Our B Corp Journey
Ethical Republic has always been driven by purpose.
It is in our DNA - from the services we deliver, to the way our operations are guided by sustainability principles, to how we give back – money, time, and products. If it doesn’t lead to positive impact, we don’t do it. It never occurred to me to run the company any other way.
That’s why I’m so excited (and just a little bit proud!) to announce that Ethical Republic became a Certified B Corporation (B Corp) in February 2024.
Here I share a few insights, as well as some of the trials and tribulations encountered in our journey to becoming a B Corp.
What Is A B Corp?
B Corps are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Companies going for certification are rigorously assessed for how they create value across five Impact Pillars – environment, customers, community, governance, and workers. A company must score at least 80 points in the B Impact Assessment to qualify for certification.
Ethical Republic scored 105.7. This was no small feat, and is due largely to the fact that we intentionally crafted our business model from day one to be impactful in multiple different ways. To put it in perspective, the average score for Certified B Corps in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand is 96, while the median score for “ordinary” businesses that complete the assessment is 50.9.
Today, there are more than 7,800 B Corps spanning 161 industries. Of those, more than 650 are based in Australia and Aotearoa NZ.
Some of my favourite brands are B Corps, including Intrepid Travel, Bank Australia, Patagonia, Impact Boom, The Sponge, and Horizon Business Plans. It’s a humbling (and slightly intimidating!) experience to be sharing a campfire with these companies.
Why All This Matters
The current global economic system is failing people and destroying the planet.
The B Corp movement is about creating a global shift to transform the dominant economic system and move away from the harmful practice of pursuing profit at any cost. It’s about transforming the global economy so that wealth and power are shared, not concentrated, and so production systems are regenerative, not extractive.
It’s a global community of businesses committed to collective action aimed at addressing society’s most critical challenges. In short, it’s about using business as a force for good.
Continuous Improvement
Does being a Certified B Corp mean we are perfect? Nope! We are not.
But it’s a great starting point that’s supported by a robust framework for continuous improvement.
“B Corps are mission-driven companies that set out to balance purpose and profit. ”
To maintain certification, B Corps must undertake the assessment and verification process every three years to demonstrate they are still meeting B Lab’s standards. The standards themselves are always improving, and so the minimum bar for social and environmental performance continually inches higher.
It’s incredibly inspiring to see how other B Corps are achieving high standards of social and environmental performance in novel ways in their industries. Through The Travel Better Project, I recently released a Guidebook and Toolkit for Positive Impact Tourism and a great many examples and ideas I drew on were from B Corps. In fact, it was hard to know where to stop.
As I observe what others are doing and having now worked through the B Impact Assessment, I know we have not achieved our highest impact. Far from it, actually.
If the rapidly expanding Ideas Vault I’ve started populating with new things we can do to deliver more value and create greater impact for the people we serve is any indication – being a B Corp really will be a lifelong journey for us.
Is It Easy?
No, the certification process is not easy. At least, I didn’t find it easy!
I’ll be honest, there were more than a few moments when I nearly threw in the towel. This was puzzling to me at times, given how intrinsic the drive for impact and purpose are to the fabric of Ethical Republic.
As it turned out, I had mistakenly selected a gated question about our impact business model that was not particularly suited to how we create impact with our clients. This sent me down a rabbit hole that I’ll admit took its toll in terms of time and emotional energy. However, once my appointed analyst and I figured this out, the whole process was a lot smoother.
Is it time consuming?
Yes
Is it expensive?
Yes, the certification fee is kind of pricey, at least for a small/micro company like mine. It’s true that the money spent on certification would otherwise go directly to the causes we support, but B Lab itself is also doing incredibly important work to change the status quo.
Is it necessary?
For us, no, not really. Ethical Republic was already creating impact with our clients and not being certified was not preventing us from doing good or fulfilling our mission.
Then why do it?!
Because it validates all the things we stand for as a company. I believe we’ve all, to a greater or lesser extent, been part of the problem, and we can only course-correct if we’ve all part of the solution. Plus, it helps drive us to keep pushing out of our comfort zone and not get complacent. Continuous improvement for us means staying on our toes, reaching ever higher, and showing other small companies like ours that it’s possible to balance profit with purpose.
What’s Next?
We’d love to collaborate with other B Corps to increase the scale of the change we’re capable of making.
Purpose: To bring culture, conservation and community together with economic opportunity for a fairer future.
Mission: To work with Indigenous people and local communities to create cultural and nature-based enterprises alongside protected areas, heritage sites and trail destinations.
Vision: For 30% of the world’s high conservation value land and sea resources to be protected in ways that support, not erode, local livelihoods and traditional use.
If you’re a B Corp and our purpose, mission, and vision resonate with you, we’d love to chat and explore what working together to shake things up could look like.
