RSE
CSR PORTRAIT N°11: SQMA
Roméo ORY
Managing Director
Can you explain your activity in a few words?
SQMA is a sourcing and quality control company founded in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019. We are providing a full range of services including sourcing, quality inspection, audit and consulting for hardline and soft line products.
Our ambition?
Help SMEs to find ethical and environment-friendly suppliers in Southeast Asia. We seek to offer a maximum of sourcing solution with so-called “sustainable” factories.
We rely a lot on different social (BSCI, SA800…) or environmental (GOTS, OEKO-TEX, Fair Trade...) labels but also on our own factory audit.
We are also promoting the traditional know-how of Vietnamese crafts peoples as the ethnic weaving or the water hyacinth weaving by working closely with reliable cooperatives in Vietnam.
Have you already implemented a social or environmental project in your company? Or do you have a sustainable development policy?
SQMA regularly receives sourcing requests and we try as much as possible to highlight ethical and environment-friendly factories. It is important for us to show that these factories exist in Vietnam and that the other factories follow their footsteps. Regarding the trend, it seems Vietnam is becoming progressively a leader in sustainable fashion manufacturing.
The same goes for our inspection department, all employees from SQMA has to follow a strict code of conduct during our daily work with our partner factories. It is important for us, as a third party, to be exemplary. Moreover we are acting as a committed employer for our staff showing example by sharing the ethical and responsible business practices.
What type of advice would you give to other companies in Vietnam to launch such CSR project?
As a sourcing partner, we will always ask our client about their underlying motivation before starting a CSR project. The most important thing is that the CSR strategy has to ring true for the organization. You will invest more at the beginning, but you will quickly feel the benefit for all your organization.
