Laurèl Borggreve is Finance Lead at Naduvi. In addition to managing finance, she also oversees the legal and HR teams and leads projects for operations. Naduvi, an online outlet for home & living, is growing rapidly with an ambitious goal: to become Europe’s biggest player! In this interview, Laurèl shares the challenges she faces and how she manages to keep all the plates spinning.
A dynamic role in a fast-growing organization
Laurèl currently manages a team of nine people, equivalent to seven full-time employees. Laurèl: “I lead the finance and HR teams and also handle operations projects. I’m responsible for everything from payroll to insurance and employment law matters. Legal also falls under finance, so I sometimes coordinate with lawyers. I also handle queries from suppliers. The variety keeps things exciting and makes my role incredibly dynamic.”
Naduvi works with a unique and sustainable concept: they sell the 20% surplus stock from suppliers. Furniture and other home decor items that would otherwise stay in storage are sold at a significant discount. It’s a win-win for customers, who get a great deal, and for suppliers, who see their stock decrease.
Naduvi operates solely as a webshop — there’s no warehouse. Laurèl and her team are exploring expansion opportunities into other countries, perfectly aligned with the company’s growth ambitions: "Our goal is to become the largest home & living outlet in Europe. We’re well on our way. We’re active in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany and are planning to expand further across Europe. We’re growing fast and now have over 100 employees."
Automating to improve work processes
Naduvi’s growth strategy demands flexibility and creativity, especially when it comes to work processes. Laurèl explains that monthly invoicing for suppliers can be quite complex:
“Because we’re growing, we keep coming up with new elements that need to be included in the invoices. Every supplier has a different contract and specific terms. That’s why we built a model to verify the invoices, but it’s becoming very complex. We’re now developing new dashboards for each supplier that we want to automate. The challenge is to keep checking the invoices properly while keeping the model manageable. Ideally, I want to spend my time analyzing and verifying — not doing manual tasks that could easily be handled by a robot, for example.”
A new Solution for HR and payroll administration
The idea of automating processes was also top of mind when Laurèl started looking for a simpler solution for payroll administration. The accountant she was working with used an outdated system:
“It was my idea to switch to Employes. We were working with an accountant who also handled our payroll, but I often needed to contact them just to make small changes. It was incredibly slow and cumbersome. I wanted to bring payroll in-house because we work at a fast pace and changes happen frequently. We're a start-up, constantly hiring new people, and we need speed and flexibility. So there was a clear mismatch in how we worked together. In the end, I decided to keep using the accountant for bookkeeping but to take care of payroll ourselves. I found Employes through Google. The website had a modern look and feel, and I immediately had a good impression. After a conversation with Rob, I received a demo — and that's when we decided to make the switch.”
"The more you can manage everything in one place, the better. You’re much less dependent on scattered systems or spreadsheets."
Advice for other finance professionals: just go for it
Laurèl has clear advice for professionals considering a switch. “If you’re hesitating to switch because your current system is slow or isn’t working properly, my advice is: just go for it. Maybe you’re worried because you don’t have deep payroll knowledge — I didn’t either. But you can find so much information online, and Employes’ website has plenty of helpful instructions. Plus, the support team really thinks along with you. The tool is user-friendly and works super smoothly. You’ll quickly find your way around, and with the support and guidance available, you’ll be just fine!”
Initially, Laurèl’s team started with only the finance solution. Later, they also added Employes’ HR module. “We first wanted to get comfortable with the finance setup and agreed to explore expansions afterwards. As the team grew, we ended up managing vacations, sick leave, and expense claims in separate Excel sheets. Because we were growing so fast, we decided to add the HR module. We started with a trial period, and because it worked so well, we made the full switch. The more you can manage in one system, the better. You’re much less dependent on separate tools or spreadsheets. My advice? Just go for it!”
Laurèl Borggreve
Finance Lead
Laurèl Borggreve is finance lead at Naduvi. Besides finance, she also manages the legal and HR team and works on operations projects. Naduvi, an online outlet for home & living, is growing fast and has a great ambition: to become the biggest player in Europe! In this interview, Laurèl talks about the challenges in her work and how she keeps all the balls in the air.
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