"The transparency that the SeedBlink platform offers has been great for building trust with our employees."

Dana Ciuca, HR Director at Agricover.

Context and issue

Manually managing a program is not scalable and is very resource-intensive.

Background: Agricover, a leading group operating in agriculture, offering inputs, financing, technology, and insurance products and services, is committed to innovation and efficiency across its operations. As part of the company's ongoing efforts to automate processes, a key goal was to modernize the management of its Employee Stock Options Plan (ESOP) and move away from manual workflows.

The challenge

In 2022, Agricover introduced its first equity incentives a key component of its long-term retention strategy. The company was relying on Excel and hard copy documents for managing the plan, which was labor-intensive, time-consuming, and cumbersome for the many people they had scattered across the country.

As the organization grew, it became clear that a digital, more scalable and efficient solution was needed to manage the increasing number of beneficiaries, especially those located in different regions.

Solution: SeedBlink Equity, ESOP management module

Agricover turned to SeedBlink’s ESOP management module to fully automate and improve the administration of its stock option plans. The digital tool allowed the company to eliminate paperwork and manage the program entirely online, giving employees easy access to their documents, stock option holdings, and vesting schedules from anywhere via dedicated portals.  

One of the most impactful features of the platform was its real-time dashboards, providing clear visibility and tracking into stock allocations, vesting periods, and personalized data for each employee. The platform also enabled Agricover to seamlessly import previous years' data, making the transition smooth for both the HR team and employees.

Key benefits

With SeedBlink’s ESOP management tool, Agricover achieved full digitization of its program documentation, drastically improving efficiency.  

Gabriela Firan, Agricover’s Compensation Manager, who oversees employee compensation across the Agricover group of companies, including the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP), emphasized the time savings: "The tool has reduced our workload by at least 50%. Having all documents in digital format, in one place and accessible to employees at all times is a huge improvement. Also, the SeedBlink team was instrumental in the onboarding process."

Employees now have a simple and clear view of their stock option benefits, with instant access to the information they need.

The HR Director appreciated the positive impact on employee satisfaction: ‍

"The transparency that the SeedBlink platform offers has been great for building trust with our employees. It’s more than just a tool; it’s helped us strengthen our relationship with our people and made long-term retention more real. At the same time, as an organization, we are looking to automate and digitize as much as possible of our processes, to support scalability and the dynamics of remote jobs, especially important in the agricultural industry,"

‍Dana Ciuca, HR Director at Agricover.

Services and capabilities included

SeedBlink helps ESOP admins simplify setup and day-to-day program management through:

• Complete flexibility in program design, including KPI / time-based vesting.

• Accurate calculations; automated updates on all aspects of stock option grants and vesting schedules.

• Centralized documentation.

Transparency and visibility: clear insight into equity compensation:

• Dedicated, personalized employee portal ensures transparency and confidentiality with simplified visual representation of their ownership.

• People have visibility into KPIs and what their options are worth over time.

• Accessible 24/7, privacy compliant and secure.  

• Dedicated training for employees and administrators to help them understand and deliver on the plan's mission to incentivize, motivate and retain key employees with ownership.

Conclusion

SeedBlink’s ESOP management tool has empowered Agricover to transition from a manual, paper-based process to a fully automated, and scalable digital solution. The result is improved efficiency, greater transparency, and enhanced employee engagement. As Agricover continues its journey toward growth, the company is confident that SeedBlink’s platform will deliver a critical part of its HR success strategy.

Build a culture of ownership and shared mission with an Employee Stock Options Plan that is straightforward to manage, update, and understand. Start your own ESOP with SeedBlink today.

About Agricover

Agricover is one of the leading groups of companies in Romanian agriculture, serving over 10,000 farmers. With 25 years of experience and an entrepreneurial approach to business development, Agricover is a generator of innovative solutions that transform farmers' businesses and lives in the long term. Agricover Holding includes the business lines Agricover Distribution, specialized in the distribution of agricultural inputs, Agricover Credit IFN, a non-bank financial institution specialized in financing farmers and Agricover Technology, through which farmers have access to the latest innovations in agriculture.