The B Corp Movement
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July isn’t just another – albeit colder – month in the reign of covid-19. It’s also B Corp month.
This year, the theme is ‘Better Together for a Better World’: highlighting the importance of cooperation and community when it comes to establishing business as a force for good.
As a certified B Corp, Local Peoples remains committed to making positive change in these testing times, paving the way for better business. We sat down with our founder, Giuseppe Demaio, to discuss the power of being a B Corp and why others should join the movement.
First up, what’s a B Corp?
GD: A B Corp refers to a benefit corporation. They’re governed by a self-directed, independently assessed accreditation framework, which applies to businesses of all scales. This framework is used to measure triple-bottom-line performance across social, environmental and economic impacts.
Essentially, the B Corp accreditation process gets you thinking about how you do what you do. It encourages you to think about business performance on a variety of fronts, and how to measure, track and improve.
What compelled you to pursue this accreditation for Local Peoples?
GD: As a business, how we go about our work and assessing its impact on the environment and wider community is really important to consider. The B Corp process encourages you to consider how you’re running your business and how you can improve in five key areas: community, customers, workers, governance and environment. It is quite an accessible framework – and the costs for small businesses is relatively low.
There is also an element of brand value, where accreditation acts as a signal of alignment for people. For instance, the B Corp accreditation is becoming increasingly well known across government and select industries.
I’m a big believer in market-led change. The B Corp movement is a symbol of this change. By listening to the broader community, identifying what they want and prioritising them, we can create real impact.
How has this impacted the way Local Peoples operates and conducts business?
GD: There are a number of policies and ways of working that we’ve brought in as a result of the B Corp process.
For example, at our previous studio we were able to trace whether or not our electricity was being sourced from renewables. Here in Abbotsford, we look to work with underrepresented communities where possible. Currently, we source our stationary from a predominantly Indigenous-owned business.
Being a B Corp has also helped us enshrine things we’ve always done into our studio process, including providing equal opportunity for all people regardless of gender, race or disability. Important issues like this – issues that require more than mere tokenism – have been incorporated into the DNA of the studio through documented guidelines facilitated by the B Corp process.
This helps the team, clients and suppliers understand what we believe is fundamentally important to our business. Being open and transparent about that may also encourage other businesses to do the same.
What does this year’s theme – ‘Better Together for a Better World’ – mean to you?
GD: Being a B Corp brings together a community built on shared values. And now, more than ever, I hope people are realising the importance of community.
We’re being reminded – by the current climate – that we can create global impact through a more sustainable and empathetic way of living. For me, this is something we clearly have not been doing for quite a long time now. ‘Better Together for a Better World’ speaks to this notion of a shared idea and commitment to a new way forward.
That’s a big part of what the B Corp movement is about – a growing group of businesses that are succeeding in a way that will ultimately create and allow for a sustainable future.
Any advice for others considering joining the B Corp movement?
GD: My advice? Don’t worry if it takes you a little while to become a B Corp.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard it takes a lot of businesses at least three to six months to get accredited. It’s easy for businesses to get distracted; that’s business. But don’t give up – the process is the most rewarding part.
Involve as much of your organisation as you can in the process – it’s really valuable. It’s great for people to understand why being a B Corp is important, and why the points of measurement are important to track and improve upon. It helps people to think individually about their social and environmental impact, and how they can better develop on what they are already doing as individuals. That creates a ripple effect that goes far beyond the business.
And that’s really important.
