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Supply chain exposure

Know what sits behind your suppliers in Latin America and Africa

When your supply chain runs through regions where company records are thin or false, we investigate the suppliers you can't see into and give you evidence that holds up.

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Aerial view of an open-pit mine
The situation

Where a clean registry entry says very little

Across much of Latin America and Africa, supplier records are incomplete, out of date or false. A supplier on your list may not be a registered company at all. Its named contact may have no verifiable identity. A company presented as a manufacturer may be an intermediary sitting downstream of forced labour.

Your screening returns a clean result, and the exposure stays hidden until a regulator, client or journalist finds it.

How we help

Defensible answers on high-risk suppliers

Your full supplier list, screened.

Against sanctions, watchlists, adverse media and company registries.

Flagged suppliers, investigated.

By senior investigators with extensive experience in the region, working in the local language and with their own sources.

Your supplier network, mapped.

Your declared list grows into a map of owners, intermediaries and upstream suppliers, since much of the risk sits in those relationships.

Where your exposure is heading.

How enforcement and sourcing trends could change your risk over the next six to twelve months.

A clear recommendation.

Whether the risk can be fixed, needs monitoring, or means changing supplier. We don't assume replacement is the answer.

A finding on each supplier.

With every source documented and dated, so you can show what you knew and when.

Case studies

See how this works in both regions

Aerial view of an industrial processing plant
Latin America · Refinery investor, northern Argentina

Hidden kickback scheme stops a refinery acquisition

The question

An investor weighing a refinery acquisition needed to know whether the asset justified paying a premium.

What we found

Refinery leadership had a private deal with the head of an organised crime network controlling fuel distribution across northern Argentina, and was enriching itself through kickbacks.

What happened next

The client withdrew, judging the downstream risk too high to price in.

Hands holding coltan ore
Africa · Social impact wealth managers, eastern Congo

Tracing child labour risk across 105 S&P 500 companies

105
S&P 500 companies exposed

The question

Which publicly traded US companies in our portfolios are exposed to child labour in eastern Congo?

What we found

Most of the companies relied on the same tantalum smelter, based in Kazakhstan, which sources from mines exposed to child labour further up the chain.

What happened next

The wealth managers adjusted their investment thesis to reflect each portfolio's exposure.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Will our suppliers know they are being investigated?

No. We don't contact your suppliers, and the research doesn't depend on their cooperation. Any inquiries we make are discreet and go through people who know the supplier or the area.

What if we only know our direct suppliers?

That's where most engagements start. We work from whatever you have and map the owners, intermediaries and upstream suppliers behind it.

Can we run the work through our outside counsel?

Yes. We regularly work alongside counsel and can take instructions through them. Whether privilege applies to the work is a question for your legal team.

Can the findings support a response to a regulator or customs authority?

Every finding is sourced and dated so it can support your own submissions. Preparing regulatory filings is scoped separately.

What happens after the engagement ends?

Your final supplier map becomes the baseline for ongoing monitoring, run by your internal system or a partner platform. Monitoring is set up as a separate phase.

If we find forced labour, can you help us fix it rather than drop the supplier?

Yes, and we encourage it. Cutting ties often leaves workers worse off and removes your leverage to improve conditions. We can introduce you to trusted remediation partners to support that work.

Start with the suppliers that concern you

Share your supplier count and sourcing countries. We'll outline what we would investigate and what the engagement would involve.