GoodWeave International

Jon Jacoby became GoodWeave International’s new CEO on 1 September 2023, taking over from Nina Smith, who headed the organisation for 24 years. Lucy Upward discusses GoodWeave in action with Jacoby

Jon Jacoby’s experience before becoming CEO of GoodWeave International includes leading global grant-making on business and human rights in global supply chains at the Open Society Foundations and co-founding the Investor Alliance for Human Rights. He also managed global and US company teams at Oxfam. Or, as he tells me, ‘The focus of my career has been on responsible business and what it takes to be a good company, and particularly on social issues.’

In our conversation we dive straight in at the deep end, discussing how various industries ended up where they are—having chased the market of supply and demand extremely well over the last four decades, while ignoring ‘critical human needs’ along the way. Jacoby often refers to ‘governance gaps’ being the main issue—where laws in countries either don’t exist or are not well enforced to secure good business practices.

Changes being brought in for social and environmental due diligence can occur through new government legislation or voluntary action—there is of course, as Jacoby says, ‘an increasing desire for consumers to buy products with a clean conscience’. The market-leading companies that sign up to GoodWeave volunteer to have their production audited both in formal and informal work settings. Jacoby is keen to see a level playing field within the industry, where all companies are working under the same criteria.

‘Since the 90s, GoodWeave has been a pioneer and has shown what it is to go deep with due diligence,’ says Jacoby. He discusses the organisation’s three standard requirements of no child labour, no bonded labour and documented working conditions. He adds, ‘We are moving towards what is called a “smart mix” of voluntary and mandatory initiatives to fill the governance gaps. GoodWeave is trying to be smart with how to work with this, using our strong standard and looking deeper in the supply chain and policies across the globe.’

Despite having achieved so much and freed thousands of children from labour, GoodWeave, like other voluntary organisations, recognises the challenge that remains. ‘I am an advocate for effective public policies to address the problem at the scale it deserves,’ says Jacoby. ‘In addition to rules of government, we need to look at what the resources are to make sure rules can be maintained effectively.’

Recent trips to India and Nepal with his predecessor in the role, Nina Smith, allowed Jacoby to meet the organisation’s founder, Kailash Satyarthi, and also many of the organisation’s key stakeholders, who opened up their factories and more informal weaving settings. Jacoby has previous experience in commodities such as cocoa, coffee, mining and apparel. He notes that, in the different sites he has seen, ‘there are more similarities than differences in the setting of workers’.

Moving forward, Jacoby is keen to take the impressive vision of Satyarthi and Smith and push for more. ‘It is clear from my travels we have reached thousands of children,’ he says, ‘but now how do we reach millions with our model? Best practices are not the norm yet, but there is rising expectation. Business will need to have clear visibility, and our model at GoodWeave is very fit for purpose.’

Another point Jacoby has taken away from his trip is exporters’ fears about a lack of workforce due to Nepal’s enormous out-migration—an issue on many rug producers’ lips. However, after speaking to people in Nepal, he is hopeful that there is an opportunity for further investing in women’s economic empowerment and other efforts to solve this problem.

Seeing all the work that goes into the rugs being made on his travels, Jacoby gained an awareness not only of the challenges in rug production but also of the value and beauty of rugs. ‘We need rugs to be recognised as the art they are, and the value to be distributed along the supply chain, to honour a very basic norm. The artisans’ work deserves to be respected,’ he insists.

As we come to the end of our conversation, I ask Jacoby what one piece of take-away information he would give to a rug company interested in due diligence. He says: ‘Go deep! You benefit from what you know, while the risks can fester when you don’t know them. Business needs clarity, predictability, stability and to build relationships over the long term. There is a strong business case for due diligence.’ What is clear is that work by organisations like GoodWeave is showing the rest of the business world the way ahead. Don’t get left behind!