Last Thursday, we hosted the first ever Dorset B Corp event. With a number of local brands, agencies, and forward-thinkers at our seaside office, we thought it was high time to share some stories about the B Corp community.
The event began with a passionate speech from B Lab UK representative, Aimie Cole, who explained what the B Corp community is all about and why the movement exists.
“B Corp is a global movement that believes in the power of business, and that business has the potential to create real and lasting change, for all of us, across society and the world.”
Aimie suggested that current measures of success in business - profit or short-term financial returns to shareholders, for example – are outdated and need to change. Instead it’s about people and resources as well as profit, and that businesses should operate to create value for every one of their stakeholders. And it's not all talk; there's a growing body of evidence pointing to great success in the long term.
Aimie's talk was followed by one from Folk's founder, Jo Cruickshanks. She spoke about how she discovered B Corp, and about her mindset when she decided that the B Corp Assessment was the ideal measure of how Folk was doing. The certification was the perfect benchmark for two of Folk's core missions - to become environmentally self-sufficient, and to inspire others to work and live with purpose - things which were historically hard to track.
The conversation then turned to Folk's recent transformation into a Teal organisation. Jo explained that the two could elevate one another, and actually speed up the change process... although implementing these changes wasn't entirely free from challenges. Afterwards, the evening saw some very insightful contributions from a number of the attendees - including Alex Shepherd, co-founder of Kids Love Nature, a collection of leading nature nurseries in and around Dorset.
Stay tuned for more on our B Corp journey. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn how to become a B Corp yourself, we suggest you log on to the B Impact Assessment. There’s also some more background information available here.
A big thank you to all our attendees, and a special thanks to our friends at South Coast Roast for bringing along some tasty beans.
Warm regards,
Folk
