Interview with A.M. Yusef, Co-Founder and CEO, Market Nexus

Welcome to our founder spotlight series! Today, we’re excited to share an exclusive interview with A.M. Yusef, the Co-Founder and CEO of Market Nexus. 

Market Nexus is a startup that’s making big waves in the B2B trade sector. They’re creating a unique platform that combines trading services, software, finance, and blockchain technology for businesses in the FMCG/CPG industry. In this interview, we’ll hear from Yusef about his journey in building Market Nexus, the challenges he’s faced, and what he sees for the future. So, let’s jump right into our conversation. 

1. Can you briefly introduce yourself and share with us the inspiration behind founding Market Nexus? 

Sure, and thanks for having me, I come from an atypical background of over 25 years of executive corporate experience leading consulting practices for the likes of Oracle, IBM and HCL and at the same time being an entrepreneur having founded a couple of software startups with successful exits, all of this was across 6 countries in two continents in the Middle East & Africa regions.

I eventually answered my true calling as a value creator and founded Market Nexus after witnessing both the global mayhem and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic had created, and having many family members and friends involved in different sectors of the B2B trade (mainly in the FMCG/CPG space) I saw how their organizations suffered and the new paradigm shift in their thought process and their need for strategic long term solutions rather than temporary “band aids” in order for them to deal with the new reality of how B2B trade is conducted.

2. The concept of a “Trade-As-A-Service” platform is interesting. Could you elaborate on how Market Nexus aims to transform traditional B2B trade using this approach?

Great question, so first let us look at the “as-is” state of online B2B products wholesale trade today: 

In all trade, there are buying and selling sides. Traditional e-commerce simplifies this through shopping cart experiences or procurement/RFX methods. These approaches assume uniform needs for all, mirroring old B2C e-commerce habits that do not apply to B2B transactions.

Yet, most current B2B online product marketplaces are “flat” and overlook the multi-tiered nature and design of the majority of B2B trade. Each trade step has unique challenges and needs. A transaction between a raw material supplier and a manufacturer differs from that between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer. The majority of current B2B wholesale marketplaces treat all tiers alike, ignoring distinctions.

Amid the pandemic, our team recognized that traditional tools couldn’t handle disrupted trade chains and increased friction. The “eat an elephant bite by bite” approach led us to architect the “Trade-as-a-Service” model. It is multi-tiered by design and caters to each tier’s required tools, processes and needs. Blockchain smart contracts link these tiers, trade is “anchored” by manufacturers as the trade value chain primaries. This approach also enables transparency and real-time tracking of trade events across the whole trade value chain through all tiers.

Our open ecosystem currently focuses only on FMCG/CPG B2B trade. Banks/Lending consortiums and logis-tech providers are the major partners in this ecosystem. Real-time bidding driven transactions across tiers ensure minimal prices and reduce friction. Lending partners aid with transaction financing, enhancing working capital, while all participants gain visibility into real market prices and ongoing B2B trade dynamics.

In essence, we are reshaping the traditional B2B trade model with a multi-tiered, transparent, connected and collaborative platform, adapting to the unique demands of each trade tier while combating disruption and friction.

3. Early-stage startups often face resource limitations. How did you approach the development of Market Nexus, and what strategies did you employ to balance the integration of technology, software, and blockchain while ensuring cost-effectiveness?

Well, in dealing with the many constraints that all early-stage startups face our team has drawn on their combined experience of managing projects at different scales and running organizations from startups to “whole of economy” initiatives, and embedded different approaches and strategies into the fabric of our company, some are for example:

When building our tech stack (from prototype to public release) our approach has been centered on balancing these four critical key elements: cost-effectiveness, futureproofing, time-to-market/value, technical interoperability and agility. 

Our architecture blueprint incorporates these elements, ensuring future resilience, for instance: we use Hyperledger Fabric as the foundation for our smart contracts to mitigate any future risk of volatile fees that could ruin our OPEX.

Also, our microservices centric stack enables us to build a future-proof composable architecture while being very interoperable and agile to any changes, we also use an embedded iPaaS solution to streamline and simplify the large matrix of integrations we have.

Also leveraging remote distributed talent accelerates our progress, while partnering with established third-party value providers like Banks, Fintech and Logis-Tech providers who are aligned with our vision, accelerates our time-to-market/value, this allows us to focus on building and managing our core “Trade-as-a-Service” offering without distractions.

4. In an evolving technological landscape, how do you see blockchain technology shaping the future of B2B trade, and what advantages does it offer to the industry?

Blockchain is transforming B2B trade by enhancing trust in trade value chains and laying the foundation for the Web3 paradigm.

Also, blockchain offers a secure and transparent way to share data among multiple parties, which can help to address key challenges in value chains such as trust, data security, and real-time coordination.

Blockchain can also be used to track and trace the movement of goods and materials in a value chain, providing undeniable proof of chain of custody and provenance.

In addition, blockchain can help to streamline and automate business processes, making them more efficient and transparent.

The adoption of blockchain in B2B trade is still in its early stages worldwide, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way businesses interact, collaborate, and grow.

Here are some specific examples of how blockchain is being used in B2B trade today:

• Tracking the movement of goods and materials in a trade value chain
• Ensuring the authenticity of products
• Facilitating cross-border payments
• Managing intellectual property rights
• Reducing fraud and counterfeiting

As blockchain technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative applications for B2B trade in the years to come.

5. As an entrepreneur, what were some of the most significant hurdles you faced in bringing your vision to life, and how did you overcome them?

The most significant hurdle I had faced was picking and choosing the right type of investors to work with during our cap raise, as we are driven by a long-term play rather than a short term one, and in this region (MEA) the majority of investors are looking at quick exits or quick acquisitions or quick IPO’s which is not part of our strategy.

Also being a Delaware based C-Corp the legal and financial structure of our startup does not map into the expectations of local investors from this region as they are used to investing in local LLC’s where the local laws give these investors tremendous control over the direction of the startup.

While at the same time very few investors from the USA/EU who match our vision and mindset in terms of the business direction are reluctant to invest in a US company that operates in foreign markets like MEA unless it is through regional funds of vehicles they already had invested in.

So we faced this challenge by taking it head on by going to a large well know private equity fund/investment bank in the region; we presented & pitched, they understood the long term play and model and they validated the tech, the model…etc and did their due diligence and then their top management gave us an exception (they only invest in post-revenue & growth companies) and committed to match any other investments we bring into our cap raise, that experience has given us a substantial amount of validation in front of other investors and in the market in general.

6. Lastly, for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make a difference in the industry, what advice would you give them based on your journey with Market Nexus?

Ok so this will be in no order:

• Take your time in recruiting the right founding team and advisors with the right skillset and more importantly a similar mindset.
• Always start with the result and impact (or visualize your “dent in the universe”) in the eye of your mind and then reverse engineer that to where you are today and build your plan accordingly.
• Always keep an open mind and be brave enough to change and reinvent yourself and the way you run your business and be wary of those who cannot accept change.
• Know your T’s & C’s across all your contracts and try to speak legalese and never skimp on legal costs.
• Build and deliver value to the buyer, that’s what they will pay for, not just a better tool charged at a lower price.
• Invest in the right sales people & processes, it’s what keeps the lights on.
• Finally, Never underestimate the power of compounded small atomic habits and events.