On the 30th of March 2022, ASSEK joined B Lab East Africa to celebrate their work across the continent in measuring social impact while also encouraging businesses to use their influence as a force for good.
Caption: Ngwing Kimani, Executive Director of B Lab East Africa presents a speech during the B Corp Breakfast
It was an exciting event that saw B Lab and the global B Corp Community join together to celebrate what it means to be a B Corporation. Being a B Corporation means valuing your workers, your customers, the environment and the community as much as your profits. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purposes. Consumers increasingly demand that businesses use their influence as a force for good. Certified B Corporations are at the forefront of purpose-driven entities that are finding sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems and redefining financial success in the global economy.
Being part of the B Corp Movement has the following benefits;
- Attract Investment – Investors today are also coming to the table with greater expectations before they commit to making an investment. Investors want to venture into environmental and social areas that create more value for their investment.
- Access to market – With the certification, companies join globally with over 4600 businesses across 150 industries and over 70 countries to network, market their products and share best practices.
- Lead a movement -From tackling youth unemployment and women empowerment to providing access to clean energy and medical technologies, B corps are the front lines accelerating high growth solutions to inequality, poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation in Africa.
- Talent retention – More of the workforce today make decisions about where to work based on the positive impact their work created and how well an employer treated their team.
Being a BCorp isn’t just paying a fee. It takes rigorous analysis of company operations across social and environmental lenses to earn the B . Earning B Corp status is such an honour. This analysis is done every three years to verify if they still qualify to be a BCorp. Companies that score 80+ on the B Impact Assessment are verified by B Lab to confirm they’re proving that their businesses are working harder to make more impact.
Africa B Corp Impact & Stats
- There are over 50 B Corps in 15 countries across Africa over 6,000 workers are employed by B Corps in Africa
- 57% (4/7) of B Corps have seen their revenues increase since their certification as B Corps, with an average of 91% revenue rise
- Since their first certification, 86% (6/7) of companies improved their workers’ supplementary health benefits significantly; 72% (5/7) of B Corps increased or kept constant the percentage of the company’s total expenses that were sourced from independent local suppliers supporting and empowering local communities; and
- 72% (5/7) of companies have improved or maintained their Environmental Management Systems since they became B Corps.
Caption (L-R) : Trevor Kombo, BLab East Africa and Ms Ngwing Kimani, Executive Director at BLab East Africa pose for a picture during the B Corp Breakfast
Learn more about BLab East Africa here.