After a year-long process, we are finally B Corp re-certified – which we’re wearing as a badge of honor!
Consumer pressure and Industry demands generate an urgency to integrate sustainability issues into the business. It is the top priority for every business. By taking on the B Lab’s B Impact Assessment (BIA), SGA commits to “giving the same rigor to the social and environmental impact as we do to the financial returns”. For us, the top 3 reasons to become a B Corp are:
- Demonstrate your commitment to be a Force for Good in the global B-Corp Movement
- Show your employees and customers that you are a purpose-driven organization
- Measure & manage your impact on your journey towards sustainability
We asked Heiko Mitzkus, certified B Leader and coordinator of the recertification
effort, about the experience:”What struck me most about the certification process was that in addition to creating clarity and transparency about our organization’s current impact, it also highlighted the areas of possible future improvement. This was an unexpected ‘bonus’, providing us with valuable input for continuous improvement.”
Becoming a B-Corp is about creating impact. For a business like ours, running a good operation is a “hygiene factor” and not the biggest lever to create positive impact in the world. At Sustainable Growth Associates, we believe in the culture of stakeholder engagement, accountability and openness & transparency. These are values where we decided to “walk the talk” – not just to be credible towards our customers, but also to benefit as an organization. Our biggest lever to create positive impact is tied to our business model: helping others increase their positive impact!
Through our work with clients and our 2020 study on strategic sustainability in Europe, we identified the top two obstacles for companies against sustainability:
1) the sheer multitude of ESG topics and
2) the lack of education and shared understanding of sustainability.
Both these points confirm why providing orientation and structure is such a critical success factor for the transformation journey and to have an impact.
Where do we have impact?
Every B Corp considers five Impact Areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. The BIA awards points for their positive impact.
- Governance – The company’s mission, ethics, accountability, and transparency
- Workers – The company’s overall job quality
- Community – The company’s contribution to economic and social well-being
- Environment – The company’s overall environmental stewardship
- Customers – The company’s value creation for its direct customers and consumers
Finally, we share with you our four key takeaways for the entire recertification process
- Process Insight: Teamwork AND dedicated project management as key success factor for the certification
- BIA Insight #1: Treating the BIA as two separate exercises (Operations and Impact Business Model) enabled us to navigate it much more effectively.
- BIA Insight #2: Achieving clarity on the position in our value chain and share of revenue was crucial for getting our Impact Business Model right
- BIA Insight #3: Documentation is helping us better manage our impact by facilitating a continuous improvement process.
Learn more about our services in B Corp here.
Learn about our services here.