Did you know that March is B Corp month?
This month at DeeBee’s, we are excited to share parts of our sustainability journey with you and celebrate everything it means to be a B Corp! Keep reading to discover why purpose-driven business is so important to us.
What is a B Corp?
B corp, or ‘certified benefit corporation,’ is a certification given to businesses that exhibit transparent commitment to ethical business practices. In simpler terms, B Corps are companies that prioritize making a positive impact in addition to making a profit! This means that a B Corp cares deeply about their effect on the communities, environments, and people it interacts with. B Corps are also committed to the highest standards of employee safety and satisfaction, ethical decision making, and transparent information sharing.
All B Corps believe in one key vision: a global economy that uses business as a force for good! According to B Lab, the key values all B Corps believe in are:
- That we must be the change we seek in the world
- That all business should be conducted as people and places matter
- That business should aspire to do no harm, but benefit all
- That we must be both understanding of the past and responsible for the future
How DeeBee's Organics Became a B Corp
It’s not easy to become a B Corp!
To become a B Corp for the first time, a company needs to pass a formal application and assessment procedure that can take up to several months to complete. This helps both B Lab and the company applying for certification understand where its practices and output fall across five impact categories: governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers. After the initial certification process, B Corps are reviewed by the B Lab every three years to ensure that the company continues to not only maintain but also work to improve upon its operations, ecological footprint, and overall impact.
To gain this certification through assessment, an organization must earn an Impact Score of at least 80. We are so excited to announce that you can explore our most recent Impact Score of 98.2 here! We have also been a B Corp since 2014, only a year after we first went to market in 2013, which you can read about here. Psst: Did you know that DeeBee’s Organics was actually the first business to become certified B Corp on Vancouver Island, BC? We think that’s pretty cool!
What Does Being a B Corp Mean to Us?
Founder and CEO Dr. Dionne recalls, “I remember coming across a table at the Natural Products Expo in 2013 that was all about B Corp and thinking, this is exactly what DeeBee’s already is! We quickly became a B Corp after that, and it has been such an incredible journey to be on.”
At DeeBee’s Organics, we are incredibly proud to call ourselves a certified B Corp. To us, this means that we are purpose-driven, and aim to align all aspects of our business alongside the impact we make. While we are proud of the steps we have taken so far, we are also humbled by how far we have yet to go.
If you’re curious to learn about the colorful world we work towards at DeeBee’s, don’t forget to explore our vision here!