“We had to react fast to manage the situation. One of the first things we did was get updates from factories on stock and production levels so that we could get this information to our customers quickly – then we looked at how we could release the pressure of imminent …

“Kindness is a word we use a lot at Oliver Bonas. It is in fact right at the heart of our company values to ‘Work Hard, Play Hard and Be Kind’. This means it stretches across Oliver Bonas, from the way we work with our suppliers to how we like …

“Responsible and ethical sourcing is important to our business. Sedex enables us to network and develop new relationships and better links us with our buyers and suppliers. As a supplier in a very remote location, managing relationships is very important to us, and we really value the connectivity the Sedex …

“Many of our construction contractors became a Sedex member and then had a SMETA audit for the first time. This enabled Whitbread to proactively engage with suppliers on ethical issues.”

“Sedex is an easy-to-use source of vital information.”

“The obvious benefit of the Sedex system is that it saves us from completing multiple audits, but the value to the business reaches far beyond that. What really sets Sedex apart from other social schemes are all the other assets that are developed to help members learn and develop. For …

“The benefits Sedex brings to us are being able to have external third-party validation in terms of understanding our supply chain and being able to make measurable goals within that. And to track and improve upon our processes.”

"I think there is so much value in everyone coming together to talk about these really important topics. We may all come from a different place or have larger or smaller organisations, but there is a commonality in the things that we are talking about and finding solutions for."

“We may be newer to the sustainability space than some, but we share the same challenges—navigating complex regulations while ensuring meaningful progress.”

"Howdens is a local business with a global supply chain. It was founded on the principle that the business should be worthwhile for all concerned. The supply chain risk assessment is an essential step to fulfil our commitment that we act responsibly and in a sustainable manner. Radar is a …

“We’re proud to launch this RFC, the first in the flavour and fragrance industry globally. It emphasises the Symrise commitment to responsible sourcing, through tying sustainability performance to financial success – in this case, a financial incentive.”

“Improving education and access to healthcare among vanilla farmers are important objectives in themselves – but they are not philanthropy. We believe that these programmes create shared value, for us and our business partners as well as the communities we work within.”

"Equality is a human right, and every business should be committed to addressing inequality in their supply chains."

"With all the momentum in the ESG space it is really helpful to have these collaborative sessions. Because everyone is getting the same pressure to have answers to these questions around what they are doing with their human rights program, with Sedex, and their supply chain transparency issues. It is …

“We would like to see Sedex become a de-facto standard.”