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Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be.

Scott Lewton and Sophia Rivas Aurea right here with you on Supply Chain now.

Welcome to today's Live stream.

Sophia, how, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great.

Very happy that today in Mexico is going to be a short week because of the holidays and I'm going to the beach for the weekend and plugging and having some time offs, which is something I'm very looking forward to, so.

Well, you deserve it.

I'm not going to have quite the week.

You are, but you deserve it.

You've been working in overdrive.

You've had events and great shows and everything else you're doing over there as you move mountains, you and Andrea.

So it's great to have you today.

And you got to send us pictures of the beach because I bet it's going to be a beautiful scene, huh?

Beautiful scene.

Maybe a lot of people, but well, anyway, I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

I know you will.

I know you will.

Well, speaking a lot of fun, we've got a great show here today.

We're going to really enjoy, folks, it's the Buzz where Every Monday at 12 noon we discuss a variety of news and developments across supply chain and global business.

And Sophia, we got a lot of neat topics here today, starting with the gummy bear supply chain.

Don't mess with our gummy bear supply chain.

Stay tuned for that.

The innovative humanoid industry coming into our homes.

Stay tuned on that.

And we're also going to be sharing resources and updates.

And even better than all that, at about 12:15pm Eastern time, we've got a very special guest, dear friend, joining us.

That's Tim Nelson, CEO of Hope for justice and Slave Free Alliance.

And Sophia, I tell you what, just our pre show conversation and just a couple things that Tim shared with us in the green room.

There were some powerful, powerful moments, huh?

I think this might be the first bus I cry on and I'm very sorry for the audience, but I do feel like this is such a sensitive topic that we'll be discussing and also very moving and it's very dark, but I think Tim is always going to show us the light in it, which I hope that's the feeling that you get out of the show and also that powers you to take action.

Yes, well said, Sophia.

And I agree with you.

I think it's a good way of putting it.

A lot of darkness out there, but there are shining beacons of light like Tim and his organization that are helping change lives every day.

So stay tuned for a very powerful segment here on the Buzz.

Speaking of, we've got a lot of On a much lighter note, I should say, no pun intended.

Okay, two things before we get going on this outstanding edition of the Buzz, folks.

Hey, share your take in the comments, what we're talking about, whether you're tuned into via LinkedIn or YouTube or X Facebook, Twitch, no matter, let us know what you Sophia, if folks enjoy the show today, they should share it with their friends and their families and their networks and this will be a good one to do just that, right?

Correct.

Please do follow us everywhere and do comment.

I think these Buzz editions on Monday are a great opportunity for you to share your thoughts and also connect with people that are also interested in topics like this one and others that we touch on.

So I think this is a great networking opportunity as well.

I'm with you, Sophia.

Well said.

And hey, if we have Sophia Rivas Herrera's endorsement, we're doing the right things here on the Buzz.

So great to have everyone along.

Let's do this.

There's two things I want to share and talk about before Tim joins us.

And folks, stick around.

Tim Nelson with Hope for justice and Slave Free alliance will be joining us in about 10 minutes.

So let's do this.

First off, over the weekend, Sophia, we dropped our latest edition of our almost weekly newsletter, which with that said, we hit on a ton of topics as usual, starting with a wonderful conversation we had on the last installment of the Bridge, where we dialed in on the value of not only diversity but inclusivity in our supply chain organizations.

Let's see, we offered resources from our friends at Koopa and Zebra, and we touched on the latest episodes from both Logistics With Purpose and Sophia's masterpiece, the Supply Chain now in Espanol.

And we shared a variety of live upcoming programs as well as new Tango Tango Podcast, which is the newest chapter of our veteran Voice His Mission.

So Sophia, did you happen.

I know you were able to catch up on some R and R over the weekend and get that rest, but did you happen to read through with that said?

Yes, I have a couple comments.

Okay, one, I love the piece on Boom.

And then I also read a post from Beth Morgan, the founder.

Yes.

And she's stepping down and leaving her position to someone else because she's embarking on another Journey.

So although I'm very sad that Beth is no longer going to be at boom, I'm very excited to learn what's this new upcoming thing that she's doing because I feel like it's going to be interesting and also very powerful because everything that Beth does is with a lot of passion.

So that's something interesting.

The other thing is with the logistics, with purpose.

Latest episodes, I don't know if you've seen them, but most of them are around B Lab or B Certificates for companies.

So if you haven't read about what is B Corp, what is B Lab, I really encourage you to do so because all through March it was the B month.

And this is all around certifications and empowering companies to be driven by purpose and having a positive social and environmental impact.

So I think those are things that in Supply chain we need a lot.

And perhaps there are a lot of companies that do know about this, but not necessarily so tied into sourcing distribution, manufacturing.

So I feel like we need to amplify that message alongside.

You did dive in.

I am impressed as always.

And I also did it because I don't know if people notice, but now there's a Spanish section in the with that scent.

That's mainly because of our program of Supply Chain now in Espanol.

But yeah, I loved it.

I loved it that it's in Spanish.

