UK B Corps on the value of achieving certification

In 2006, B Corporation was founded by three friends, to make business a force for good. They developed a framework of standards, which aimed to mobilise organisations to better balance purpose with profit. The group’s B Corp certification acts as a stamp of approval that a business has met its high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

In attaining B Corp status, a business commits to positively impacting all stakeholders – workers, communities, customers and our planet. Today, there are 2,000 B Corps across the UK.

Whilst UK B Corp-certified businesses reap various benefits, the certification process is notoriously rigorous. To certify, a business must score 80 or above on the B impact scale.

We proudly achieved UK B Corp status ourselves in December 2023, with a score of 97.5. On top of this, we’ve also invested in several other UK B Corps, operating across different sectors and growth stages.

Read on to hear about their motivations for pursuing B Corp accreditation, how they achieved such high scores on the B impact scale, and the benefits they’ve seen post-certification. We’ll also share some guidance for other growing businesses considering B Corp certification, and a little more about our own B Corp journey to date.

Which UK B Corps did we speak to?

We gathered insights from senior business leaders at three BGF-backed businesses of varying sizes, each navigating unique challenges and focus areas.

Aneisha Soobroyen, Co-Founder of Scrumbles: Aneisha co-founded London-based pet food brand Scrumbles in 2018 and now employs >10 people. The business supplies nutritious, natural food for cats and dogs to large UK retailers. Scrumbles became a UK B Corp in 2018, and recertified in January 2019 with a score of 90.8 – making them one of only two pet food brands to meet these standards.

Lydia Houghton, Business Manager & Shane Dineen, Managing Director at Archus: The Bristol-based business now employs ~90 people and provides strategic consultancy, infrastructure and analytics services to organisations in the health and social care industry – including its largest client, the NHS. Archus achieved UK B Corp status in summer 2023, with an impressive score of 98.5.

Oscar Benjamin, Head of Sustainability at Brompton: Brompton employs ~800 people, designing and manufacturing its iconic folding bike. Like Archus, Brompton became a B Corp in mid-2023, with a score of 85.1 marking a significant milestone in their mission to create healthier cities for all.

Why might a business pursue B Corp certification?

At BGF, we decided to pursue B Corp certification as we felt it aligned well with our founding purpose – to facilitate long-term growth for SMEs, champion sustainable business practices, and ultimately, contribute to the economic resilience of the UK and Ireland.

Archus, meanwhile, pursued B Corp certification as a way of embedding purpose-led practices across their core business functions. As a people-led organisation, Archus believe it’s important to ensure that employees feel they’re part of a purpose-driven mission, and B Corp was a great way of demonstrating this, both internally and externally.

Scrumbles pursued B Corp certification early on in their growth journey, and believe it helped them identify key areas for improvement and establish a practical structure for achieving these.

For Brompton, the team hoped B Corp accreditation would act as a signal of their commitment to doing business in a way that benefits people and planet.

What benefits are there to being a B Corp-certified business?

Certifying as a UK B Corp offers significant benefits, depending on your company’s size and sector. Research shows B Corps experience faster growth, stronger employee retention, and more robust governance compared to peers. Joining the B Corp community also offers access to exclusive events, best practices, and collaboration with other UK B Corps to tackle shared challenges.

As a manufacturing business, Brompton has certainly seen commercial value from achieving B Corp status, having helped the business to streamline its manufacturing process. The certification also serves as a clear signal to customers that Brompton is taking meaningful steps to reduce environmental impact; B Corp status has been crucial in helping the brand attract eco-conscious employees who are aligned with the principles of responsible business.

Similarly, many of Archus’ existing clients (including the NHS) acknowledge the value of B Corp status, and the company’s certification is expected to be a key competitive advantage when securing future client contracts.

For Scrumbles, meanwhile, B Corp certification ensures that it remains true to its founding principles as the company continues to grow, while its employees feel empowered to do their best work.

B Corp’s five key impact areas

B Corp certification addresses the entirety of a business’s operations, covering five key impact areas:

• Governance
• Workers
• Community
• Environment
• Customers

Our portfolio businesses shared with us their strategies for achieving high scores across each of these areas.

Governance

The governance impact area of B Corp certification considers a company’s overall mission, ethics, accountability, and transparency.

Archus scored highly in this area by prioritising ethical and financial transparency. They found that integrating social and environmental responsibilities into job descriptions, and conducting quarterly employee reviews, helped ensure employees remained aligned with the company’s mission. They also ensured transparency by sharing outputs, like financial updates from monthly board meetings, with all employees.

