Why is it important & essential to understand B Corporations (B Corps) for starts ups and founders?

Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications for businesses, this certification is unique because it can measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact. (Plus 88% of consumers will be more loyal to a company that supports social or environmental issues)

Source: Forbes https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2021/03/28/customers-seek-purpose-driven-companies-creating-a-rise-in-b-corps/amp/

There are currently over 8,900 certified B Corps across 161 industries, in 101 countries. We are in early adopter phase and the “B” awareness is growing but still fairly unknown, more importantly though in the start-up community it is very mis-understood, and many people fear the process and the work involved.

This online B Corp 101 course has the opportunity to empower start up founders early on in this global movement and to encourage learning, understanding & adoption. This is a 6 week cohort based program with limited spaces for 10 startups.

In order to become B Corp certified you must complete the Business Impact Assessment (BIA). This assessment is rigorous, detailed and holistic. It asks questions across every area of your business from Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers so it not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue.

These 200+ questions can act as a framework for entrepreneurs to understand the fundamentals of how you can create a business that is a force for good, ie purpose / mission driven, taking into consideration its impact on its employees, its community and the environmental impact of their product or service and how they treat their customers.

As Social Entrepreneurs – you can understand these best practices earlier in your start up journey and align your business in the beginning rather than going back and changing key things in your company later. This holistic approach to building your businesses could also help create more sustainable & successful businesses, that could potentially lead to lower start up “failures”. The longevity of starts ups and success rates could increase because of their focus across their purpose, people, planet as well as profit.

HOW & WHAT

Definitii will offer the following online program to the start up community over a period of 6 weeks, with a 90 mins workshop each week.

Week 1 - B Corp Overview

What is a B Corp & what is *Pending B Corp
What are the benefits of becoming a B Corp & Pending B Corp
Jargon - B Lab, B Corp, B Consultant, Business Impact Assessment (BIA)
What companies are B Corps
What is the high level process to become a B Corp
Social Entrepreneurship & B Corp
FAQs

Outcome: To ensure all of the community knows what B Corp is and how it works.

Week 2 - Starting your B Corp Journey

Understand what being a B Corp means & the benefits to you & your business
Understand the B Corp certification road map
Map your own journey to become a B Corp & identify the key milestones
Understand & navigate the B Impact Assessment (BIA)
Understand the difference between Operational Impact & Impact Business Models

Outcome: To know the difference between Operational Impact and Impact Business Models, to map out their own specific B Corp journey & timeline & to create their profile in the BIA tool.

Week 3 - Governance & Workers Section

Week 4 - Community Section

Week 5 - Environment & Customer Section

Outcome: To introduce the B Corp thinking into your businesses and learn how to create best practice in all 5 areas as well examples of evidence required.

Week 6 - End of Program Celebration!

Finalise BIA and next steps
Feedback/ learnings
Celebrate the Program – FACT: 80% of businesses don’t complete the BIA!
We bring together a B Corp Guest Panel – CEO’s / COO’s / Founders from B Corp certified companies to share their missions, purpose, why they became B Corp, what it means to them. How that looks in their business, how they found the B Corp process & the value of the B Corp community. This panel will bring to life the learnings of the program.

Outcome: Finalise BIA, discuss learnings, decide on next steps/ goals & CELEBRATE!

Investment - we understand as a start up you want to start the B Corp process but you also want to make it affordable for the stage of business you are at, that's why we are offering this for £330 per startup to attend. Yay!

*Pending B Corp is a temporary status for start-ups with less than 12 months of operations who are looking to incorporate B Corp principles into their business before they can qualify for full B Corp Certification.

B Corp Certification is based on the verified practices and policies of a company over the past year — rather than what it aspires to do in the future.

That means that only companies that have been in operation for at least twelve months are eligible for B Corporation Certification. B Lab measures the operational start date from the time at which at least one individual was contributing 35+ hours per week to the company.

Early-stage companies who aren’t yet eligible for full B Corp Certification can pursue Pending B Corp status. Although this isn’t a prerequisite for certification, the Pending B Corp process provides a valuable framework for a company to identify areas for development before transitioning to a fully-fledged B Corp after 12 months.

FULL DETAILS HERE: https://bcorporation.uk/b-corp...

If as a startup you qualify for this we will work towards this as a goal.

Host - Your host will be Social Entrepreneur & trained B Consultant Michelle Sutherland.

Michelle is the Founder & CEO, Definitii www.definitii.co - A purpose driven change consultancy that empowers companies to become B Corp certified & educates young people about Social Entrepreneurship & B Corp - We are for the Greater Good.

Michelle has over 15 years’ experience in helping people & businesses change. Also a consultant with Arbonne, a global B Corp & an Arbonne for Good Ambassador for ANZ. She is passionate about making the B Corp journey transformative, attainable & fun for all companies.

We look forward to seeing you in August & empowering you to improve your social and environmental impact!