Our story
Sustify was inspired by a simple idea: that our global supply chain would be safer and stronger if every single worker understood their rights and responsibilities.
Years ago, when I was working in training in global supply chains, I witnessed a huge gap between the facades that businesses present to the world and the reality behind the scenes. I saw companies cut corners to get A-ratings in audits: they handpicked workers and instructed them to give the “right” answers when questioned by auditors. They trained 20 people in a factory of thousands and called it “workforce training.” But the workforce isn’t 1%.
These shortcuts make the global supply chain less safe. That’s true for workers, who deserve to understand their rights and how to stay healthy in the workplace. But it’s also true for companies: workplace hazards and human rights violations put their business at risk.
I wondered: how could we train everyone – every single worker?
In 2018, I founded Sustify. We focused on developing low-threshold digital training that would be accessible to workers in a range of countries and industries. We started with a small course on fire safety for textile workers; now we offer 3 courses in 16 languages across 4 industries.
Sustify is a social enterprise. We’re a business, but we serve the common good. We embed our values – honesty, appreciation, and trust – into our products and our practices. We’ve stayed independent, with no outside investors, so we never have to compromise.
One worker at a time, we’ll keep working toward our goal: the global strengthening and safeguarding of dignified work.
Mission
Sustify uses individual digital learning to make workers safer and global supply chains more socially responsible.
We make it easy for companies to strengthen knowledge and awareness of healthy working conditions, fair collaboration, and international human rights across their supply chains.
We develop accessible, engaging training courses that reach every single worker – in their language, their culture, and their industry.
Vision
Sustify is working toward a future where labor standards are upheld worldwide.
In this future, supply chains will be fair, transparent, and sustainable – because they’ll be built on collaboration and awareness.
Everyone deserves to understand their rights and how to stay safe and healthy in the workplace. That includes not only office workers, but also those who are too often overlooked, in factories, fields, and mines.
When everyone understands, everyone can participate in building our society together – and participation is the foundation of justice, resilience, and a better society for all.
We are independent
With our work, we strive to play a part in overcoming social challenges – in other words, to create a positive impact. We apply our bold, creative and entrepreneurial mindset to developing and spreading innovative ways of solving societal problems. Our mission is to identify new pathways toward collective wellbeing: not just to alleviate symptoms, but to address the root causes of social harms. To this end, all our activities are geared towards adding social value.
As a social enterprise, we examine what goes on inside our organization just as closely as the world outside. We care about dealing with suppliers respectfully, encouraging employees to reflect on and reduce their own CO2 emissions, and making a considered choice about who we bank with. Through steering and controlling mechanisms, we ensure that we put our social values into practice, both externally and internally.
Unlike conventional start-ups, we reinvest our profits to achieve these social goals. Our organizational and ownership structure reflects this goal, being based on principles of co-determination and employee participation and geared towards social justice. In contrast to many European countries, Germany has yet to formulate a definition of social entrepreneurship at the state level. That’s why we decided to seek certification with SEWF and make our data transparent.
Social procurement, i.e. purchasing from social enterprises like Sustify, represents a fundamental change in approach. It allows conventional companies to integrate corporate responsibility (CR) and ESG criteria into their own processes, thus making their core business more sustainable throughout.
Our team
Sonja Westphal
Founder & CEO
Berlin, Germany
A passionate social entrepreneur with an MSc in Marketing and Product Management and an MA in Environmental and Sustainability Management, she has lived and worked in six countries and firmly believes that lasting change is only possible through sustainable education.
Environmental and sustainability management, international business, marketing and communications
Rivers and forests, tango argentino, value oriented people
Dubbed movies, purely capitalistic thinking, skyscrapers
Sangeetha Nandakumar
Product Manager
Development of software for both mobile and web-based applications, complex product development projects, agile methodologies and design thinking techniques in project management.
Purposeful work, open communication and honest relationships
Environmental degradation, gender inequality, political corruption
Mahbub Khan
Program Manager
Dhaka, Bangladesh
A tech-savvy consultant and trainer who is passionate about introducing Sustify courses, combining e-learning with conventional workshops.
Brand-Specific Trainings, training material development, ISO lead auditor, ZDHC, BSCI, SA8000, OHSAS, PMP, and MCP
New sustainable business models, capacity building approaches, software and technology
Lack of public transport causing traffic jam, inefficient processes, bureaucracy
Qiwen Ma
Program Manager
Shanghai, China
A person wanting to help factories in China to respect people and the environment, to truly create more and more sustainable business – and including workers, in order to create long-term benefits for everybody.
Social compliance auditing and consulting, trainings for management and workers (social and environmental)
Pandas, photography, untouched nature, historical buildings
Pests, routine, waste in environment
Reiko Enomoto
Instructional Designer
Osaka, Japan
Hypocrisy, lies, egoism
Jyoti Palekar
Program Manager
Delhi, India
Design and engineering of environment protection measures, environmental and social assessments, sustainability strategy, Training and capability development.
Transparency, diversity, holistic approaches
Irresponsible consumption, Pollution, Rigid and bias behavior
Prachi Dighe
Illustrator
Bangalore, India
An experienced illustrator with a Master degree in product design (traditional handicraft), with a passion to communicate with visuals beyond borders. Integrating both worlds, analogue and digital.
Graphic design and hand illustrations, UI Design, paintings, working with NGOs and social art projects.
Open communication and honest relationships, creating visuals which make a difference, colours.
Shallowness, waste in nature, discrimination based on religion.
TEAM Complaint management
Our partner for non-judicial grievance mechanisms handled more than 400 factory hotlines, dealing with over 5000 cases in total and worked with 43 well-known International brands.
Ice Huang
Director grievance management and communications
Grievance Management, China
Practitioner on social justice and human rights, LGBTQ and gender community cultivator, holds a Master’s degree in philosophy of science.
LGBTQ advocacy, anti-child labor, gender equality, business and human rights
Feminism, diversity, fern
Arrogance, disinformation, obedience
Yan Leung
Manager hotline center
Grievance Management, China
Concerned about the well-being of supply chain workers. Major in Administration and Public Affairs Management and P.A.C.E. master trainer. Engaged in call center management for many years.
Hotline system and database management, non-judicial grievance mediation, labor negotiation, female empowerment training
Candid communication, personal development and team building, succulent plants
Chauvinism, pomp and pageantry, smoking
Mahendra Singh
Manager hotline center
Grievance Management, India
An expert in handling labor grievance mechanisms across different industries. A holder of Master degrees in both Political Science and Communications. With a passion for sustainable education, also for underprivileged children in India.
Public Relations, sustainability and human rights, didactics and education
Reading biographies of leaders, the Manchester soccer team, power naps
Religious fanaticism and superiority complex regarding one’s own religion
Working at Sustify
We are looking for people who are a fit, and the fit should work both ways. We live by our values instead of only talking about them. Honesty, reliability, and sustainability are important to us. We believe in supporting one another in working together towards a common goal. We are a learning organization and think in terms of goals, not hierarchies. If you’d like to know more, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.