To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Thursday 4th of June 2020 saw The Future Economy Network run an interactive webinar on Unpacking B Corp, a follow-up webinar to The B Corp Journey, our busiest event so far in 2020. Yet again the topic and our fantastic panel brought many FEN and non-FEN members alike to join us on the day to unpack the B Corp certification process and learn how to improve our business practice and #buildbackbetter after the covid19 crisis. Speaking at this event were Vicky Murray, Sustainability Manager at Pukka Herbs and Josie Morris, Managing Director at Woolcool and FEN members Georgie Upton, Managing Director at Wild West Communications and Nick Dean, Managing Director at ADLIB.
The team introduced everyone to the virtual events space and gave quick training on how to make the most out of the interactive webinar and networking opportunities. Once everyone had gotten used to the space and enjoyed the novelty of something brand new, the seminars began. Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing 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, and you can check out the video here.
Georgie Upton from FEN members Wild West Communications presented first. She explained the reasons why she decided to get Wild West Comms B Corp certified, their journey so far (successes and challenges) and how she thinks the B Corp certification has helped their business to grow and become more resilient. Georgie pointed out that the B Corp certification for Wild West Communications was going to be a way to futureproof the business and make sure it stayed relevant going into the new decade and beyond. The certification would a “road map” to help them find and connect with their social & environmental mission and purpose as a business and to keep them in check.
For Wild West Communications, the B Corp certification also proved to be a way to attract talent to their offices in Truro and to work with other likeminded people and brands (while doing more good!).
As Georgie concluded, “B Corp helps you nail the Triple Bottom Line framework of People, Profit, Planet, and makes you celebrate that” “It is about being the best version of yourself.”
Next, we welcomed Nick Dean who spoke about two very different journeys. Firstly, the TechTalent Academy, who are going through B Corp certification with a very clear ‘why’ - to transform the lives of 20,000 people from under-represented backgrounds by upskilling and placing them into tech, data, and cyber careers. And secondly, ADLIB, whose primary function is recruitment, but that Nick wanted to be packaged with stacks of purpose within the external community (supporting diverse groups, Greentech meet ups etc).
Nick mentioned that from the moment that he joined ADLIB, he wanted the company to be unlike any other recruitment business. He wanted it to have a greater purpose, be authentic and impactful beyond its primary business mission purpose. “B Corp puts your purpose(s) to the test”. For Nick, to go through with the B Corp certification was a way to make sure that ADLIB and TechTalent Academy were living and breathing their respective social & environmental purpose. It was also a tool used to review their whys and impact, to set goals and objectives as a business and finally to measure and report these outputs.
Next, we welcomed Vicky Murray, Sustainability Manager at Pukka Herbs who presented Pukka’s B Corp journey, sharing five lessons that they learnt as a business along the way and what being part of this powerful movement for change means for Pukka today.
Vicky first found out about B Corp over a beer in Yurt Lush back in 2016. Pukka certified as a B Corp shortly afterwards and never looked back. For Vicky, the certification was for Pukka Herbs “the cherry on top” as it gave their ever-growing business a good roadmap to never lose track of their already strong social and environmental purpose.
Pukka’s five lessons learnt from becoming B Corp:
· Engage your team from the start to make them feel part of the mission.
o Launch the B Corp internally first. At Pukka they had a full day of team-building activities around B Corp.
· B Corp is an anchor come what may.
· Approach the Business Impact Assessment in a way that works for you.
o Alone
o As a group
· Help grow the movement by speaking about it.
· Reconnect with like-minded businesses. The B Corp community is passionate.
Finally, we welcomed Josie Morris, Managing Director at Woolcool. Josie shared her thoughts on why B Corp shouldn’t just be something you go for because you want the kudos of the certificate. Personally, she wanted to see if you could “be a good person and have a successful business” and she saw in the B Corp certification a way to prove this to be possible.
She discussed the many positives and benefits, drawing upon examples, of the business for good ethos and why she thinks this is important for the future of communities. Whilst the positives outweigh the challenges, she was also candid about the challenges that Woolcool faced in the process along with those experienced whilst maintaining this ethos when expanding the team and business.
For her, the B Corp certification was a tangible certification to prove Woolcool’s sustainability mission but most importantly a tool to keep a clear vision on their social and environmental values, even if they may change overtime.
We continued with our new mini Q&A’s after every two speakers, which created a continuous buzz throughout the event. The seminar finished with some insightful and high-level questions to the panel as a group after the mini Q&A’s. Conversations were started on the following subjects:
· The benefits and challenges of becoming B Corp as a sole trader
· Our responsibility to challenge our Networks
· The legal requirement for B Corp Certification in the UK- Articles of Association
o Businesses in the United Kingdom are likely to be eligible for B Corp certification as long as the business can demonstrate the following:
§ It generates the majority of its revenue from trading
§ It competes in a competitive marketplace
§ It is NOT a charity
§ It is NOT a public body or otherwise majority owned by the state
o This includes CLGs, CLSs, and CICs, as long as they are not charities.
Finally, Network members Andy Hawkins from Business on Purpose and Itech4good, Jessica Whitcutt Fagan from It’s A Shovel and Rob Webbon from Presca teamwear and Mukti Mitchell from Smartliving gave a 60 second pitch - a popular opportunity at these events that continues despite the virtual nature of our events. Everyone was then able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished.
A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees - without this ongoing interest and support we would not be able to continue hosting such interesting and thought-provoking discussions.