The B Corp Journey
13th February 2020
Thursday 13th February saw The Future Economy Network run their busiest seminar of 2020 at their member’s central offices, Triodos Bank. The evening event, titled The B Corp Journey, was well attended by over 100 different businesses and individuals looking to find inspiration in successful cases of sustainable business change. Network members Double Retail kindly sponsored the event, a local responsible retail design, build, and installation company who have been on their own incredible employee-management journey.
Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of subscribing to the Network and also sharing exciting updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, where you can check out the video here.
First up, we heard from James Ghaffari, Director, B Corp Certification. James spoke about the fact that we are experiencing a historic global culture shift and we need to harness the enormous power of businesses to address some of the climate emergency issues. He suggested that there is a need to recognise both system failure and viable alternatives. Recognition of system failure can be demonstrated by the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer which reported that 56% of people believe that capitalism does more harm than good. It can also be seen in the growth of impact investing, the change in consumer preferences, the fact that employees want to align their company's values with their own and the emergence of a unified framework in the form of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). James then suggested that B-Corp is a viable alternative, shifting away from 20th century shareholder values to 21st century stakeholder values. The B-Corp verification scheme requires businesses to score 80 points or more and to legally commit to consider the impact of their actions. It is unique for three reasons; 1) A comprehensive impact analysis, 2) Its mission lock 3) It's a global movement. Newly certified companies include The Guardian and The Bodyshop. The assessment is free and open source so all organisations can take a look online.
Next we heard from Matt Tipping, Founder of Double Retail who kindly sponsored this event. Matt spoke about Double Retail's journey to becoming B-Corp accredited and that it has been a natural progression over an 11 year period. Six years ago, the company started asking 'what is a business for?' and concluded that it is not just about making money. Matt suggested that the idea of shareholder primacy is broken and instead, Double Retail wanted to build their business around the principles of trust and being useful. He asserted that retail will always be present but that the journey has to change, citing the retail design cycle of 5-10years and the fact that historically not much care or attention was given to wider sustainability impacts. Now, Double Retail ensures to adopt the Iriquois Philosophy's 7 Generations Principle, where the impact of one's actions are considered with reference to the next 7 generations. Matt suggested that businesses can be a force for good but it can be a tough journey. Double Retail made permanent operational model changes and it took them 12 months to complete the B-Corp impact assessment but Matt is convinced that this is both best for the business and for the planet.
We then welcomed Zoe Sear, Head of Marketing and Communications at Triodos Bank. Zoe started by introducing Triodos Bank whose mission is to create a society that protects and promotes the quality of life and human dignity for all. Triodos only lends to organisations that have a positive impact on the world. They have 1200 people operating across Europe in 6 countries and have 715,000 customers. Their model is simple, they only lend real money to the real economy. There is no fake money within the system and they support renewable energy and environmental sector, cultural projects and social initiatives. Triodos was one of the first organisations to get B-Corp accreditation and achieved a score of 127 in 2015 (the average being 97 for those who certify). They were re-accredited in 2018 and scored 136.4 and recognise that this is a journey of continuous improvement. Zoe recommended B-Corp due to its rigour and the additional benefits of being a part of the B-Corp community where businesses can learn from one another.
Finally, we heard from Matt Golding, Creative Director of Rubber Republic. Rubber Republic create video content and use entertainment and culture to create positive change. Matt entertained attendees by asserting that all the business advice he had ever received was all bullshit and he started to question why he was resisting doing what he was being told and what he felt his business was supposed to be. He suggested that we are at a pivotal time to ramp up action and as such he has been more selective about who Rubber Republic produce content for. Matt strongly recommends becoming a B-Corp. He advised that the process is good and it led to them restructuring their entire business, ensuring a new business model based on resilience and not growth. He advised that it is important to trust your instincts. Rubber Republic declared a climate emergency and have ensured net zero carbon in their production processes. They also give 1% of their turnover to charity. We then heard from Corwin who built an environmental impact calculator made from google sheets and freely available to everybody. For more information, please email corwin@rubberrepublic.com. Matt concluded by suggested that ALL businesses should be B-Corp accredited as a minimum standard.
The seminar finished with some insightful questions to the panel. There were 60 second pitches from Sustainable Results Lab, ADLIB, Ecomove, TYF Adventures, Triodos Bank & Grn Sportswear. The event concluded with some valuable networking and finishing up the pastries and refreshments. A huge thank you to Triodos Bank for hosting the event and Double Retail for sponsoring; without this support we would not be able to do these wonderful inspiring events.
