Co-Founders Caroline Grey and Jonathan Horn on the power of AI and data, and how visibility at the first mile powers impactful and resilient businesses
TREEFERA
Co-Founders Caroline Grey and Jonathan Horn on the power of AI and data, and how visibility at the first mile powers impactful and resilient businesses
There’ s a glaring blindspot in under pressure global supply chains: the first mile. This crucial but still opaque area – the point of origin for raw materials – is where around 60 % of volatility and risk originates. Yet many businesses still have limited visibility and a lack of data into this critical part of their value chain, even as it faces growing strain from evolving regulatory and compliance demands, resource availability and climate change.
These challenges are particularly hard felt in the first mile of nature-based commodity supply chains, where extreme weather conditions, land degradation, strained water sources and operational inefficiencies have far-ranging consequences for businesses and their customers.
Only recently have major international brands, from food and beverage giants like Starbucks and Mondelez International through to tyre manufacturers like Bridgestone and Michelin, been forced to shift their supply chain strategies after facing reduced yields, failing crops, constrained supply and rising costs in the first mile.
Critically, first mile disruption doesn’ t stop there. It cascades through businesses and their networks, impacting everything from production timelines and shipments through to financing and investment decisions, contractual obligations and the ability to validate ESG and responsible sourcing claims.
The challenge, according to Treefera Co-Founders Caroline Grey and Jonathan Horn, is a lack of defensible, real-time data from the complex first mile, fragmented documentation and a historically heavy reliance on manual data capture.
“ There’ s been huge investment in the last mile of supply chains and a significant focus on aggregating data across the middle mile, meaning we understand those areas quite well,” says Caroline, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at the London-based startup.“ By contrast, the first mile has been relatively untouched largely because the technology to accurately capture data around sourcing, risk and compliance just hasn’ t been there.”
“ Our world runs on nature-based commodities, yet information on the physical source of these assets remains largely invisible to the systems that depend on them,” adds Founder and CEO Jonathan.“ Risk and volatility are increasing and supply chains are less predictable in a world being driven by temperature change. Nature-based assets like coffee, cacao, palm oil or rubber are profoundly affected by that. supplychaindigital. com 71