2021: Island Leaf Business Development, Operations, and Commodities Trade in Review
The last 12 months proved exciting, nerve-wracking, and pivotal for the Island Leaf Commodities team. Throughout 2021, we transformed our tenure at Island Leaf from part-time side hustles to full-time, most of the time over-time, careers. After a full year of putting in heaps of effort daily, we've grown into a continually learning and constantly evolving commodities trading company.
What compelled us to start our own trade company? With well over a decade of shared industry experience between all members of the Island Leaf team, we decided that we possessed sufficient polymers insight and had a decent-enough-sized network upon which we could build foundations. Thus, our entrepreneurial DNA, combined with our experience in the recycling industry, drove us to pursue starting a trading firm. As 2021 winds down, we've taken the time to reflect upon our accomplishments and would like to share them, as well as the logic behind our current state of operations.
Recycled and Biodegradable Plastics Partners
Over the past 12 months, our network has grown substantially. We have increased our suppliers from a handful in late 2020 to about a dozen now. These suppliers are scattered across Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, Latin America, North America, and Asia. Our product portfolio consists of a multitude of recycled plastic forms.
Not only do we supply clean, high-yield, single-stream plastic bales, we also market washed flake, unwashed flake, and various types of recycled granules and pellets. Our plastics portfolio includes PET, HDPE, LDPE, PC, ABS, PP, and more. In 2021, our first operating year, we exported over 3,000 metric tons of bales, flake, or pellets to end-users.
Additionally, we're very enthusiastic about being the North American Area sales representative for a Taiwan-based manufacturer of a cutting-edge biodegradable polymer. Our manufacturing partner uses a proprietary method and secret formula which implements bamboo to produce this unparalleled and 100% compostable biopolymer. Unlike applications made from PBS and PLA, end products made from this polymer are proven to be 100% biodegradable within 180 days—requiring no special conditions or environment for decomposition.
Simply put, end products made from this bamboo polymer dissolve into the soil as naturally as a discarded banana peel. Our bamboo polymer is injection grade, so its applications include straws, knives, forks, spoons, lids, cups, and food boxes. These end products serve as certified biodegradable solutions to single-use plastic items. Currently, we're working with a company to import this biopolymer to the United States, and we've sent several samples to an array of potential purchasers and partners.
A Traditional Commodities Trading Company
While the Island Leaf team has enjoyed trading, marketing, and developing business in recycled plastics and biodegradable plastics, we also have worked to diversify our product portfolio. What have we specifically done to diversify? We moved into trading traditional commodities such as corn, soybeans, sugar, wheat, and more. In addition, we've been granted access to minerals like iron ore, ferrous, and non-ferrous metals.
Importantly, our primary goal is not to be another broker, trader, or middleman for any sort of commodity in a long and nebulous broker chain. Thus, we tapped into our network and further developed relationships with suppliers, who recommended us to acquaintances with whom they have worked in the past. Finally, after about nine months of relationship-building and demonstrating that Island Leaf Commodities can indeed add value to partner companies, we received an officially mandated seller certification from a significant end seller of Brazilian and American agricultural commodities.
How did Island Leaf grow at such rapid speed in its first 12 months of operation? There's no secret to it—it all boils down to consistently executing a few fundamentals. Experience, the love of our industry, relationship-building skills, hard-work, combined with organizational and business development skills, have all laid the foundations for our success.
The Island Leaf Commodities Trade Philosophy: Build, Don't Burn, Bridges
Some businesses like to concoct a vision, mission, or even a brief statement of goals and define these as their core values. Island Leaf takes a similar approach to customer relationship management but prefers to keep the style simple. So how do you apply a simple approach to customer relationship management? First, reflect on years of experience and then derive a terse yet compelling aphorism that emphasizes adding value as a commodities trading company. We've learned that building bridges and not burning them is the sturdiest foundation upon which to build any company—whether it be engaged in commodities trade, software creation, retail, food and beverage, or services.
One of the main goals of any business is to continue working with clients and suppliers. On the surface, a good working relationship with clients and suppliers increases monetary success for all parties. However, a more subtle yet incredibly profound effect from striving for and maintaining good relationships is the friendships formed and mutual trust built. In our experience, seeking out and finding parties from whom Island Leaf can learn while at the same time developing actual business is the most rewarding part of commodities trading.
While cordial client relationship management seems relatively straightforward, some members of the Island Leaf team have worked for companies in the past that did not have such forward-thinking priorities. For example, some of us have worked for companies that constantly paid balances late, which infuriated suppliers. Unfortunately, the leadership at these companies acted under the fallacious philosophy of "as long as the suppliers get paid, they'll continue to work with us."
