Another ISO 31000 Certificate Mill Pops Up [UPDATED]

[UPDATED: see below]

In what’s become an international trend, another unaccredited ISO 31000 certificate mill has emerged, proving that few of the companies offering certifications on the risk management standard have done actual risk assessments on their own dubious marketing.

Africa Value Solutions offers a “Certified ISO 31000 Risk Manager” program that falsely claims ANSI accreditation, going so far as to use the ANSI logo in a number of places on their website and marketing materials. Oxebridge has confirmed directly with ANSI that their use of the logo is fraudulent, and they are not accredited by ANSI.

The language from the marketing on AVS’ website appears to be plagiarized from that of PECB, one of the only accredited trainers for ISO 31000 risk managers in operation; PECB is accredited under ISO 17024 by ANSI.

In total, Africa Value Solutions offers 15 certifications that illegally claim ANSI accreditation. AVS appears to be operated by one Wachira Reriani of Kenya, listed as “Head of Training,” but a “Robert Reriani” was also discovered to have been spamming LinkedIn with promotional posts from AVS.

AVS also uses the ISO logo throughout its materials, presumably without permission.

Oxebridge previously reported on the unaccredited French certificate mill G31000 which offered unaccredited risk manager certifications alongside a US-based affiliate called G31000 North America. The French office was discovered to be operated by Alex Dali, who had been posing as a woman on LinkedIn to sell his services, and was later discovered to have plagiarized his claimed publications, and is wanted under an arrest warrant in Singapore. The discoveries led Dali and the G31000 North America office, run by Allen Gluck, to sue Oxebridge for defamation, but the case was thrown out of court. Gluck has since split from Dali, and formed ERM31000, offering equally unaccredited risk certifications, presumably having taken the material from Dali. It’s not sure if the two will wind up suing each other now.

Other unaccredited risk manager programs have arisen across the globe, but Africa Value Services appears to be the first to illegally appropriate the ANSI logo, in violation of international trademark law. ANSI promises to take action.

The publication of ISO 31000, the first international ISO standard on risk management, has created a market for all sorts of questionable products and services. The standard is not intended for certification use, but in late 2014 BSI issued an organizational ISO 31000 certificate to Tata Motors regardless, prompting speculation that BSI was working against ISO to convert the standard into one that could be used for certification.

UPDATE 6/25: PECB has confirmed that Africa Value Solutions is an international “partner” and is therefore not using the PECB logo illegally, however they are not allowed to use teh ANSI logo. PECB management is raising the issue with AVS.