marketdojo is a pioneering software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that offers professional, intelligent and easy-to-use Online Negotiation software at commoditised pricing through our unique adoption of the best of todays ‘cloud’ technology.

Alun Rafique and Nick Drewe are two of the founding directors, and you can read a short description of their previous careers which has put them in a great position to understand the market and create an innovative company with fantastic possibilities for the future.

Alun Rafique

After starting out working as an Aeronautical engineer, Alun soon moved into procurement as a buyer, then senior buyer for Rolls-Royce, principally involved in buying indirect parts for one of the assembly plants. He expanded his procurement skills working on an inventory stores management solution for the MoD whilst working for PWC. Alun developed his skillset further to include sales and account management by selling engineering software solutions and obtained the position of UK Sales Manager in his final role in that sector.

His next role combined the skills of engineering, buying, consultancy and software sales to take a role with Vendigital as an account manager, selling and managing projects in the e-sourcing sector. However, Alun is now taking on his most exciting role as a Director at marketdojo.

Nick Drewe

Upon graduation from Bristol University with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Nick joined Vendigital, a niche Procurement Consultancy offering cost reduction projects and programmes, as well as Reverse Auctions. Nick’s initial role was as a Sourcing Manager, responsible for motivating and managing the suppliers through the tender processes, as well as supporting the cost analysis and auction strategies. After two years Nick was promoted to Project Manager and spent the next 3 years delivering cost reduction projects and programmes on behalf of clients, whilst ensuring they ran on time and on budget. The value of the spend per project ranged between £200,000 up to €20 million Euros and the savings typically achieved were in the order of 26%.

Additional skills gained from these roles included: in-depth auction knowledge across a vast range of spend categories, fully comprehensive understanding of auction software functionality, ability to advise and offer consultation to professionals, running projects on time and on budget, creating thorough RFQ documentation, great analytical and numerical skills and a broad knowledge of the supplier sourcing, including lists of industry-specific supplier databases.