The Road to B-Corp
Why we became a B Corp and why we think it’s important.
Since 2018 the Craftory has been amplifying the world’s best challenger brands. Our support is both financial and operational in nature, and our portfolio spans a framework of righteous causes: deliver good health, democratise access, progress society, prosper sustainably and champion self-esteem. So it’s hardly a surprise that for us, it was a natural next step to join the B Corp movement.
Living B-Corp values from day one
Since the beginning of our journey as an investment house, we have always seeked the deepest possible understanding of those brands operating in the mission-driven ecosystem. As a company, as a team, we’ve always tried to actively live the values that resonated the most to our righteous causes.
This approach started with building the Craftory team. An aspect of progressing society is about giving the opportunity for diversity to fully express its potential in the workplace. This is one of the reasons why I am personally so proud of being part of the Craftory. Our incredible canvas of backgrounds allows us to be better investors by cherishing diversity of opinions and healthy debate.
Next, we applied the righteous causes principles to every aspect of our company from only purchasing recyclable goods, to only travelling when absolutely necessary, seeking the best work-environment possible, etc.
According to Kantian moral law, “the one supreme duty is to act for the sake of law as such or duty as such, not for the sake of a particular law or a particular duty. In other words, our supreme duty is to act morally.” (Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals).
Something that strikes me about the Craftory is that the mission we set ourselves is much bigger than only the investment activity. It’s about allowing a community of entrepreneurs to spread good in the world, therefore it has quickly been obvious to us that we had to grow from applying principles we set ourselves internally at the beginning of our journey to use international standards of sustainability as guides. B Corp is perfect for that.
Including the B-Corp logo with our own, helps us project who we are with clarity.
About the process: Its challenges and learnings
During the process - that took us almost a year to complete - the most challenging point was certainly that our score varied a lot (similar to most companies going through the process). At times it felt like we were on a rollercoaster, never being sure that we would eventually qualify.
Indeed, out of the 3,300 companies certified B Corp, only 2% are investment entities and it is very difficult to qualify as many of the questions are designed for companies with manufacturing facilities or actual sales. Therefore, it has been crucial to our qualification to be able to scour each and every part of our business with clarity and documentation.
As the leader of the Craftory’s application I cannot thank the team enough for that support. Indeed teamwork is essential to crossing the B-Corp finish line. Only the contributions of every single team member allowed us to answer the 300+ questions.
For us, going through the process of the B Corp assessment has been incredibly enlightening. It gave us a clear view of the journey of sustainability and progress ahead by providing advice on how to further improve ourselves. For example, it helped us think further about how we deal with waste, or better understand the difficulty of measuring the ecological footprint of the brands we support.
Fueled by the collective belief that we need to practice what we preach in order to be relevant to the causes we back, we see the B Corp certification as an honor and an encouragement to make a more meaningful impact in the future.
Laura is a Deal Crafter at The Craftory, the alternative investment house on a $375M mission to back the world's boldest CPG challenger brands.
