Jason Zapp’s Buffalo startup offering certifications for companies that don’t use forced labor in their supply chain has been growing, in part to new technology platforms and a new law.
Since April, Human Rights in Your Supply Chain (HRSC) has gone from 13 paying customers to more than 30. It was enough growth for Zapp to quit his day job as COO of Clarence manufacturer Alexandria Professional in May and dedicate all his time to the startup.
Through HRSC, which he founded in 2020, Zapp uses a network of vendors to sift through a client’s supply chain to ensure forced labor is not being used. If it is, the client can make changes or take the business elsewhere.
“We have some larger customers now that have kept me quite busy,” Zapp said.
The federal Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in December, also contributed to new clients for Zapp. The law requires importers from China’s Xinjiang region to provide proof that goods were not made with forced labor, of which the region has a history.
“There have been shipments that have been detained and destroyed because they don’t have the proper documentation that the goods were not produced by forced labor,” Zapp said.
His company can help with that.
“If the freight is already in Customs’ possession and waiting to be released from Customs, we’ll do our best,” he said. “But as you cut your (purchase order), let us do the vetting before the product gets to the States.”
This year, he partnered with Buffalo-based QTH 54 Inc. to add a QR code capability that a company can use to show certification their products are made ethically.
He also partnered with a Houston blockchain company, Chainparency, to provide a blockchain-based certification that will further authenticate the certification. It will also allow HRSC to provide customers with an option to have their certification minted as an NFT, which is a digital image recorded in a blockchain that can't be copied or modified.
“On the blockchain the certification can’t be changed, manipulated or tampered with. It won’t do the work for us, but it will seal the work in place like a stamp and seal,” Zapp said. “We’re looking for people and clients who have a mission to be socially ethical when it comes to their products and supply chains.”
