KTC BV – Year-End Statement of our General Manager
As we approach 2025, our General Manager Gasper Marusa is sharing his reflections on 2024, the challenges & the success we observed in this challenging year.
”As we head into the last hours of 2024, I want to share a few words on what this year has meant for us and what you can expect from us in 2025.
2024 was our first full year of operations, as the company was founded only in mid-2023. Had someone asked me a year ago if we would be where we are now, I wouldn’t have believed them. Yes, we had ambitious goals for 2024, but as the months unfolded, it became obvious we would greatly exceed those goals.
For one, I didn’t expect a 6x growth in turnover. Nor did I expect we would grow in terms of people as much as we did. Or that we would be doing cross-trade to the Middle and Far East. Additionally, we finally managed to materialize the long-held idea of donating to good causes that align with our values of sustainability and community support.
Has it been easy? Hell no. To this day, when I tell our story to a fellow businessman, there’s disbelief that one can start and grow a commodity business to several million in turnover without any starting capital. Yet we have proven many wrong.
I am fully aware that along the way, we have not made and are not making everyone happy. Hell, there are even partners who decided to stop working with us entirely. While we regret their decision, that will not deter us from moving forward.
Financial constraints often presented hurdles, but they sharpened our focus on efficiency and strong partner relations. As we address these challenges, we expect to be in a significantly better liquidity position by the second half of Q1 2025.
Finding solutions for distressed cargo, our main business in Europe, is also not without its challenges. This year has shown us that we need to do even more to match the expectations of buyers and sellers of these products, both in terms of quality, costing, and clarity of communication. With the imports of specialty commodities in Europe still growing, we expect the volume of distressed cargo to grow along with it, and so will the demand for our services. In 2025, we have some exciting initiatives in the pipeline to improve these areas.
Looking ahead to 2025, we have some exciting plans. In Q1, we expect to: start our employee well-being program; substantially improve our liquidity position with three new financial partners (trade finance, factoring, credit facilities); start working with three new colleagues (one of whom will be an AI assistant); visit at least two international food exhibitions; and continue rolling out our new IT infrastructure (CRM, logistics platform, communication apps). Having solidified our foundations in Q1, in Q2 we expect to: significantly increase our cross-trade business from South America to the world; expand our sourcing operations with new custom-made software for our European distressed cargo operations; and start working with at least one more colleague. In Q3 and Q4, we will continue to grow the initiatives of Q1 and Q2, and we expect to finish the year strong with at least 2x turnover compared to 2024. Last but by no means least, in 2025 we expect to donate in excess of EUR 10,000 to good causes.
That said, whether we reach our financial goals is not the most important thing at all. And yes, some will call it a cliché, but I will measure the success of the company not by its financials, but by whether, in 12 months, our colleagues can say we have moved closer to the vision of the company.
I truly believe that our employees are the most important and the only ones responsible for earning the trust of all other stakeholders. Hence, this company is but a vehicle responsible for achieving the maximum possible physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial well-being of our employees. Once we achieve this, by our measure, we will grow into one of the top remote trading companies in the world. We still have a long way to go, but we are very excited to see what the new year has in store for us.
As we embark on 2025, I invite our partners, clients, and friends to
Together, let’s create a world where business success goes hand in hand with employee well-being, innovation, and positive social impact.”
