SWITZERLAND – Covantis, the industry initiative that aims to modernize global agribusiness trade operations, has announced that it has received all required regulatory approvals and has incorporated as a legal entity in Geneva, Switzerland, as Covantis SA.
Covantis was introduced by the founding members of the trade initiative; ADM, Bunge, Cargill, COFCO International, Louis Dreyfus Company and Glencore Agriculture as the new project’s name last December.
Now incorporated as a legal entity, Covantis has also announced its governance structure and executive appointments and has named Petya Sechanova as the company’s Chief Executive Oficer.
Sechanova has more than 20 years of experience in multinational companies, including 11 years with Cargill, during which she has served in a series of leadership positions, including, most recently, trade operations leader.
“We’re excited to create Covantis as a company. This paves the way toward launching the first release of our industry-changing digital solution, focusing initially on grains and oilseeds post-trade execution processes,” Sechanova said.
“In conversations with stakeholders around the world and up and down the value chain, we’ve heard time and again how critical it is for our entire industry to modernize our outdated global grain trading operations.
“Now that we’ve received regulatory approvals and incorporated Covantis as a legal entity, we focus on the preparation of the 2020 launch of the new platform.”
Stefano Rettore, who was appointed in December last year to lead the project as an independent advisor during its development phase – including overseeing the search for a CEO – will also continue in his role as an independent advisor to the board until June, after which his successor will be announced.
The founding members have also constituted a Board of Directors consisting of one member from each of the six co-founders to oversee the company and help to guide its evolution.
According to a statement releases by the founders, the Board will be chaired by one of the directors and will rotate annually. The Director appointed by Louis Dreyfus Company will act as Chair for the first 12 months.
Sechanova, the newly appointed CEO, noted that the founders are particularly pleased to locate the company in Switzerland adding that the country is a thriving technology innovation hub, with access to tremendous talent and expertise in blockchain solutions.
“Geneva’s central location makes it ideal to continue our work with stakeholders across our value chain, as we build our new digital platform for the industry, by the industry,” Sechanova said.
Earlier this year, the initiative announced the selection of CosenSys, an Ethereum blockchain technology company, as the lead technology partner to develop its transformative set of digital solutions.
