Denim Expert shortlisted for Reuters’ Stop Slavery Award

Bangladeshi company Denim Expert Limited has been shortlisted for the Stop Slavery Award 2021 of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

This is the first time a Bangladeshi company has been nominated for the award among numerous companies across the globe.

The foundation nominated Denim Expert Limited as one of the five finalists for the award in the Stop Slavery Enterprise Award – Small and Medium-Sized Companies category. The other nominees in the category are Singapore-based Diginex Solution, Germany-based clothing company ARMEDANGELS, United Kingdom (UK)-based Blue Bear Coffee Co, and UK-based HACE: Data Changing Child Labour Limited.

The Chattogram EPZ-based garment and washing plant's Managing Director Mostafiz Uddin told The Business Standard, "Denim Expert is the only Bangladeshi company shortlisted for the award. So, this is great recognition of the Bangladeshi apparel industry as a whole."

"We will keep our eyes with excitement on the final announcement of the winners by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on 25 February," he added.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation announced on its website that 28 companies and social enterprises have been shortlisted in the eight following categories: Stop Slavery Enterprise Award – Goods and Service Companies, Stop Slavery Enterprise Award – Small and Medium-Sized Companies, Stop Slavery Hero Award, Stop Slavery Innovation Award, Stop Slavery Campaigns Award, Stop Slavery Impact Award, Stop Slavery Collaboration Award, and Stop Slavery Media Award.

The foundation launched the Stop Slavery Award in 2015 to recognise companies it considers "best-in-class" based on the policies and processes the companies have in place to limit the risk of slavery in their supply chains and operations, as well as the role they play as key agents in the global fight against slavery.