Our team
Sustainability Agents is an enterprise that aims for more-than-profit. At its core lie the competence, creativity and sheer hard work of its agents, network partners and supporters. We rely on our diverse and global network of experts who are at the cutting edge of improving working conditions in global supply chains.
Sebastian Sime
Managing DirectorSebastian is the founder and Managing Director of SUSA. He is a pioneer in the use of dialogue as a tool for implementing social standards in global supply chains. Over the past two decades, large numbers of suppliers from diverse sectors in 20 countries have benefitted from his expertise. His current focus is in Ethiopia where he provides extensive training and consultation services for various actors in the garment sector. He is passionate about working at the roots of the problems, on-site. He knows how to mediate industry-wide conflicts and has strong ties with relevant stakeholders.
Anne Dandani
Manager, Finance & AdministrationAnne is responsible for all financial and administrative issues. She has more than ten years of experience in financial controlling. With her work at SUSA she wants to contribute towards more social justice.
At SUSA, we are passionate about sustainable solutions. Our flat hierarchy and diverse team is key for our outstanding work.
We channel our motivation, dedication and energy into exciting, challenging and meaningful work that creates positive impact. We see personal growth as a key success factor for a high performing team. Instead of having a rigid hierarchical structure, we are organised as self responsible teams. Each of us performs different roles which fit our personal strengths and fields of interest. This means that someone who manages a client project can, at the same time, work in the business development team that is led by someone else.
Implementing training or consulting projects –especially abroad– can sometimes involve long working hours and a high-stress environment. To balance this, our consultants’ travel time is limited to max. 40% of their working time. A healthy work-life-balance is important to us – at SUSA we enjoy flexible working hours and six weeks of paid leave per year. In addition, overtime hours are paid and employees are encouraged to reduce overtime hours. Even though we are a small consulting firm, we strive to be a family-friendly and supportive employer that encourages parental leave and offers part-time working models.
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Vision & Mission
We are a consultancy and service provider that focuses on improving social, environmental and economic conditions in the global supply chain to make a positive long-term impact on the world we live in.
Our vision is to generate a positive long-term impact on the world we live in. We see ourselves as drivers for global change. We believe in a world where everybody has the chance to live a decent life.
Through inclusive approaches and innovative tools, we help our clients to continuously improve working conditions, the environment and economic performance along their global supply chains. Our approach tackles the global challenges for what they are: hyper-complex interrelationships, intransparent connections and intercultural challenges. This gives us the opportunity to find sustainable solutions to these challenges and generate a notable impact together with our clients.
Our expertise in consulting and capacity development services is based on more than 15 years in the field, in which we have worked in nine countries and reached more than 700 factories with our approach. Our clients have included some of Europe’s largest retail and industrial firms.
SUSA Story
The journey from a radical idea to worldwide impact.
The Beginnings
Sebastian Sime had been working in the field of social sustainability for over a decade when he decided that a new approach was needed. His strong belief in the power of dialogue and participation to generate positive change resulted in the creation of SUSA in 2005.
SUSA pioneered the use of worker-manager dialogue in global supply chains as a way to improve the social, environmental and business performance of factories. The idea was radical: rather than external auditors using checklists to identify non-compliance in a factory, workers and managers together were identifying problems, prioritising these and finding joint solutions.
Successes
The results of SUSA’s signature dialogue trainings were remarkable. In some cases, managers and workers spoke to each other for the first time, and were surprised to find that they shared common ground and goals on many issues. A wide range of problems were addressed jointly – from cleaner toilets, to
fewer unexcused absences, to higher productivity, to more transparent wage calculation – and dialogue platforms were established to continuously and sustainably apply SUSA’s signature problem-solving methodology.
Broadening Horizons
SUSA’s strength and success lies in its constant innovation. We have broadened our scope: in addition to worker-manager dialogue trainings, we
deliver targeted capacity-building of change-drivers in the factory, and provide consultation and coaching to organisations for sustainable change.
Through our evolution we have stayed true to our belief that one-size-fits-all solutions do not work; instead, programmes must be tailored to address
clients’ unique needs with the ultimate goal of sustainable improvement in social, environmental and business performance.