rena: Just do it! There are hundreds of vacancies in this emerging area of expertise, for every type of qualification. Every step into a more green-tech related company helps you to understand the complexity and beauty of it. We really love to and must(!) see the trend of people committing to a career with more purpose to make a meaningful difference once we’re on this planet.
Find out more about life at EcoVadis, visit www.ecovadis.com/careers and www.linkedin.com/showcase/life-at-ecovadis.
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