Laura Gerritsen

Laura is an expert on electronics value chains with over 10 years of experience working in international development and electronic supply chains. With a background in international development and human rights, she started her career in East Africa to establish viable legal aid services for rural communities through a social business structure. In these four years, she successfully set up offices in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, building local teams and amplifying the organisation’s reach to urban and rural communities with legal services ranging from essential legal services to more complicated services around land rights and trade.

Laura continued her career at Fairphone in 2013 when the organisation began its first crowdfunding campaign and produced smartphones. As part of the founding team, she ran the organisation’s operations in its initial years and managed supply chain innovation programs. As the organisation grew, Laura moved to work solely on innovation in supply chain sustainability, specifically focusing on material supply chains and afterwards managing the broader impact team at Fairphone. As part of her work, subsequent to setting up supply chains from conflict-free mines in the DRC for tin and tantalum, as well as for tungsten from Rwanda, she worked closely with Fairtrade and supply chain partners to pilot a first Fairtrade gold supply chain for electronics.

Working closely with suppliers in Asia, Africa and Europe to develop and realise recycled and more sustainable virgin-mined supply chains, Laura has developed a deep understanding of local (ASM) mining realities and suppliers’ needs, options, and limitations for responsible sourcing. Additionally, Laura helped formulate a strategy for the supply chain improvement of additional materials essential for producing a smartphone. Laura has a broad network of industry peers, having worked in collaboration with the sustainability departments of electronics, automotive and other industries, as well as with international development organisations.