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An Interview with the New VAKT CEO – Tasja Botha

ComTech Advisory: Tell us about the reasoning behind VAKT and its business model as a sort of consortium of players in the industry?

Tasja Botha: From a practical standpoint, this has massive benefits. For example, we see big financial costs arising from incorrect ETRM data, which amongst other things, leads to disputed invoices and payment delays. The total value of these delayed payments runs into the billions in some cases. By removing this problem VAKT can save our customers several million dollars a year, just by making trades settle faster and therefore reducing trade finance costs.

So as you can see, across the industry there are billions of dollars in value to be unlocked using blockchain technology in financial operations, logistics, legal and settlement functions. That’s why the consortium was formed, to begin the process of reducing costs across the energy trading sector.

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ComTech Advisory: Does the announcement of a new CEO signal a change in direction or strategy?

Tasja Botha: Not at all. The strategy remains the same; to onboard new customers and increase the volume of data exchanged on the VAKT network. 2023 saw great progress in this regard, we integrated new customers and trade volumes increased substantially. 2024 is looking even better, we will have even more customers by the end of the year, and will have broken into new markets. We are already seeing vessel transactions beginning to flow onto VAKT, which is an exciting milestone for the company.

ComTech Advisory: What are the aims and objectives of VAKT now?

Tasja Botha: The main objective is to deliver more and more value to our customers and to the industry. VAKT is well positioned to become the operating system of energy trading, we are focused on delivering value for our customers, and in so doing, increasing the virality of the VAKT offering.

One of the ways we are achieving this is by implementing a sophisticated AI model that facilitates seamless communication between counterparties and service providers, whether they are on or off the VAKT platform. This advancement is crucial for fostering a fully connected energy trading industry, and it’s on the horizon. When released it means that inspectors, terminals, other counterparties will be able to send data onto the VAKT platfrom as easily as they send emails today.

ComTech Advisory: What are the key products/services offered by VAKT and how have they been accepted by the industry?

Tasja Botha: We offer two key services, vSure and vLogistics. vSure is a confirmation facility for and vLogistics is a logistics management offering.

Both have been taken up well by our clients and are scaling nicely, but we want to go further. This year we expect to launch new markets outside of oil and we are also investigating new product offerings where our expertise in AI and blockchain can be put to good use.

ComTech Advisory: One of the key difficulties in commodities is access to trustworthy data and this has driven many initiatives across the industry, what does VAKT offer in terms of integrating reliable and usable data?

Tasja Botha: We’re also keenly aware of the cyber attacks the industry has fallen victim to over the years, not just harming the companies involved but also increasing prices for consumers. VAKT helps to reduce the possibility of these events.

ComTech Advisory: Initially, blockchain was a prominent aspect of the VAKT solution, what role does blockchain play in its current solutions and is it still a significant part of the initiative?

Tasja Botha: It certainly is. The private VAKT blockchain provides the means to guarantee the immutability of data on VAKT, and to apply that same immutability to the audit log of actions on VAKT. Plenty happens on VAKT that does not require the use of blockchain technology, but creating data that is tamper proof, delivered in a highly secure piece of software… Blockchain is perfect for this.

Down the line, we will make use of even more of the unique characteristics of blockchain. For example, being able to tokenize shipping documentation, or supporting more accurate carbon accounting. Blockchain and the associated technology will unlock billions in savings for the industry, and we’re excited to have projects which will offer real societal value in our sights. As you can tell, we’re just getting started.

Tasja Botha Chief Executive Officer VAKTAbout Tasja Botha Chief Executive Officer, VAKT

Currently Chief Executive Officer at Vakt, leading their operations and commercial growth around digitalizing inefficient and costly post trade processes across the energy markets.

An executive with experience in transforming and leading revenue generating teams in the financial and commodities industry. Accomplished successful track record of delivering increased performance of Technology and Service businesses across Capital Markets and Commodities. Successfully carved out a business and sold it to a Private Equity firm. My strength is in the breadth of my expertise, driving strategic thinking and managing global sales, marketing, account management and services business, which has allowed me to deliver significant achievement in new business revenue targets across. 25+ years’ experience in technology, with a focus on capital markets, commodities and corporate treasury.

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