I don't know if it throws people off, but Feed is an opportunity to learn a new language.

Yes.

If you don't understand, then just hit Translate and you'll see everything in English.

Take it as a duolingo lesson.

Yes, you know that's right.

It's an opportunity, as you put it.

And what Sophia is referring to is regularly we include kind of highlights, a description of the latest supply chain now in a spaniel episode, which hopefully folks will see that and say, oh, I want to learn a lot more.

And then they'll click and check out the whole episode.

And our team, Sophia, works on our bilingualism with each of those Spanish segments, as you mentioned.

And you know what?

We need to grow it.

We need to have a Spanish version of what that said.

Stay tuned, folks.

It's coming.

We do have it on Supply Chain now in Espanol.

Yes.

It's not necessarily the same.

You know what?

Let's do this.

You're talking about your newsletter associated with, right?

Let's see if before the end of today's episode we can drop a link to that newsletter in the chat so we can share it with everyone here.

How's that sound, Sophia, that sounds amazing.

Please do share your thoughts about it.

We're constantly improving, constantly adding new things.

And yeah, it's a monthly newsletter for now, but who knows, one day we'll be like wts and sharing every week.

Almost.

Almost.

I'll tell you, as you know, Sophia, it is a lot to really pour your time and your hard work and your brain power into anything written, especially a regular newsletter.

That is a ton of work.

But hey, we get lots of great feedback and that's why we keep doing it.

So, Sophia, really quick, we're gonna hit one more story before Tim Nelson joins us and then we wanna do a couple of things.

First off, I wanna pull yalls attention to there's a link to.

With that said right there, we're gonna drop the link to Sophia's newsletter here before the end of the show, I promise you.

And then second thing, I wanna call out, you see that tight wire that individual is walking.

I think all of global supply chain can maybe rel second.

All right, so let's do this.

We're going to talk about candy supply chain.

Before Tim joined us and Sophia kind of related to that tripwire act, the high wire act.

We were just pointing out Taylor's tons of uncertainty still in terms of the global trade landscape.

Right.

There have been lots of mixed signals, I call it in terms of communication from the White House, lots of shifting sands.

We got more of that over the weekend where certain carve outs were announced.

You got to tune in every hour, I think.

But as Business Insider reported, Sophia, one candy company is is navigating the tariff landscape successfully.

Tell us more about that.

So this news is nice and I like it because of the topic of candy supply chain.

But just let's take it a bit pragmatically and objectively because the strategy that Haribo or you know, this German manufacturer of one of their most famous candy is the gummy burst.

Ah, you see, Sophia, everyone has enjoyed these gummy bears, I bet, at least 27 times in their lifetime.

But I digress.

Tell us more.

The thing is like this Business Insider published this news in which they say like Haribo has a great strategy against tariffs because they have a manufacturing center in Wisconsin to just produce all the candy that is consumed for the US market.

So therefore they won't be impacted by all these changes in our exports and imports.

But then again, it's like, okay, of course it is a great strategy.

But they didn't decide this just by listening to the latest news of last week.

Right.

This has happened from way before.

So I think like, yes, of course we can learn from them and understand that, okay, maybe tailoring our manufacturing centers to, to certain regions and not shortening our supply chains to serve certain markets, obviously it's a great strategy.

But I do feel like, of course, you cannot do this right now for your supply chain because you cannot out of nowhere pop a manufacturing center and start serving the US for example.

Right.

So if you didn't do it before, don't be discouraged if you don't have it now.

But, and I think I've said it in another buzz a couple of weeks ago, but trying to solve these instability and changes with your network, your physical network, might not be the best strategy right now in the long term.

Of course.

Yes.

But if you want to start trying to mitigate the tariff impact on your supply chain, maybe focus on other quick wins.

Well said, Sophia.

Well said.

And I want to add a couple points and I'm glad you brought this up.

And folks, you can go check.

It's like a three or four minute reel, which is very informative.

Business Insider does a great job.

We dropped a link there in chat, but I think one of the challenging things that is stymying a lot of decisions is there's a lot of confusion and uncertainty in terms of what the end game is like.

And as a leader, Mary Barra, which General Motors said, I'm a paraphrase, this we've mentioned a couple times.

We're not going to invest billions and billions of dollars when we're uncertain about what the eventualities look like.

Right.

So it's creating all this uncertainty.

But to the story that Sophia pointed out a couple things because Haribo, I love my Gumm bears.

And maybe on a lighter note here, but Haribo opened their first US factory in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin in July 2023, very fortunately for them.

And things went so well that in 2024 the company happened to triple its warehouse space and expanded its facilities.

And all that's great for Haribo and all that's great for the consumers of their US made candies.

However, the candy industry.

Sophie, we're talking about some preacher a little bit.

Let me hit hard in the coming weeks, given all the tariffs, at least at 12:17pm Eastern time, we'll see what one brings us.

But get this, I was reading the foodmanufacturing.com.

sophia, you know the Snickers bar, right?

Sophia, the Snickers bar, yes.

Okay.

It's one of my favorites.

I've got a big old weakness for snickers bars.

