EGM Foundry puts physical trade into digital form

EGM Foundry has launched as a physical trade, finance, and digital asset infrastructure business, with Patrik Zekkar joining as co-founder after leaving digital trade documentation specialist Enigio.

Zekkar has taken the role of partner at EGM Foundry and is also serving as board member and chief trade infrastructure officer at EG Merchants, the related agricultural commodity trading business. The structure gives EGM Foundry a direct connection to physical commodity flows rather than leaving it as a standalone technology platform.

The company is focused on turning controlled physical trade into financeable, settlement-ready, and tokenisation-ready programmes. Its areas of work include cargo and document control, counterparty intelligence, agricultural supply chains, AI, blockchain, digital assets, and trade finance infrastructure.

Trade technology has often been slowed by the gap between digital tools and the physical movement of goods. Electronic records, blockchain systems, and finance workflows can reduce friction, but only where they are tied to reliable cargo control, ownership evidence, verified counterparties, enforceable documents, and settlement processes that work across jurisdictions.

Agricultural commodities provide a demanding proving ground for that model. Goods move across borders, quality and origin can affect value, documents carry legal weight, counterparties need checking, and finance often depends on control over goods that are still moving through the supply chain. Digital infrastructure has to match those realities rather than sit above them.

The movement away from paper-based trade has already reached legal and operational pressure points, with electronic trade documents now running into questions of enforceability, liability, and cross-border recognition. EGM Foundry’s focus on physical trade infrastructure sits inside that transition, where digitisation is becoming less about document format and more about trust, control, and execution.

Tokenisation adds another layer. Interest in real-world assets has risen sharply, but trade-backed digital instruments need verified goods, robust governance, and a clear route from cargo movement to financial settlement. Without those controls, tokenisation risks becoming another label attached to weak underlying processes.

EGM Foundry’s connection to EG Merchants could help avoid that weakness by giving the business access to actual commodity movements and commercial trading requirements. Cargo control, document management, counterparty due diligence, and settlement discipline are not peripheral functions in physical trade; they are the basis on which finance can be structured.

The appointment also shows how expertise is moving between trade finance, logistics, commodities, and fintech. Zekkar’s background in digital trade documentation and EG Merchants’ exposure to agricultural flows give EGM Foundry a mix of document infrastructure and physical commodity experience.

Digital trade will be judged increasingly by whether it reduces financing friction, improves visibility, and strengthens control over real goods. EGM Foundry enters the market at a point where novelty is no longer enough. The systems that gain traction will be those that connect technology to cargo, documents, counterparties, and settlement without losing sight of how trade actually moves.