Yet, many clients with whom traders had spent long hours developing relationships and negotiating discontinued their business. Not only did these companies for whom some of us used to work lose a partner and a source of revenue, it also made their traders (now Island Leaf employees) feel alienated and unsupported.
Organization and Communication: Structural Steel for Trading Operations
The formula that founders and managers apply when organizing a company is vital to how that specific company will operate on both internal and external levels. First, managers must clearly define roles within the company. Once again, this seems relatively obvious, but one member of the Island Leaf team had a brief stint at a company that lacked organization. Consequently, chronic poor communication, caused by a lack of organization, became a toxic attribute of that company. When that employee left, and landed at Island Leaf, he made it a mission to ensure that Island Leaf operated completely opposite from his prior company.
Operational Organization and Team Communication
Island Leaf views company organization as both an internal (finance, operations, marketing) and an external (business development and sales) task. Thus, we designed our entire organizational structure around internal and external aspects of work. A simple example of generating revenue via trade execution succinctly illustrates how these two parts of the structure work in tandem.
Once parties settle negotiations and agree to a deal, Island Leaf expects its traders to immediately provide the finance department with the information necessary for generating a proforma invoice (PI) and a purchase order (PO). Successful coordination between Island Leaf's internal and external departments requires clear business communication and swift action. Traders must send all pertinent information of each deal to the finance team in text message or email form. Doing this not only keeps track of each project's details, factors, and considerations, but it also records how and when traders communicated with the finance department and vice-versa.
While Island Leaf follows a strictly proprietary SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), the fine details of which we can't divulge in a blog, we'll sum it up in a nutshell. Upon receipt of deal information, Island Leaf expects members of the finance team to immediately create financial spreadsheets, enter the project into our project management software, create invoices and purchase orders, and then send invoices and purchase orders to the buyer and supplier. And, by "immediately," we mean within 20 minutes. In addition, the finance team meticulously controls cash flow, ensuring that Island Leaf pays deposits and balances early enough to avoid missing packing dates and not incur demurrage or detention fees.
Results
Acting on the principles of clear communication and swift execution enhances Island Leaf's professional reputation. It allows for transactions to go smoothly and gives team members a genuine sense of control over their work. If a company does not embrace meticulous and ever-evolving project management, transactions are bound to go sideways, and team members are almost guaranteed to go off in search of greener pastures.
Thus, frequent and precise information rich communication about the status of orders is imperative to keep clients and partners satisfied. Therefore, we thoroughly advocate that all trading firms have a separate team specializing in organization, payments, and project management.
Chasing Expertise: Marketing and Sales
To grow, companies must always chase new business—both new suppliers and new buyers. While most trading companies like to take the traditional approach to sales—tapping networks, cold calling, and cold emailing, Island Leaf employs a rarely used strategy, especially in the world of recycled plastics and commodities trading.
Business Development and Content Marketing
Island Leaf has a team solely dedicated to marketing and business development. This team leverages various social media like Twitter and LinkedIn to grow a professional digital network. It also researches companies using the web, vets them accordingly, and reaches out to them via email and WhatsApp. When the marketing and business development team find clients they believe would gel with Island Leaf's philosophy, we transfer them to the trading team. The trading team then explores options from thereon.
Additionally, Island Leaf publishes a monthly blog (like the one you're reading now) in which we delve into various commodities and world market trends. Publishing a blog keeps us educated about specific topics and helps search-engine optimization for the Island Leaf website.
A true dichotomy between business development/marketing and sales frees up time for the entire Island Leaf team so that everyone can focus on their roles. Moreover, constantly publishing industry-related content keeps us up to snuff with current industry news and trends, and allows us to grow our network in a meaningful way.
Conclusion on Building a Commodities Trading Business
The staff at Island Leaf Commodities has gleaned lessons learned from past mistakes and inefficient systems experienced at other companies to build better project and customer management systems.
However, one key point we always emphasize is striving for our systems' constant evolution. Whenever we believe a process requires a new step, we add it. And, when processes encumber communication and efficiency, we work on eliminating those processes from the system.
ISLAND LEAF'S 5 POINT BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY
1. Relationship Building
2. Industry Knowledge and Market Insights
3. Organization of Product Availability and Payment Due Dates
4. Constant Evolution of Project Management Systems
5. Product Diversification
Our processes have paid off. Island Leaf has successfully transformed into a full-time commodities trading company, with a global basket of partners scattered across several continents. Our efforts at marketing, networking, and relationship-building have also paid off. We are legally mandated sellers for an end seller of Brazilian sugar, soybeans, corn, and barley. In addition, we are the North American Sales Representative for a producer of a biodegradable and 100% compostable bamboo injection-grade polymer.
We are always keen to make quality connections and share information about the latest trends in the recycling industry and commodities trade. Visit our site and see how your company can work with Island Leaf Commodities.
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