And you know, they're made at least according to food manufacturing, they're made in the US And Texas.

However, you may be thinking, oh great, at least my delicious Snickers treats aren't going to cost me more.

But it's ingredients.

And Sophia, we're preaching to the choir because we got the smartest audience in all of global supply chain.

It's ingredients for our beloved Snicker bars.

Chocolate comes from Guyana, sugar from Brazil.

Brazil.

Packaging from our friends up in Canada.

And all those inputs are going to be costing more.

Yeah, and maybe the gummies as well.

Maybe we're not looking at a complete story here.

I don't know where they're bringing all the ingredients and packaging to produce in the U.S.

so yeah, it's going to be interesting.

I do feel like because of all the main people that will start suffering these impacts are the consumers, then maybe there's this hope for these tariffs not lasting long.

I'm equally as hopeful.

You used a great word earlier, pragmatic.

I'm a very, very pragmatic person and I'm very practically optimistic that we can get through.

We can create a lot of deals that's good for the whole ecosystem and all of global supply chain because whether it's candy or automotive, we live in a very global supply chain ecosystem.

So we'll see where we go from here.

Good stuff.

Sophia.

Hey, really quick, I want to.

Hey, Nadine, stay tuned.

Nadine says a great comment.

He hopes one day that supply chain now will also cover topics on the Middle east supply chain development.

Hey, we're coming.

Nadeem, Stick around and stay tuned for more programming.

And then T Squared, our buddy who holds down the Fort Force on YouTube, based up in Baltimore, says this is good nourishment and discourse on a massively misunderstood issue.

Yes, T Squared.

And one final thing before we bring on Tim, Sophia, the general public, I'll call it globally, has learned a lot more about global supply chain.

That was one of the silver linings of the pandemic.

However, I think we are discovering that there's a lot of still misunderstanding about how global trade works here in 2025.

Would you generally agree with that?

Sophia?

I do.

And I've also been seeing a lot of news and, well, in social media, a lot of people encouraging consumers to buy everything before tariffs apply to your products.

So how good is to have, I don't know, a thousand bananas in your kitchen, Right.

Will you eat them all?

Will you really?

Is it worth causing all this panic around not having bananas?

At the supermarket or.

And I'm just saying one product.

Right, right.

Again, I feel we need to be smarter and calmer.

Yes, of course, if certain things, the price goes higher, we will shift to other products so that we keep feeding ourselves.

Yes.

And I think the pressure of also asking your government to lower prices will also help for them to not be sustained in the long run.

But panic buying, I think, I thought we learned about it.

I thought, I thought that we don't need all that toilet paper.

I'm with you folks.

Don't give in.

Don't lose your mind.

Don't give in to any kind of sense of panic or anxiety.

Just state a path.

Just wait until we get all the facts.

So don't give in.

And for all the planners out there, if you see that peak, just ignore it.

You should not use it for your forecast.

Ignore it.

Keep leaving.

Yeah, we need a whole podcast series on what we've been experiencing over the last couple weeks, even a couple of days.

But hey, stay tuned on that, guys.

Folks, we have got an outstanding guest, outstanding global business leader, a dear friend of Supply Chain now here joining us on the buzz here today.

So Tim Nelson brings a wealth of action oriented leadership experience to the table.

You've seen him here on Supply Chain now on a variety of programming.

We love his passion, we love his mission and we love what Tim and his organization are doing to change lives for the better all around the world.

Let's welcome in Tim Nelson, CEO of Hope for justice and Slave Free Alliance.

Hey.

Hey Tim.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing really well.

Thanks so much for having me on.

As much as you love what, what my organization does, we love Supply Chain now.

So it's an absolute real privilege to be on with you today and hear you what you're talking about as well.

Tim, that makes our day.

And I really enjoyed Sophia and Tim our green room conversation or pre show conversation.

We should have recorded that.

And I appreciate what you shared which we may bring up later in your segment.

But I want to start with this.

I want to start on a high note.

So folks, if you are a golf fan, you saw over the weekend an incredible final round of the masters where Rory McElroy won not only the Masters, which is a big deal, right?

That and I think 4.2 million dollar payday or something like that anyway.

But better yet, he was the sixth person to win the grand slam so he's going to be hall of famer already.

Tim, we learned in pre show that you and Rory came from the same neck of the world, is that right?

Absolutely.

And I've heard it on the down low that Rory's actually donated his entire payday to a charity off the bat into kind of make a bigger impact.

But he's born and brought up in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland only has a couple of million people.

So it feels like anybody from Northern Ireland winning is we're the same team, everyone's together.

So, you know, absolutely delighted for Rory, for his family and for everything he's been wanting to do and just feels like he's hit that massive threshold that I think the last person to do it was Tiger Woods.

So, yeah, good on you, Rory.

Oh, good on him for sure.

So, speaking of sports, Tim and Sophia.

Sophia, as we were talking pre show, we learned something new about Tim.

So, Tim, I saw somewhere in the social media land that you played water polo and swam competitively in college.

How did you get into those sports?

We've never talked about that.

