Businesses can take many different forms, and one of our favourites at Roundhouse is B Corp. You might be wondering – What is a B Corp? What does the B stand for? Business? Better? Banana? Well, a B Corp is a for-profit company, certified to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Basically, B Corp is to business what Fair Trade is to coffee. And the B? It stands for benefit!
There are over 3,100 certified B Corps in the world, across 70 countries and 150 industries. These B Corps, including businesses such as Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, and Etsy, are working together towards the goal of redefining what success looks like for business. In Canada, we are currently the second largest community of B Corps with over 230; 22 of those from Alberta. We are very proud of the seven B Corps from Edmonton: Unbelts, Peace Power, Chandos, Earth Group, Clean Now, Poppy Barley and Switch Engineering. Representing the construction, food, energy, fashion and service industries, the B Corps in Edmonton have diverse missions, and show the possibilities that are available for any business to be a force for good.
Becoming a B Corp is not only good for the world, but it is also great for business! Among other benefits, being a B Corp can help you attract investment, attract quality employees and benchmark your performance to encourage improvement.
Roundhouse and the MacEwan University Social Innovation Institute want to see the B Corp movement catch momentum and spread across Edmonton. We’re excited to partner with BDC to host regular B Corp workshops.
Watch our events page to see when our next workshop is.
To learn more about B Corps and how to support them you can visit their website at bcorporation.net.