For the first time, Juneteenth is being widely observed with closures of federal agencies, banks, stock markets and more. One of the most prominent legacies of the new federal holiday are-race related economic disparities that still exist more than 150 years later. Supply-chain disruptions make essential goods scarce and force those with the fewest resources to bear the brunt of the suffering, both within the U.S. and globally. REFASHIOND Ventures is looking to bridge that gap within the supply chain sector by funding projects that will address threats facing the global supply chain, especially in the developing world. Brian Laung Aoaeh, co-founder and managing partner of REFASHIOND Ventures, joined Cheddar News with more. 


Opening Bell

REFASHIOND Ventures aims to bring innovation to the global supply chain 

joining us now to discuss is brian Alway co founder and managing partner at Refashioned Ventures. Thank you so much for being here. You actually first met our executive producer at a book launch and you said that you're not the messenger people expect when it comes to supply chain issues. What exactly did you mean by that? So uh hi asia, it's great to be here. What I meant is simply that when I walk into a room and I'm talking to a group of investors about potentially investing in our fund and we start to delve into what's happening with supply chains and why we think that innovation and technology and supply chains is such a big opportunity. I'm not necessarily the person they have in mind when they're thinking of someone who's going to come to them and talk about an idea that perhaps they've never thought about before. My co founder is an afro latino woman whose parents moved to the mainland from Puerto rico and she's probably not the person they expect to be having this conversation with. And so I summarize that by saying, we're not the messengers that people expect when we're talking about supply chain innovation and technology. Yeah. And how does not fitting into people's expectations play into the reason why you started your fund and make investment decisions the way that you do. You know? So I I that's a fantastic question. People sometimes say, why are you so obsessed with supply chain innovation and technology, brian. And I think it's a function of how I grew up and how lisa my my co founder grew up as well. I I I say that I've probably lived in every supply chain context that one can live in. So I've lived in a village in West Africa with no running water and electricity and when I was a teenager I was I was you know, I was on the farm with my grandfather who was a peasant farmer and now I live in the United States um and so I have a very visceral understanding of how supply chains can improve people's lives when they work well. And that point was driven home to me when I was reading an article from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and they were talking about their supply chains in Nigeria and why? Because those supply chains are as broken as they are by the time the product gets to the end, customer Prices could have been marked up by between 40% and 700%. And I think that's outrageous as you were saying in the lead up to to the segment, that that creates a situation where people with the least economic uh wherewithal are bearing the brands of breakages and supply chains when you discuss the way that you present your appearance and also your background. I think it's really important because there are a lot of people out there even today on a day like juneteenth or celebrating juneteenth that will say, you know, it's kind of like beating a dead horse. Why do you always have to talk about identity politics. But I think it really comes down to perspective, especially when we get to the higher levels of any organization or corporation. So another question for you is how do you think companies can move away from performative investments in things like supply chain issues to real ally ship oriented investment so I can speak for for a fashion ventures And our thesis, I really believe that supply chain is where competitive advantage is won or lost. And so if if you're a company that's competing in the marketplace, right? You, you, you, you talked about walmart not too long ago. If your walmart and you're in competition with amazon, then it behooves you to invest seriously in supply chain innovation and technology. And perhaps the way you do that is by engaging with early stage investors who do not look like some of the early stage investors you've engaged within in the past, perhaps you have to engage with founders who do not look like the founders you've engaged with in the past because presumably if they were solving the problems that if the founders that you've been engaging with, we're solving the problems that you need to solve. You, you wouldn't have the threat on your hands that amazon is posing right now and I use amazon for a specific reason about five years ago, I was talking to my son, he asked me dad, what's the supply chain because I'm always talking about supply chains. And I started to answer. And he stopped me and he said, oh, the reason everyone should shop on amazon is because they have an awesome supply chain. And I thought to myself, well, if you're a nine year old and all and all you care about is video games being shipped to your front door, then yes, then amazon is the definition of a supply chain. You're also the founder of the Worldwide Supply Chain Federation. How did the missed opportunities that you've seen in the past lead you to create this organization? And what is your vision when it comes to success? The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation actually came because once lisa and I understood the scale and scope of the opportunity we felt, we had to surround ourselves with people who are thinking about these problems all the time. And this is two groups of people. On the one hand, there are the startup founders, the technologists who are building these new innovations and trying to bring them to market. And on the other hand, there are people from large companies executives who want to buy these innovations. And so it was a grassroots driven effort, which we lead. And, and the goal is simply to bring these people together on a frequent basis to get them to start talking to one another and build relationships and hopefully ultimately that leads them to do business with one another. The goal in the long run is to have chapters in every major city in the world. Um and we uh we're on our way there, amazing and brian I want to throw you a bit of a curve ball just as a supply chain nerd because we're always talking about this on cheddar, but recently we've been talking about this pattern of companies moving away from globalization, on shoring their efforts in specific countries. We've spoken about it with lego, we've also spoken about kind of the adverse reaction with things like the formula shortage. What is kind of your gauge on the pulse of where things are moving post pandemic? And do you think there are any missteps that can be avoided because of your experience and your perspective within supply chain issues. So 11 mistake I often what one mistake we think companies make is not investing in enough new technology that will help them manage their supply chains more effectively. And I say more effectively instead of more efficiently because when I think of effectiveness or adaptability, I think of being able to respond to things that you did not expect to happen in a way that allows you to to continue to run your, your supply chains um in terms of re shoring and on shoring or near shoring, I think that is a more complex topic than it appears and the reason is that supply chains are really sticky, It's very, very complex and difficult to move a supply chain from one part of the world to another in some cases it's possible. And I think in those cases, companies are definitely making that shift. In other cases, I think the status school is what will be maintained with some augmentation, um, with new technology to ensure that companies can manage those networks better than they have in the past, really appreciate that insight. And also before we let you go, want to talk about refashion ventures, what sets you apart from other VC companies within the supply chain sector and also, um, kind of piggybacking on your last answer. How do you plan to address some of these different threats that we're facing when it comes to supply chains that are more volatile, less easy to control if able at all to control. I think of things like geopolitical tensions and crisis. So I'll start with the second, the second part of the question, we think the climate crisis is, is tightly linked with, uh, with supply chain technology and innovation. Our argument is that, uh, the way we have designed our supply chains is what has led us to the climate crisis. And so we've got to fix our supply chains in order to fix in order to solve the climate crisis in the long run, um, in terms of what sets us apart from other funds, we are a pure play supply chain technology specialist, I think you might run into other funds that describe themselves as supply chain funds. But what you'll quickly realizes that they're focused on logistics, we think that supply chain is much more than logistics and that's reflected in a in our portfolio. Really interesting. I think this is the first time on the show when the solution for climate crisis has been fixing the supply chain, But it all makes sense. That's BRian Alway, co founder and managing partner of Refashioned Ventures. Thank you so much.