The Working Capital Innovation Fund supports efforts to eradicate forced labor from supply chains and transform supply chain practices. The $25 million early-stage fund invests in technology tools that brands, retailers, and suppliers use to improve their visibility into supply chain risk, and which workers use to improve their working conditions.

The opaque and complex nature of supply chains in today’s globalized economy, combined with pressure to maximize profits, existing worker vulnerabilities, and weak rule of law in developing countries, robs workers of the chance to prosper from their labor, perpetuating forced labor and other types of rights violations in value chains. The COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and climate change have only exacerbated supply chain disruption. Some 86 percent of the estimated 50 million people in forced labor are working in the private sector. Migrants and refugees, who are often not protected by law and are unable to exercise their rights, are particularly vulnerable.

By using disruptive technology, companies will reduce opportunities for the most severe forms of labor exploitation to occur.

• Rapid change, catalyzed by portfolio companies, in the way multinational corporations understand and react to labor-related risk in their supply chains
• Investments that enable corporate actions within their supply chains to be less exploitative and more equitable, ultimately benefiting hundreds of millions of workers

This investment advances the Open Society Foundation’s work on corporate accountability and workers’ rights, migrants and refugees, and human rights.