Yeah, well, I grew up in kind of an unusual family, but the school I went to had sports and give us options that you wouldn't normally get in the average school.

So one of the things that I went into was water polo and I got to captain the school team, went on to play it at university and kind of didn't quite reach the national team, but I got very, very close.

Wow, that is remarkable.

Tim, on a future appearance, we're going to dive into all that and get all the stories there.

But Sophia, talking water sports, before we get into a lot of good stuff, we're going to talk with Tim about are you big into water sports, Sophia?

I don't drown.

I think I said it.

No, my family decided that ballet was a better choice and I did ballet for like, like 20 years.

I almost got into deciding to be a professional ballerina, but then I chose supply chain.

So I'm here.

And that's all she wrote.

Well, Sophia, you can't be world class at everything.

And so, you know, you're so you do really well everywhere else.

I would just add Tim and Sophia.

I was a legendary hall of famer when it comes to shark and minnows in the pool back as a kid.

And of course, Marco Polo.

Those were highly competitive games back in my childhood.

I thought you were going to say that you were a legendary at eating gummy bears.

Probably so.

Probably so, Tim.

I love my gummy bears.

But anyway, Tim and Sophia, we got a lot of stuff to get into here today and unfortunately it's not all good news.

But if we don't talk about it.

If we don't lean into the conversations, we're not gonna know about it and we're not gonna do anything about it.

And Tim, I really appreciate over the course of many years how you have educated our team here on some really important life changing topics for that matter.

So, Tim, we've got a big audience, a new audience since your last appearance.

So what I want to do to level set a bit, would you tell us a little bit more about yourself, especially professionally, as well as what Hope for Justice and Slave Free alliance does?

Yeah, thanks so much.

So my background, I grew up in Northern Ireland and I thought I was going to be a stockbroker.

So I went to university to specialize in technology and when I got offered those jobs, decided to stay where I was and go into banking.

So I had this background in banking and technology and I was sitting as an offshore investment trust advisor in the States and I was on a night out in Los Angeles and a friend of mine introduced me to a chap who, when I asked him what he did, he told me he was a slave hunter.

And he told me about this issue.

He had been in Mumbai the week before and he was on the phone to Condoleezza Rice, who's working for the Bush administration.

And his challenge to me was this isn't just going on in India, it's going on all over the world.

It's going on where you live.

And I came back to the UK and I met a group of individuals.

We came together at the end of 2007.

We launched the charity in the April and we did our first event hiring an arena in the November.

And since then we've grown Hope for Justice.

Now working across the world, we've got four big countries that we operate in.

One would be the us, one would be the uk, another would be Ethiopia and Uganda.

But our focus is effectively to see freedom come to so many people all across the world.

Talk about a consequential mission, Sophia, when you jump out of bed every morning, to bring freedom to the rest of the world and really change people's lives.

I'm not sure if you can top that.

Your thoughts, Sophia?

It's an issue, as Tim said, that happens everywhere in the world and that perhaps we don't know about because we kind of turn our blind side to it.

And imagine that is something that has been resolved many years ago.

It's also something that it's very close in Mexico that we see it.

And perhaps today we're going to learn more ways on how can we actively not help, I would say, but act on it.

That's right.

Bring it to an end.

And to your point, Sophia, we were talking about this a little bit earlier as well.

It is everywhere.

It is everywhere.

In fact, just over the weekend, the ajc, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which is the Atlanta based biggest newspaper probably in the state, was reporting on how Georgia authorities in our home state uncovered a massive forced labor ring.

And so it truly is everywhere.

Right up under our nose, unfortunately.

So Tim, what I'd love to do, we're we are big data hounds around here, especially all across global supply chain share any recent data on modern slavery.

So our audience can really wrap our heads around this global travesty.

Yeah.

So just to give you context of the global picture, across all forms of modern day slavery, there are estimated now to be just short of 50 million people internationally that were held in some form of modern day slavery.

And a key part of within that is labor exploitation.

And we're seeing those cases grow significantly not just in the U.S.

but across the world.

Just to give you localized context, it's estimated there are over a million individuals who are held in some form of slavery.

And we've seen that in areas like sexual exploitation in domestic servitude, but in this case in labor trafficking, like you're mentioning that case in Atlanta about, I think it was actually 40 miles north of Atlanta.

There were 60 individuals from a flooring manufacturer.

The interesting thing for the authorities in that particular case, for me, was they described the conditions as horrific that these individuals were being held in.

And that's what we see.

The traffickers themselves are only really interested in the money that they can make.

It's supposed to be the second biggest crime internationally after drug trafficking because you can only sell a kilo of cocaine once, but you can sell an individual time and time and time again.

And for many people who are held in some form of slavery, they're held not just for a day, a week, a month, they're held for years.

Our longest that we've had someone rescued from.

In the US we had a victim who was held for 39 years as a domestic slave.

And that's in Los Angeles, that's not in Southeast Asia, that's in the US and that's why we don't just need to have a kind of anecdotal approach to this.

We need to have a thought through professional approach.

