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Following 18 months of the rigorous B Impact Assessment, Rival has been officially recognised as a B Corporation! With this certification, we join a fleet of B Corp businesses around the world who all have the same goal, driving global social and environmental change.
Certified B Corporations - commonly called B Corps – are companies verified by B Lab to meet its environmental performance standards. The B Corp Community is a global movement of businesses who demonstrate their commitment to people and the planet. It is a challenging and time-consuming process to be certified – now that we have, there is a transparent commitment to hold ourselves accountable and inspire fairer and innovative ways of doing business.
The certification was created to address the lack of information available to differentiate between a “good green company” and “good green marketing.” With no universal index for companies demonstrating environmental or social impact, it can be hard to tell who are all bells and whistles and who are the real deal.
The B Corp impact assessment is not for the faint hearted. There are approximately 200 questions tailored to your industry and scale, designed to interrogate the impact your business has on its community, clients, employees and environment. Not to mention interviews and evidence requests to back your claims. With only 3.5% of companies who apply to become a B-Corp succeeding, it’s scrupulous enough to be a meaningful indicator of a more ethical company.
As a start-up, we took this as an opportunity to demonstrate how smaller organizations (without a huge budget or expertise in green initiatives!) can operate in a way that balances profit with purpose. We also wanted to challenge ourselves to be accountable and to continue improving with the support of the B Corp community.
Rival was built on the belief that any business can grow like a challenger with the right mindset and model. We applied this mind-set to our growth by baking sustainability into our business model and implementing small, creative strategies from day one.
“We aim to set a new standard for corporate social responsibility in our industry. We believe we have a responsibility to not just do well for ourselves and our clients, but do good for others and the world at large. We don’t believe we can change the world on our own. But we do believe we can make a meaningful difference in this industry and set a meaningful example for others to follow.”
- The Rival Handbook
Balancing purpose and profit has been embedded into our company culture. Two key areas to create this balance are:
1. Our People
We want to be the kind of business that attracts and retains the best talent in the industry. Having the right people with us on our journey is the most direct way we can have an impact on driving positive change. A structured hiring process, which makes space for candidates to explore our vision and ethos, helps identify those who will contribute to our impact, as well as do a great job.
To help our team flourish, we redesigned a workplace that was fit for the world of today, one that aligned with our team's personal values. This includes individual focus on wellness and career growth, as well as holding the highest standards in how we operate. How a company behaves matters, and any startup should want to show that its company values are reflected in its actions. We challenged out-dated workplace norms to build the foundations for long-term success and day-to-day happiness.
2. Our Clients
This mindset was also applied to winning and maintaining the best clients. We constantly question ourselves on how we can add value. This extends to higher ethical values - in a world where consumers seek to work and support businesses that are ‘doing good’, being a sustainable business is increasingly on the agenda for potential partners. It’s a question that will be asked about pitches, procurement and referrals. Any organization that ignores this will struggle to find its place in the modern world.
Post-certification, the work really begins. We have a lot of work to do to maintain these standards. For start-ups like us, we must proactively introduce micro changes and new strategies as our business grows.
But for now, we celebrate this incredible team achievement! Stay tuned for more details on how we tackled B Corp as a small business, as well as tips for those wishing to take their own steps to positive change.
