Merchant Bay has signed an agreement with PrimaDollar in order to add Factory Social Scores to its leading marketplace for Bangladeshi garment factories.
With over 700 factories now on board the marketplace, Merchant Bay and PrimaDollar have agreed to cooperate in bringing the new “Factory Social Score” system to the whole of its community.
The Factory Social Score system is a global solution to monitor the social and governance performance of workplaces, part of the worldwide initiative to improve “ESG”. It has been designed in Bangladesh and London. The Factory Social Score presents the social and governance credentials of a workplace based upon information provided directly by its workers, from the machinists through to the secretaries. This is a new class of data that is called “Real-time ESG” data – powering a new wave of initiatives to deliver environmental, social, and governance change across world markets.
Information is collected via an app that workers, with the support of the factory management, install on their mobile ‘phones. It is a continuous monitoring system that surveys workers’ views across seven important social categories, including pay, conditions, safety and treatment. Worker responses are anonymous. Their responses are used in real-time, together with other information, to create the Factory Social Score which then forms part of the automated flow of data supporting every shipment that the factory makes.
The Merchant Bay factory portal is a market-leading initiative to showcase Bangladeshi garment suppliers and their extensive capabilities. Adding the Factory Social Score to factory profiles provides transparency over worker conditions and builds the confidence of buyers to place new orders and expand their existing business.
Abrar Hossain Sayem CEO of Merchant Bay commented that “Adding Factory Social Scores is a great value-addition for us. Factories will be able to demonstrate their social and governance credentials via PrimaDollar’s technology, delivering real-time ESG data direct to the factory profile in our system. Buyers are very focussed on ESG issues right now – and this further establishes our credentials as the go-to platform for the Bangladeshi garment industry.”
Tim Nicolle, Group CEO of PrimaDollar, commented from London that “We are delighted to be working with the Merchant Bay team. They have built an impressive and useful system which is growing very quickly. Our Factory Social Score is being rolled out by major international brands and retailers across their international supply chains. The willingness of Bangladeshi factory owners to take the lead in this area demonstrates significant confidence in their ESG credentials.”
Munawar Uddin, Country Manager of the PrimaDollar Liaison office in Banani, Dhaka, commented “The Merchant Bay team has been very focussed on ESG and has been quick to drive our discussions forward. This will be an important initiative for Bangladesh and we are looking forward to a long and close working relationship.”
About PrimaDollar:
PrimaDollar is headquartered in the UK and provides a global trade finance and data collection platform focused on international supply chains. PrimaDollar has maintained an office in Dhaka since 2015 and has worked with 100s of factories. PrimaDollar’s new fintech platform transforms the way that data and documents, including the Factory Social Score, are collected, processed and actioned by buyers, enabling suppliers to get paid as they ship – and enabling buyers to obtain new levels of real-time, authenticated data on the shipments themselves.
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