And those numbers that we're starting to see grow internationally for identification, our ability to be able to pinpoint really where those individuals are coming from.

And those cases that you hear about, I think there was another case that came through with a legal challenge against a company in California recently called Bumblebee, and that was around Indonesian tuna fishing.

And how there was individuals who themselves brought that legal challenge in the US Based on the conditions that they were faced with within their supply chains.

We're seeing this.

You know, you talked about the tariffs.

We're now seeing that interconnected world linked directly into where modern day slavery happens.

And certainly because of tariffs now, we're seeing decisions that are being made for people to shift supply.

But the problems are the due diligence and the processing to find where those victims are is not being carried out effectively.

So you might move, move to avoid tariffs to be beneficial economically for the company, but then off the back of it, you're engaging the company into high risk, potential exploitation within your supply chains.

And then that also brings with it the threat of potential legal challenge.

But the numbers themselves at this stage are more people that are held in some form of slavery than there have ever been at any point in time in human history.

So the scale problem is frightening.

Tim and Sophia.

It's shocking, it's surprising, and it's depressing, you know, because as Sophia said earlier, you know, so many folks out there, there, including me at an earlier point in my career, thought that slavery, we had gotten past it.

But it is, as Tim just said, perhaps more than anyone ever before.

50 million people estimated today, that could be conservative.

Who knows?

And then the other thing I want to call out for, get Sophia to weigh in, is 39 years.

Tim, I hear that, right.

He had one individual that was held for 39 years in forced labor conditions.

Sophia.

Oh my gosh.

It is mind boggling the scope and the prevalence of this travesty, huh?

It is.

I think it's also important to highlight what Tim was mentioning about the role of our supply chains in this and how do we take ownership of this.

If our only motivation is to pursue a way to lower cost and ignore what that might mean actually, then are we doing the right thing?

What's the actual cost of our decisions?

Right.

Right.

And another thing is we can see this also as an opportunity.

Right.

If we are very conscious about who our partners are, in which conditions do they work or who are we also, for example, evaluating in this RFQ or selection process, then we can also help identify who falls short in these, I would say human values.

Right.

Or standard words.

And then maybe start also helping in this process of.

Yeah.

Fighting these people.

Sophia.

You make such a great point into.

We got to get better at making more holistic decisions.

Right?

And even when we think what I heard, one of the things you shared there, Sophia, is when, even when we think we're making a holistic decision, we're fooling ourselves.

And one of the reasons is what you and Timbo spoke to.

When we start shifting production around the little bit of clarity and visibility that we have fought so hard for using tech, using processes, using this, that and the other, we kind of go backwards and we lose some of that.

And that's certainly a threat that's probably driving new numbers is my hunch.

But Tim, Sophia wrapped her response there on certain measures we can take specifically in supply chain.

And that's where I want to link it to a great new program that y'all have rolled out that we're going to talk more about.

But before we talk about the program, any last word, Tim, do you want to share before we talk about the SFA endorsed program?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, the one thing with this is it's quite a dark subject.

So it potentially brings people to a position where they're uncomfortable, they're uncomfortable of the impact that they can make.

And I think for me, you've got to understand that we would estimate that all businesses have between maybe 70 to 80% of those businesses have some form of modern day slavery within their supply chain.

So what makes you a good or bad business is not whether you have it, it's whether you're prepared to look and what will you do when you find it.

And I think we've seen some massive shifts this last year across the work that we're Slavery alliance and the program that we have in working with major multinational corporations to help them remove slavery from their supply chain, we're seeing more and more companies starting to address this.

And we've worked with hundreds of companies now who are working on a global basis.

But we've also seen some great initiatives that we've been able to focus on this last year, Congressman Smith and Congressman Krishnanuthi have come together on a bill that we've been working on for three and a half years in the US which will now mandate every, every hotel in America to have mandatory human trafficking training and initiatives like that, which is about 200,000 hotels suddenly en masse.

An entire industry will help in the fight that we're talking about.

And as Sophia said, in terms of Those decisions that CPOs are making or that businesses are making themselves, they're choosing where they're going to get those products from.

And price and quality are always going to be the most important issues that people are seeing.

But they're not the only.

And we would engage with those individuals who actually are prepared to take a stand on this, because it doesn't need one of us to do this.

It needs all of us to do this collectively.

And that kind of relentless nature that we need to have is not just a spasm of passion.

We need long obedience in the same direction.

Yes.

If there's anything to be relentless about, truly relentless, not lip service relentless, it would be freedom, which you shared on the front end.

So let's get real practical, or as Sophia used that great word, pragmatic.

I love when we have pragmatic conversations because it can help everyone determine how to take action to correct these blights on industry.

So let's talk about the SFA endorse program.

Tim, what is it?

How does it work and what impact are y'all looking to make with it?

So SFA Slave Free Alliance.

We work across the board with those multinational companies to try and help them.

But a clear point that we've been talking about today is about supply chain visibility and being able to pinpoint within your supply chain where the issues are.

And many of you will know that there are many, many technologies that are out there to try and help support and make an impact in supply chain in.

But what we've realized is that all of them aren't as good as each other.

