What does it mean to become a B Corp?
To be a B Corp you must commit yourself and your business to do good, socially and environmentally. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, before you can even consider becoming a B Corp, we should start with what it actually is.
B Corp is a certification designed to help businesses meet high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency. It is holistic, and not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue.
What does ‘B Corp’ even mean?
The “B” in B Corp is open to many different interpretations. Research says that it originally stood for “benefit corporation,” but it has slowly come to represent different things to different people.
What are the possible interpretations of the “B”?
- “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
- “Better”
- “Benefit”
Nevertheless, B Corps aim for more than just profits; they want to improve the planet by supporting their employees, customers, society, and the environment, both locally and globally.
A key component of operating as a B Corp is transparency. B Corps are held to rigorous standards of accountability. Companies must undergo recertification every three years, and those that don’t meet the evolving criteria, and increase their score, risk losing their B Corp status.
A quote we really like and feels fitting with B Corp is:
“Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.”
– Jean-Paul Richter, a 19th-century German novelist
Becoming a B Corp: Our Experience
Becoming a B Corp was not a decision we made lightly as a team.
From when the company began, Danielle thought about the impact that we have on the world – environmentally and for the people in Optimo. She always knew she wanted to create a fair and enjoyable working environment.
Danielle had heard about B Corp before but didn’t think it was suitable for a small business like ours. Even when she realised that it applied to us and we could apply, we didn’t have the time or budget to pursue it.
However, when Mollie joined the team we started to make bigger steps towards the certification. When Hannah Cox, founder of Better Business Network and betternotstop, ran an online ‘B Corp Bootcamp‘, we knew we now had the knowledge and capacity to make this dream a reality!
After some time to get through the assessment, in November 2022, we submitted our application!
Here are some of the few initiatives we implemented to align with the framework:
- Impact reporting- establishing impact goals, baselining and setting targets.
- Structuring Non-Fiduciary boards and directors’ meetings around B Corp framework elements.
- Employee, Associate, Client and Supplier engagement and satisfaction surveys.
- Environmental policy.
By August 2023, we became the first LGBTQ+ and female-founded consultancy in Yorkshire to achieve B Corp certification.
We are immensely proud of our certification and the hard work that went into achieving it.
Becoming a B Corp
The term ‘B Corp’ is getting more and more popular and lots of people understand that it’s a huge achievement. But not everyone understands what it takes to become one.
You are assessed on five key areas within the B Corp assessment:
- Governance: A company’s overall mission, ethics, accountability, transparency and how they build their vision and values into their bylaws.
- Workers: A business’s efforts to create positive impacts for their workforce.
- Community: How a business contributes to the economic and social well-being of the communities in which they operate.
- Environment: How a company works towards a more sustainable and regenerative planet by reducing its footprint and putting its impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity first in its business practices.
- Customers: How a company serves their customers, offering products or services that support the greater good.
The three main steps we recommend when approaching the B Corp assessment are:
- Go through the assessment and answer questions based on your current position.
- Figure out where you can improve.
- Create a roadmap and action plan. Add tasks to your task management system (e.g. Monday.com or Asana).
Interesting Questions Asked:
As a part of the webinar we hosted for the Leeds Digital Festival: “Building Futures and Leading with Pride: Becoming a B Corp” where we talked about our journey to certification, we incorporated an interactive section where attendees could ask us questions or tell us about their experiences. Below are some of the insightful questions we were asked:
🔷 What was your biggest challenge in becoming a B-Corp?
Our biggest challenge was the lack of resources and capacity to do it. When Mollie joined the team full time that really helped Danielle and Charlotte. At the time, Charlotte was part-time, and Danielle was too busy focusing on the many things she was responsible for with running her small business.
It’s the juggle, for small businesses, to make sure you are prioritising it when you’ve got so many other plates to spin. For larger businesses, we’ve also seen it be a challenge to get it prioritised with the board or senior members of the team. Engaging people in the wider team with what the certification is about can be quite difficult.
🔷 Is it better to pursue B Corp certification as a solo founder when starting a business, or wait until it’s more established with employees?
This is almost the exact dilemma our founder Danielle had early on in our B Corp journey. We do know single one-man/one-woman bands who have achieved B Corp, so it is doable! The problem is that you’re balancing doing the work, marketing the company, and all the other things that you have to do when it’s just you. However, if you understand the structure of the assessment and what the content of the questions are then it potentially helps to know where you need to start. Even if you don’t necessarily want to pursue the certification, it can be helpful to provide you with a structure that you run your business. I think an important element is also whether you have the capacity and time to put into it.
🔷 How long did it take you from the initial assessment to achieving the certification?
The initial assessment from when we submitted our assessment to certification was approximately six months. However, we took about twelve months to work our way through the assessment itself. All in all, it was an 18-month end-to-end process for us. Six of those months involved us waiting for them to assign us an analyst. They had quite a big backlog at the time; I think at the point we started looking at B Corp they had an 18-month waiting list but luckily we only had to wait 6 months. Once we were assigned an analyst, it was really quick! We were asked lots of questions to provide extra evidence for a couple of weeks and then that was it.
🔷 What period of time are you going to include within your first Impact Report? Will you try to align with the Fiscal year end?
We produced our first Impact Report after the end of our 2022 fiscal year and set targets for the next fiscal year as part of that which we tracked our progress against in our 2023 impact report. Our impact reports can be found here.
Final Note: Becoming a B Corp is not just a tick box exercise where you get a stamp at the end that you can use in all your branding. It is a commitment to continuous improvement. It’s important to regularly review and enhance our practices to maintain and exceed B-Corp standards.
Testimonials from our Leeds Digital Festival webinar:
“This has been so so useful! Thank you for your openness and honesty- it’s really helped and very inspiring!”
“Great session thank you!
Webinar recording:
For those of you who couldn’t attend our webinar but are interested in becoming a B Corp and learning more, check out our webinar recording:
