“We build bridges between business, academia, governments and civil society”

OUR APPROACH

We strive to make human rights concrete for business and initiate change. With this end in view, we support our clients in embedding human rights due diligence into their business practice – in a step-by-step approach. It is our belief that no business is too small or large to implement meaningful measures fostering responsible business behaviour.

Our experience working in the private sector, solution orientation and our extensive international network including representatives from civil society, government, academia and business are what set us apart. We understand the challenges that arise from the need to embed responsible business conduct into existing processes and from diverging views and interests within companies. We support clients in finding pragmatic yet meaningful and impact-oriented solutions to these challenges and to capitalize on the opportunities that arise from actively addressing human rights topics.

As thought leaders in business and human rights, we align our work with international human rights standards and frameworks and are keeping with the times in order to update our clients on recent developments in this topical field.

TEAM

Sibylle Baumgartner

Director, Co-Founder

Sibylle has longstanding experience in the field of responsible business with a specific focus on social aspects. She has worked with companies from various industries focusing on elaborating responsible business strategies, implementing sustainable supply chain management and developing human rights due diligence frameworks.

Languages: German, French, English, Spanish

Matthias Leisinger

Director, Co-Founder

Matthias is a specialist in corporate responsibility with extensive experience in the private sector. His professional goal is driving change to create a more sustainable business model, which delivers commercial success. He has a record of success in human rights due diligence, capacity building and developing and managing multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Languages: German, English, French

Regula Meng

Senior Consultant

Regula is a specialist in business and human rights with experience in the private and public sector. Prior to focusright, she conducted human rights field work with extensive stakeholder consultations for the United Nations in Colombia, was a child rights and business manager at UNICEF Switzerland, and supported LafargeHolcim’s human rights management as part of the Group sustainability team.

Languages: German, English, Spanish, French

Yolinka Vossen

Consultant

Yolinka has several years of experience in the implementation of human rights due diligence in various sectors. Before joining focusright, she investigated success factors for the implementation of human rights due diligence in collaboration with large Swiss corporations for her Master's thesis and worked in a procurement optimisation consultancy on projects to optimise procurement processes and logistics costs for SMEs.

Languages: German, English, French

Dominic Rietmann

Consultant

Dominic has several years of operational experience in responsible business conduct and the implementation of human rights due diligence. Before joining focusright, Dominic worked in sustainability at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives. There he worked on projects in the areas of sustainable supply chains and responsible business and was responsible for the implementation of human rights due diligence in the specialist markets.

Languages: German, English, French

EVENTS

Webinar: Certifications, social audits and supplier management tools – What is their role in human rights due diligence?

Past webinar: download the slides or watch the recording through the GCNSL website

The objective of this webinar is to discuss the contributions and limitations of voluntary sustainability schemes in companies’ HRDD. focusright and representatives from Fairtrade Max Havelaar Switzerland, amfori and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles will explain how sustainability schemes can support companies in the implementation of HRDD at different stages of their value chain, using practical examples.

The webinar is organized in cooperation with the GCNSL and the Swiss Federal Administration (SECO & FDFA).

Go to Slides & Recording

Webinar Series: Child Labour Due Diligence

Past webinars: download the slides or watch the recording through the GCNSL website

The new Swiss child labour due diligence obligation requires Swiss companies to evaluate if their goods and services might be linked to child labour. If a risk is identified, companies need to trace back their supply chain, identify and manage risks of adverse impacts and report annually about the measures taken.

Join our webinar series to learn how to address the new Swiss legislation and how to establish a solid child labour due diligence process within your company. The webinar series is organized by the GCNSL in cooperation with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

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Webinar: Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected or High-Risk Areas – what companies need to know and act upon

Past webinar: download the slides or watch the recording through the GCNSL website

This webinar gives an overview of what companies need to know about conducting heightened human rights due diligence (HRDD) and operating in a conflict-sensitive manner.

It was organized in collaboration with swisspeace, the Swiss Confederation (SECO & EDA) and the Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein.

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Webinar: Introduction to Human Rights Due Diligence (in English, German, French & Italian)

Past webinars: download the slides or watch the recording through the GCNSL website

These webinars were organized in collaboration with the Swiss Confederation (SECO & EDA) and the Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein.

Go to Slides & Recording

CLIENTS

Click on the logos below for more information about some of our clients from different sectors. To learn more about our completed projects, visit our services page.