Being able to address this issue and as a result of it, what we've wanted to do is both help the individual company into determining which is the right system to go with, but also to help those individual tech platforms to be able to show who are the best in class.

So one of the things that we've looked to try and do is to say, look, if we come on board to say that someone is endorsed, it comes with all the weight that we have have of working with major multinational companies.

But it also comes as an independent voice saying that these are the right companies to go to.

Because some of the companies themselves are not using the relevant data, Some don't go far enough to be able to address those human rights violations and are able to pinpoint with accuracy where the problems are.

So if you take a company like we described with Bumblebee and they're trying to dig into their supply chain, they're trying to understand if you have the right technology platform that's endorsed, then you'll know that if your company is engaging within supply chains, you'll have better visibility on what the risks are that you're dealing with and you can address those risks effectively.

So for us with SFA endorsed, we're trying to say these should be the companies that people are saying are the best in class for technology platforms.

And hopefully it will focus people's attention so that they make the right decision in purchasing the right technology platform that can address this issue.

Issue, Tim, with the SFA endorse program, we'll get Sophia's comments in just a second, but I've been doing some reading up on it and I see that y'all have got some early adopters that see the value and are getting behind this program.

Maybe nothing you can share publicly or maybe you can.

Tim, we would say go to our website as the key driver for most people, because what we want to try and do is we want to work in a way that people know where to go to so that they have signposts on, on who are the right companies to go with, who are the ones that we can endorse.

And we also want it for those people who have tech platforms that they're approaching us and enabling us.

So we would always drive people to the website slavefree alliance.org to be able to help or if people want to go directly to the charity's website, hopeforjustice.org, but I think as much as we possibly can on this initiative, it's those people who are really pinpointing where the problems are.

And they're saying, right, we're in a position now where we realize we need this to address the legislation that's changing internationally.

We would say definitely pick a tech platform.

Part of the reason why we've pulled back from doing a technology platform ourselves is because the scale and scope of some of the technology systems, where hundreds of millions of dollars have gone in to support these systems, we can't replicate.

But what we can do is we can be the almost intel chip to try and say which are the right ones to go with.

Love that.

So, folks, we're going to talk about this again, but just want to make sure you all have it.

Hopeforjustice.org and slave freealliance.org and especially the latter one, which we're dropping up on the screen now, the latter one, if you're really interested in the SFA endorsed program that Tim is sharing.

So, Sophia, we're going to talk about some good news, some real good news anecdotes and stories from the front lines here with Tim in just a second.

But Sophia, this Program sounds like a winner to me.

How about for you?

It does.

It sounds like you're matching supply chain professionals with the right tools in order to.

I would only like to know a little bit because we've talked about the importance of.

And you've said it, Tim.

You said something like, are you prepared to look?

So how do we prepare ourselves to look?

Because, well, imagine we get matched with the right technology and now we have the tool to actually identify where we're failing.

But how can we.

Yeah.

Embody this problem and approach it in the right way from our culture, in our company?

It's a good question.

I would say that's exactly why we have Slave Free alliance, because most of the time we have people who will go and speak with the major consulting firms across the world and the consulting firms will help them with desktop information and with theory, they'll help them with system.

But it won't necessarily get into this next step, which is how do you practically help if you're a company with 70,000 suppliers, how do you start to do something in that space?

So, yes, you've got a technology platform that gives you that visibility and pinpoints the problems, but that's where the Slave Free alliance team would come on board, come alongside those companies and help them realizing that we're not going to boil the ocean.

We want to be pragmatic about it, we want to be realistic about the interventions that you can make.

But to do that over a longer period of time so that we know that people's budgets, especially at the moment with the tariff volatility, that we're saying that there needs to be a starting point where you go practically.

We want to first of all make sure that we're not doing anything illegal.

We want to deal with anything that from a regulatory point of view internationally, that we're not going to trip hazard.

But then some companies might want to be best in class, some might just want to go beyond what they're doing.

And that's where, you know, we can help them put together a thought through professional approach to this.

We can do gap analysis, which helps them understand how to monitor and evaluate their system.

We can effectively give them the litness on where they're at on this issue and more.

So we also see investment companies now stepping in and asking questions and we're partnering with them so that the investments that they're putting into major multinational companies that they're not actually putting those investments into in and bringing risk on the investments they're doing under human rights.

Tim, I love that I think one of the best parts of this new program and just really part of Yalls mo at the organization is learn from folks that have seen it, have done it and they've helped organizations that are really serious about investing resources and blood, sweat and tears into addressing it once they do find it.

Because as Tim shared, it's everywhere.

It's everywhere.

So it's not about if you find it.

Got strike that from your mindset.

It's about what you do when you find it and you need to partner with experts.

So Tim, admittedly I am a big fan.

You know, we've gone back for quite some time.

I love what the not for profit organization does.

Hope for justice and Slave Free Alliance.

Let's do this.

Sophia.

We talked about folks missed out on the pre show today.

It was a very powerful 20 minute conversation and there's one thing I want to pull out.