Workers

The worker category assesses a business’ efforts to create positive impacts for their workforce. Archus and Scrumbles both excelled in this area.

Archus offers a generous benefits package to its team, including mental health support and an employee share trust. Scrumbles, meanwhile, hosts monthly business update meetings (BUM) to promote transparency, invests in training, and offers 360 feedback across the business. Scrumbles also make an annual commitment to increase salaries by minimum of consumer price index (CPI) and offers an enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme so that all employees can have options in the business.

BGF’s own high score in this area came as a result of the health and wellbeing benefits offered to our employees, as well as equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) initiatives implemented across the business. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in the growth and profitability of our business model.

Community

The community impact area evaluates a company’s engagement with, and impact on, the communities in which it operates, hires from, and sources from. Scrumbles scored highly in this area due to their membership in the ‘1% for the Planet’ initiative, which sees them donate one percent of annual sales to environmental organisations.

Environment

The environment area assesses how a company works towards a sustainable and regenerative planet. Brompton scored highly in this area, having worked hard to streamline manufacturing processes to reduce waste. They also collaborated closely with designers to ensure new products feature sustainable materials. Oscar and his team have implemented new initiatives like Brompton’s bike hire programme, to get more people to opt for cycling in cities, instead of other, more polluting, modes of transport.

Customers

The customers impact area assesses how a company serves their customers, offering products or services that support the greater good. Brompton customers, for example, report huge mental health and wellbeing benefits from getting out and about on Brompton bikes.

We also scored highly in the way our customers (that is BGF portfolio companies) are treated. As a leading equity investment partner, we can provide businesses with flexible, minority funding options, and help to secure debt funding from our shareholder banks. Our Value Creation team also supports portfolio businesses throughout their investment lifecycle, providing access to in-house experts and an extensive community with deep sector and growth stage knowledge.

The challenges in obtaining and retaining B Corp status

One of the many benefits of B Corp is that it covers so many different topics, which helps in selecting key target areas for businesses, but this breadth can also present challenges.

Stakeholder management

For a financial services firm like BGF, one of the key challenges is demonstrating the company’s core mission to both internal and external stakeholders. Going forward, a key area of focus for us is to improve our environmental performance and encourage our portfolio companies to do the same.

For Scrumbles, the challenges are slightly different. Aniesha is working hard with retailers to ensure the sustainability conversation isn’t overlooked in light of other issues, such as the cost of living crisis.

Commitment

Like us, Brompton are still relatively early on in their B Corp journey, so for them, one of the main challenges is to maintain all the things they’re already doing well. It’s important not to overcommit and underdeliver, particularly at the start of the journey. Looking ahead, Brompton plan to implement a carbon reduction roadmap and further reduce waste across different parts of their manufacturing processes.

Competing priorities

For Archus, one of the main challenges is having competing priorities within the business and different variations of the same strategy. To manage this, they’re condensing each strategy down to build clearer goals.

This point also rings true for BGF, having previously found it challenging to marry existing ESG and sustainability approaches within the B Corp framework. Although all part of the same approach, the clarity of message can be disrupted.

Educating key audiences

As newly certified B Corps, Brompton and Archus, like us, see a key opportunity in effectively communicating B Corp’s principles and messages to both internal and external audiences.

For Archus, employee engagement is their most powerful tool in communicating and implementing the B Corp message. The biggest opportunity for Scrumbles is educating end shoppers, explaining why they’re part of the movement and the practical steps their taking to make a difference which will hopefully result in greater customer buy-in. Scrumbles do this well through their blog’s sustainability section.

Guidance for businesses looking to certify as a UK B Corp

At first glance, the B Corp certification process can seem overwhelming. Here, we’ve compiled advice from each business on their approach to the accreditation process and their recommendations to avoid common pitfalls.

1. Focus on the process, not the timeframe

It’s crucial to dedicate sufficient time and resources to really nail the B Corp process, which is argued to be as important as the accreditation itself.

2. Garner buy-in from your team

Involve the entire team in the certification process. This not only helps with gathering data across teams, but also ensures everyone has a good understanding of the accreditation actually means.

3. Break down into manageable steps

Try to focus on one impact area at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. This will help to make the process a lot more manageable.

4. Find the right talent

Identifying passionate individuals within your organisation, who can drive the process and involve their peers as advocates, is crucial.

5. Don’t worry about ticking every box

It’s important to remember that B Corp accreditation is based on a total impact score. So, don’t get discouraged if your business doesn’t tick every single box. What matters most is the journey you take towards becoming a B Corp-certified company.

BGF will be publishing its first B Impact Report at the end of the year, stay tuned for further insights on our journey to date.