Glasgow city Credit: Lucie Jung
‘We can redefine success in business to reflect not just profit, but also the positive impact on people and the planet as well,’ executive director of B Lab UK Katie Hill stated.
Will it be possible one day to choose products or services based on companies’ social and environmental policies, in the same way that we can choose products certified “Organic” or “Fair Trade”? This is what the B Corporation certification aims to achieve.
The B Corp community was launched in the UK in September 2015 with 62 certified members from all over the country. A few months after the launch, the movement seems to be growing and the number of B Corp companies has now reached 80 .
B Lab gives the B Corp certification to for-profit companies whose aim is to use the power of business for the common good and to meet high standards in accountability and transparency. Many businesses are joining the movement.
Katie Hill, executive director of B Lab UK, said: “There has been an amazing level of interest from a wide range of companies who want to engage with the B Corp certification process.”
Currently, only six companies have the accreditation in Scotland. Maze magazine asked one of the B Corp certified members, what has changed since the company entered the movement.
Neil McInnes, director of Umega Lettings based in Edinburgh, explained that after nine years in business struggling to find a relevant certification highlighting the company’s values towards their customers, staff and stakeholders, the company finally adopted the certification in November 2015.
Umega Lettings’ director said: “B Corp has really helped us with changes we have made to the running of our business that improve our stakeholder engagement and make ours a better business by the traditional, finance-focused, measures.”
Alongside Fran Van Dijk and Ailsa Gray, Tim Hartley and his colleagues are committed to promote the B Corp movement in Scotland. Due to privacy matters, Hartley couldn’t reveal the exact number of companies who plan on joining the B Corp movement, but he did confirm that lots of companies are interested.
He said: “Scotland has always been very creative, always had inventors, it always had incredible thinkers […] and in terms of entrepreneurship and in terms of the world’s businesses and society, Scotland is a country perfectly positioned to really adopt the B Corp System.”
INTERVIEW WITH TIM HARTLEY, LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE: https://www.reverbnation.com/mazemag/song/25503391-b-corp-certification-tim-hartley
The certification is being claimed to serve the public interest through the company’s performances, Maze Magazine investigated to find out what companies unaware of this certification think about it.
Geraldine Pitt, Glasgow Food Assembly’s host said: “I think it would be good to have this certification as all business is viewed as purely commercial, the term social enterprise can be used but it is not official.”
To receive this accreditation, companies have to go through a self-assessment called B Impact Assessment and answer an online questionnaire regarding the company’s impact on the environment, on its workers as well as on the community and earn a score of 80 points out of 200. It then goes through a rigorous verification process and finally, it signs the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence, after which the company will get the B Corp certificate.
Umega Lettings’ director explained how his company benefited from the B Corp certificate:
“It lead to some very important discussions about our purpose and strategy! Meeting the certification standard has shored up parts of our business that have led to unexpected positive consequences, specifically with our governance and workforce engagement.”
However, because the certification is still quite new in the UK, recently certificated B Corp companies are not able to see any changes yet.
To find out how to get involved with the B Corp Movement, visiting their website.
Published in Maze Magazine: http://maze-mag.com/ethical-b-corp-companies-on-the-rise-in-scotland