I dove into Tim's the organization's annual review and folks, you can go, go again.

We'll drop the sites right there in the chat.

And one of my favorite parts out of all the data is right there at your FingerTips is this one989 children and teenagers just in 2024 that hope for justice and Slavery alliance reunited with their families.

And then the pre show, Tim shared a powerful video of a reuniting family with a lost loved one.

And Sophia, oh my gosh, that was probably the most powerful two minutes I've seen in weeks.

How about you?

I have no words.

I feel there cannot be a way to explain the feeling of certainly knowing that that family member that was missing is back with you because I feel the uncertainty of not knowing it just burns you from the inside out.

Yes, it's overwhelming.

I felt like Sophia, it's overwhelming.

Tim, let's wrap on some good news though because whether it's that reuniting celebration or some of this outstanding outcomes dream driven data that folks can find on your site, any other anecdote or story you can share kind of from the front lines of your team's work.

Yeah, there's loads I could take up more time than anything.

But just to give you scope of what our reach has been this last year that We've reached nearly 150,000 individuals across our programs internationally.

I mentioned about the new bill that's been dropped on hotels, but we've also been in the US We've been digging into trying identifying prisoners who've been trafficked and then find themselves in prison.

And just in the last six months we've trained just over 60,000 prisoners in that space.

We've been pressing in with the work that we're doing with Slave Free alliance and we've been doing a lot more work into trying to helping those companies from a US perspective and from a global perspective.

And some of the companies that are coming on board to partner with are the biggest companies in the world.

If I Look from a UK perspective, we've now got 17 of the top, top 100 companies on board and we need to do the same for the Fortune 500 companies in the US but we're gaining momentum, we're building in depth and strength and just hearing this morning about some of the work that our team are doing out in Australia and building now in terms of getting response from individual major multinationals there.

So it doesn't matter where the company is located, our team are going to try and bring the best response that we possibly can.

But our team works so tirelessly internationally, have a super proud, proud of everyone and what they're doing, the depth, the strength.

We just last week we had a mention in the Houses of Parliament over a debate that was happening.

I think we got mentioned on three occasions in the debate by various members of Parliament talking about the work and the role that Hope for Justice have in being able to help support the team that is responsible within the home office on this issue.

So I feel really honored to be leading the organization, but obviously feel the weight of responsibility with the scale that we have and the need that Slavery alliance needs to work with every major company to address this issue and that no matter what, what role someone has within their company, they can all engage in this and use themselves as a stakeholder to bring change in this area specifically.

Oh Tim, so much good stuff and I'm so glad we wrapped on the momentum and some of the change that you and your team are helping to lead and to garner more and more momentum as we build a hopefully a tidal wave and we'll reach a tipping point to really make more progress Amongst the estimated 50 million people that are caught up in modern day slavery.

So Tim, if folks want to join your mission, support your mission, how can folks do that as well as connect with you and your organization?

So I'd say practically, if anyone wants to connect with me, you can do it on LinkedIn.

Just look up Tim Nelson.

If you want to give to the charity Hope for justice, go to hopeforjustice.org but if you're a business or you're an individual within a business that wants to connect with us, please go to slave freealliance.org and you can connect with us through that mechanism.

If you're a tech platform that's looking to go after SFA endorsed, then certainly contact us through that mechanism as well.

But any questions that you have, any training that you want to get, anything that you want to highlight this issue, please don't feel you can't reach out.

Outstanding, folks.

We can do so much better and we're so thankful, Sophia.

We're thankful that there are Sherpas to help guide our journey to doing better.

Would you agree?

I completely agree.

Okay, big thanks, Tim Nelson, CEO of Hope for justice and Slave Free Alliance.

Connect with Tim Tim support organization or at least hey, grab a chat and exchange and see what Tim and the team are seeing out there.

You'll be better off when you do.

So Tim, thanks for being here and we'll see you next time, my friend.

Thank you so much.

Have a great day.

You bet.

Sophia.

My goodness.

I'm going to ask you a very unfair question because Tim shared a lot of really actionable perspective here today.

But if you had to pick one thing out that Tim shared and just make sure that our audience keeps it front and center, center, what would that be?

I would say that maybe it feels like a problem very far away from where we are, but it's even closer than we think.

So it really moved me what Tim said about be prepared to look.

So when you are prepared to look, then act on it.

And I feel like don't feel hopeless that perhaps you're just a member of a big organization and that you don't have the power to change things.

I think when we shift our minds and rewire our brains into I'm a part of it and I do have an effect that can magnify if I speak up and if I take action, then that's something we should all start doing.

Well said, Sophia.

And I would encourage you to do this too for folks out there that maybe you're looking to build a business case to present to leadership at your organization so that you know the decision makers, so to speak, that can really invest the resources into driving real change for the right reasons.

If you're looking, you know, for more ammunition, so to speak, to build that business case, reach out to Tim and when you do, ask him or members of his team to share these videos of when families get reunited with members that have been lost in some cases, I bet, feared for dead, that will be powerful additions to the data side of the business cases because you we need holistic business cases to really drive change and to get the resources that we need.

