Sedex Conference 2018 London concludes

Washim Mia, Staff Correspondent: The long expecting Sedex Conference 2018 has been just concluded at the iconic venue The Brewery, London. The two days long conference was dated on 13^th and 14^th of March 2018. The theme of this year’s event focused on “Impact through Leadership” defining ‘Beyond Compliance’ in Responsible Sourcing.’. The splendid event was hosted by Martine Croxall, the internationally famous BBC news presenter and journalist.

The event was jam-packed with the presence of more than 650 delegates coming from over 45 countries. It became an opportunity for them to share their views and ideas and to network with respective business entities.

The conference was started with the welcome speech of Mr. Jonathan Ivelaw Chapman, CEO- Sedex. In his address, he introduced the theme “Impact through Leadership” defining ‘Beyond Compliance’ in Responsible Sourcing’ and discussed on the various schemes of working with the relative parties.

There was also an announcement of award winners, panel discussions, panel debates on whose responsibility to go beyond compliance, sessions to drive action to sustainable supply chains, networking dinners and many more.

Sedex awards are handed over to their members as a recognition for the fantastic work worldwide. This year also, four Sedex members based on four categories were awarded in the conference. From the category of ‘Most Innovative New Program’, Laborlink (USA), for “Best Collaborative Effort”, James Cropper (UK), for “Best New Program Implemented”, Clas Ohlson (Sweden) and for “Best example of Continuous Improvement”, Mondelez (USA) had been the winners.

The conference became even more attractive with the overwhelming speeches from the greats including Marco Baren – Head of Supplier Quality, Supplier Development and Supplier Sustainability- Philips, Professor Stephanie Barrientos – Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Baptiste Carriere-Pradal – Vice President, Europe at Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Linda Ampah – Founder and CEO, KAD Manufacturing Limited, Rob Chester – UK Managing Director, NSF International, Professor Steve Evans – Professor, Cambridge University, Henrietta Lake – Sainsbury’s, Mark Robertson – Senior Vice President, Ethical Toy Program, Avedis H. Seferian – President & CEO, Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), Tom Smith – Director of strategy, Walmart and some other world famous speakers.

Sedex conference 2018 ended emphasizing on the vision of demonstrating that ethical garment manufacturing should be the norm through delivering cost-competitive  quality products whilst ensuring workers are respected, empowered and paid the living wage.