Kivora Global Solutions advises Alabama and Southeast manufacturers on sourcing, trade compliance, and logistics strategy — with people on the ground in the markets you buy from.
Most sourcing advice is desk research dressed as diligence. A supplier database, a few calls, a scorecard built from self-reported data, and a recommendation that looks rigorous until the first container arrives short or off-spec.
Kivora maintains people in the markets we source from. Someone walks the floor, checks the equipment against the capability claim, and reviews the quality records before a client places an order. That is slower and considerably more expensive than a database subscription, and it is the entire difference.
We are also independent of the transaction. We take no commission from suppliers, no rebate from freight forwarders, and no volume incentive of any kind. Our compensation comes only from the client, which is why we are able to recommend against a supplier who would happily pay us.
We work with Alabama and Southeast manufacturers and distributors, generally $5M to $150M in revenue, who have outgrown ad-hoc sourcing but do not yet have an internal global procurement function.
Supplier identification, qualification, and audit across Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe — with the on-ground verification that desk research cannot substitute for.
Classification, country-of-origin determination, FTA qualification, and the documentation discipline that keeps shipments out of secondary inspection.
Mode selection, carrier negotiation, and network design for companies moving goods across borders at volume.
Entry sequencing, partner selection, and regulatory mapping for US businesses expanding abroad or foreign firms entering the Southeast.
Quality systems, capacity building, and the supplier scorecards that turn a transactional vendor into a dependable partner.
Concentration analysis, dual-sourcing strategy, and the continuity planning that determines how a business survives a supply shock.
We take no supplier commission and no forwarder rebate. Our fee comes from the client alone, and we disclose that arrangement in writing at the start of every engagement.
This costs us money. Sourcing firms that accept supplier compensation can charge clients less because someone else is paying part of the bill. What the client loses is any way to know whether the recommendation was earned.
It also means we can say no. Roughly a fifth of our supplier evaluations end with a recommendation not to proceed, including with suppliers who would have been glad to compensate us.
We define what you actually need before looking at who can supply it. Most sourcing failures start with a loose specification.
Market mapping and longlisting across the regions where the capability genuinely exists, not just the ones that are familiar.
On-site audit. Someone from Kivora walks the floor and reviews the records before any shortlist reaches you.
Sample approval, first-article inspection, and the ramp plan that gets you from pilot to steady state without a gap.
Montgomery based. Twenty-two years in global procurement, including eleven leading sourcing for a Southeast manufacturer.
Licensed customs broker. Sixteen years in classification, FTA qualification, and audit defence.
Fourteen years in ocean and air freight strategy, carrier negotiation, and multi-modal network design.
Eighteen years in manufacturing quality. Personally conducts or oversees every Kivora supplier audit.
Kivora walked away from a supplier that had already quoted us 12% below our incumbent. Six months later that plant was shut down by their regulator.
Our classification had been wrong on four product families for years. The refund alone covered the engagement twice over.
They take nothing from suppliers. Once I understood that, every other firm we had spoken to looked different.
A complimentary review of your current sourcing, classification, and freight arrangements. Findings either way.