So folks, we encourage you.

We've known Tim and the organization for quite some time.

Reach out, start a relationship and report back.

Let us know what you do.

Okay?

Sophia, I wish we had a couple more hours just with you and Tim, but let's do this.

We'll get to the rise of the humanoid robots next time.

I'll just share the quick article.

Folks, if you want an interesting read, go check out this New York Times article that me and Sophia really got a kick out of.

And it talks about the growing humanoid industry.

We're talking billions of dollars going into star startups that are making some serious progress with these human like robots.

So we're not get to that here today.

Sophia, I want to do this though, because Supply Chain now in Espanol, the conversations you've been leading, the great work Andrea, the executive producer has been producing, I mean y'all have been everywhere and you've got I think you're going to be up in Nashville at the latest one of the biggest supply chain trade shows that happens in April.

Maybe you're going to need one of these humanoids to do some, some of your work at some point.

Let's do this.

I'm going to share the latest episode.

But beyond what this convers captured, what else is going on within Supply Chain now in Espanol?

So Supply Chain now in Espanol is going to Nashville for Home Delivery World in the 21st of May.

We'll we're going to have a booth, so please go and say hi.

We're going to be doing some gains to test your Spanish knowledge of supply chain terms.

I like it.

And there's going to be great prices.

So come, come try it and maybe you can win some interesting merch from our podcast.

Additionally to that, the episode that was just on screen this April, we have been focusing on education in supply chain.

So this one reads chains of education, maybe something like that.

And we brought the director of the GZLog program at MIT, it is Mejia and he talks all about about what the program is, but especially what's needed overall in our supply chain education to still be relevant and prep our professionals into the future of supply chain.

So that's an interesting topic.

Also demystifying this idea that MIT is unapproachable or unreachable.

So do check it out.

It's a great episode.

If you don't know Spanish, if you're scared of learning Spanish, you can go to our LinkedIn and find the quick clips that we have, short clips that are all translated with subtitles in English and then you can be part of the conversation as well.

I love that, Sophia.

Very inclusive programming.

I really appreciate that.

And folks, check out this latest episode that Sophia was just highlighting.

And of course you can find Supply Chain now in Espanol.

Sofia, great work.

Along with Andrea's great support.

You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

And she mentioned LinkedIn.

You don't want to miss that.

We're dropping Sophia's LinkedIn URL right there.

You're one click away from getting connected and following the great stuff that she's doing.

And I got my date wrong.

Sophia, my apologies.

It's not April, it's May.

Home Delivery world in May.

Is that right, Sophia?

Yeah, correct.

You said April and I got like anxiety.

I always there need a lot of things to get done before that.

But we will be ready.

Hey, undoubtedly you will.

And I love the engagement, the quiz show on Supply chain terms in Spanish.

What a great idea.

Okay, Sophia, really enjoyed today's conversation.

Really admire what you're doing out in industry, of course.

Also admire what Tim Nelson and the Hope for Justice and Slave Free alliance team is doing.

Folks.

Hey, beyond connecting with Sophia and tuning into her great work via the podcast and across social and in person events, we also encourage you check out Tim's.

I'm gonna pull up URLs here.

Slavery alliance.org particularly if you're interested in that SFA endorsed program which was one of the highlights that Tim shared with us and then learn more@hopeforjustice.org so check that out.

And Sophia, one more thing.

We promised that we would share a link to your newsletter and we got it right here.

Folks, I think this is the latest version.

Is that right, Sophia?

Sophia, it might be the version.

If not, go check out the rest of the version.

That's right.

We can't solve everything.

But great to have you.

Great to have Tim Nelson.

Big thanks to Tim Nelson, CEO with Hope for justice and Slave Free Alliance.

A big thanks for Tim joining us.

Sophia, as busy as you are, really appreciate Sophia Rivas Herrera joining us here from Supply Chain now in Espanol.

Sophia, look forward to being in person with you at some point soon.

Likewise.

And yeah, thank you for bringing me to the show.

I think think the conversation with Tim should go on and on.

If people still have questions, maybe we should bring him back because I think that we should all be aware of and we should all be acting on.

So thank you again, Scott for using this platform for also uncomfortable conversations, but of very necessary actions.

Sophia, you bet.

If we're not getting uncomfortable from time to time, then we're really not leaning into some of the biggest challenges and issues of our day.

So great to do it right here with you.

And of course, big thanks Trisha, Amanda, behind the scenes.

But here's your homework folks.

You know I've got to issue homework.

I know it's spring break time for a lot of schools, but we never get breaks.

It seems like in Global Supply Chain.

But here's your homework.

Between Sophia and Tim and some of the great comments we couldn't get to.

Lots of good stuff here today.

The challenge is take one thing, one thing.

Share it with your team.

Put it into practice.

Act on what we were talking about here today.

Let's wipe out modern day slavery and human trafficking from across global globe.

But the only way we do that is through deeds, not words.

So with that said, and on behalf the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton, challenging you.

Do good, get forward.

Be the change that's needed.

We'll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now.

Thanks everybody.

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