To go further, 7,000 companies around the world are working on their mission and raison d'être, transforming their economic model to be compatible with planetary boundaries.
In summary these were the lessons learnt in Sair da Casca during the process of turning into a certified B Corp:
- B Corp certification is a process that involves the whole company - it must be shared and ownership must be seen as transversal, with champions in each area (and a team of focal points to coordinate, of course!); this involvement will make the motivations and objectives clear to the whole company on obtaining certification, and will facilitate the (demanding) process of collecting and managing information, both on certification and afterwards, on recertification and the improvement processes to be implemented.
- Filling in the B Impact Assessment (BIA) should be the basic tool for a continuous improvement process - B Lab provides a number of highly relevant tools for benchmarking practices and developing improvement plans, and it is possible to set objectives and use templates provided by the platform to operationalise them.
- The relationship with B Lab (at national level, with B Lab Europe and its representatives for Portugal) - it is important to maintain this not only during the verification and certification process, but on an ongoing basis; teams within the company should be encouraged to take part in the different discussion groups, platforms and training actions promoted by B Lab, always with relevant content for progression in each of the themes (and not necessarily focussed on BIA).
- Taking advantage of synergies between B Corp companies - there are many opportunities for this contact; it is necessary to explore to identify the bridges that can be built, but B Corp certification as a common point is a huge asset, and makes companies identify with each other - communities of B Corp leaders are great opportunities to explore and test these compatibilities.
- Taking advantage of the growing exposure of the movement, the visibility that B Lab itself gives both to the movement and to individual companies, their journey and their objectives; coordination between the B Corp company's communication and the B Lab 'communication machine' makes it possible to emphasise principles and values, with guarantees of #nogreenwashing #nosocialwashing.
