Humanising the supply chain
In 2013, Marianne Hughes was just a regular shopper on the High Street in London when she heard about a factory collapsing in Bangladesh. She became fascinated by a question: who made my clothes? Marianne set out to do whatever she could to find an answer.?
She interviewed 100+ other consumers and interviewed top experts and leaders in the field, reaching 3m+ readers of some of the biggest media outlets.?
She ended up working at a factory in China, making 2,000+ trousers a day. This allowed her to finally relate to the worker experience and build trust with managers to share openly with her.
From this experience, she created a start-up in 2018, Kno Global, with experts in manufacturing and trade as investors. It's mission? To humanise the supply chain.
Their approach begins by building community on the ground with factory workers. Using mobile technology and data, they measure employee engagement, and show actionable insights for managers and factories to improve upon. In other words, workers get to have a voice and this helps create a transparent, fair supply chain for all.
Their app allows for 2-way communication between managers and workers. The platform is primarily anonymous, allowing for sharing of suggestions as chosen by the users. We co-create solutions in reaction to the needs of workers in the individual factory. Users can send in content at any time.
They use an algorithm to process and analyse user feedback, producing easy to read reports for managers and brands. Now brands can stay ahead of their risks and factories can track improvements.
Currently operating in Hong Kong, China, India and Vietnam.
Maybe you can make sure your suppliers use the service?
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