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Willem Drijver and Simon Denayer. © Trustan Whistleblowers: They are important for uncovering wrongdoing, so they deserve protection. A new European directive also guarantees this protection, and the
Willem Drijver and Simon Denayer. © Trustan
Whistleblowers: They are important for uncovering wrongdoing, so they deserve protection. A new European directive also guarantees this protection, and the Antwerp start-up Trustan provides a tool for making reports in a secure manner.
Since February 15, the European Union has been asking large companies to provide an internal reporting channel through which abuses can be reported. A way to ring the bells and one that best guarantees anonymity. Because it is not uncommon for the whistleblower to be dealt with faster than the problem he reported.
How do you go about saying something isn’t in line with your manager’s policy without him knowing it’s coming from you? Willem Drijver and his co-founder Simon Denayer found a technological solution and developed the online platform Trustan. “This way you can report abuse quickly and easily,” says Drijver. “You select the topic, explain the situation in detail and at the click of a button send this information to the responsible person who should follow up on problems. We ensure that the report is completely anonymous, that none of the metadata can be traced back to the complainant.’
Of course it is a SaaS solution. This means that the boss pays (80 euros per month for up to 100 employees, 150 euros for up to 250 employees) for something that he can feel sorry for. But he has to, from Europe. “It is therefore only logical that our system also makes it possible to inform external parties about the complaint or to engage lawyers,” says Drijver. “This may be necessary if the respondent is the managing director himself.”
Trustan is still very early days, but after two months on the market there is movement, says the founder. Under the pressure of this new European regulation – companies with less than 250 employees have a short breather until the end of this year – we see more and more companies being convinced. We are now also working intensively on direct sales in order to win more customers.’
With a European regulation, it is not surprising that the ambition is also at this level. This certainly does not stop in Belgium. “We also want to expand our tool further. Our dream is that you can use Trustan for everything to do with corporate culture and, for example, organize anonymous surveys among your employees.’
However, money is needed. So far, Drijver and Denayer have financed everything themselves, but in the near future the entrepreneur will certainly seek outside capital. It is not yet clear via which channel: “It can just as easily be a start-up credit for innovation through VLAIO as any other way. Let’s get our sale going first, then in time it will all sort itself out’.
Since February 15, the European Union has been asking large companies to provide an internal reporting channel through which abuses can be reported. A way to ring the bells and one that best guarantees anonymity. Because more than once, the whistleblower himself is dealt with faster than the problem he reports. How do you go about saying something isn’t in line with your manager’s policy without him knowing it’s coming from you? Willem Drijver and his co-founder Simon Denayer found a technological solution and developed the online platform Trustan. “This way you can report abuse quickly and easily,” says Drijver. “You select the topic, explain the situation in detail and at the click of a button send this information to the responsible person who should follow up on problems. We make sure that the report is completely anonymous, that none of the metadata can be traced back to the complainant.” “Of course it’s a SaaS solution. This means that the boss pays (80 euros per month for up to 100 employees, 150 euros for up to 250 employees) for something that he can feel sorry for. But he has to, from Europe. “It is therefore only logical that our system also makes it possible to inform external parties about the complaint or to engage lawyers,” says Drijver. “It can be necessary if the target of the complaint is the manager himself.” Trustan is still very early on, but after two months on the market things are moving, says the founder. Under the pressure of this new European regulation – companies with less than 250 employees have a short breather until the end of this year – we see more and more companies being convinced. We are now also working hard on direct sales to attract more customers.” “With a European regulation, it is not surprising that the ambition is also at this level. This certainly does not stop in Belgium. “We also want to expand our tool further. Our dream is that you can use Trustan for everything to do with corporate culture and, for example, organize anonymous surveys among your employees.” “But this requires money. So far, Drijver and Denayer have financed everything themselves, but in the near future the entrepreneur will certainly seek outside capital. It is not yet clear via which channel: “It can just as easily be a start-up credit for innovation through VLAIO as any other way. Let’s get our sale going first, then in time it will all sort itself out’.
Matthieu Van Steenkiste
Source: Data News
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