Meet Monique From Jeuneora

Meet Monique Kaminski (Mon to her friends).

Mon started Jeuneora as a side hustle in 2016  with 100 bags of what’s now known as Renew+ Marine Collagen Super Powder. Now, six years later, her brand Jeuneora produces an entire range of marine collagen supplements, plant-based supplements, and topical skin care products.

From the beginning, Mon’s been committed to doing the right thing, so when she heard about the B Corp movement and its commitment to business as a force for good, it seemed like a natural next step for Jeuneora to take.

Feeling with B-Corp Overwhelm

B Corp wasn’t smooth sailing for Mon and her team. She recalls their first go at certification.

“We looked at B Corp ourselves, did the initial assessment, and to be honest, we were quite overwhelmed. It was huge. When we were answering all the questions, we didn’t know if we had to provide evidence for everything. Did everything have to have written policies? It was really a matter of what do we do and where do we start?” 

This isn’t an uncommon B Corp experience. When you first lift the lid on the B Corp Impact Assessment it can appear long, unwieldy, and complex. And it’s hard for a reason. You can’t just pay your money and join the B Corp club. You’ve got to meet rigorous standards. But it sucks when you don’t know what to do next.

Mon asked her New Zealand Trade & Enterprise contact, Martin Cudd, if he knew someone who could help get them unstuck. As it happened, B Corp expert Tim Jones had just helped facilitate a series of workshops with NZTE for businesses interested in B Corp certification, so Martin made the intros and left Tim, Mon, and the Jeuneora team to get acquainted.

Getting the B Corp support you need

Jeuneora was committed to becoming a B Corp and they wanted to move fast. When Mon contacted Tim, they’d scored just under 60 points on the B Corp assessment but had no idea how to elevate that to the minimum of 80/200 points they required to become certified.

Mon remembers Jeuneora’s first meeting with Tim. “We liked his energy straight off the bat. And he gave us valuable context straight away. He said, you need to look at your industry standard for impact and the things you do that place you above that standard. It made us realise a lot of things that are business as usual for us, are not business as usual for the industry that we operate in.”

“Because Tim has worked with a number of different businesses on B Corp certification, he was able to say, ‘Okay guys, these are areas of improvement you can work on. Here are some actionable steps.’ He broke it down nice and easy for us to make a plan, which was really helpful.”

Tim recalls, “Initially, I was a bit dubious because the beauty industry isn’t always known for its ethics. But Mon’s values shine through. She and her team are genuinely committed to their community and making the world a better place. They knew B Corp would give them a framework to build on the good they were already doing, and they really saw the value in that.”

Baking in the B Corp

Even though the B Corp Impact Assessment is tough, getting certified is the easy part. The hard part is baking the B Corp into your business. Your organisational purpose and culture are the most important things when it comes to making a long-term commitment to being a good business, but they’re also the hardest thing to get right.

You can get your B Corp certificate and whack it up on the wall, but it doesn’t change your culture unless you do the extra work required to bring your B Corp commitment to life.

Tim explains, “The B Corp Impact Assessment is logical, while your organisational purpose is your soul. Finding your purpose requires you to do your shadow work, to identify the things you’re doing you really don’t like. To go inside yourself, find the better version of yourself and live for something bigger. The dragon to defeat is inside you. Lots of people are doing rainbows and unicorns purpose, all follow your joy, which is all very well, but not the whole story.”

Tim offers a range of B Corp consultancy packages, because while B Corp certification is important, there’s even more value in bringing your B Corp commitment to life with a shared sense of purpose, and shared ownership of impact across your team.

Jeuneora chose Tim’s B Corp + package, which combines B Corp certification support with organisational purpose and individual purpose workshops. This was capped off with an Impact Improvement Workshop to help Jeuneora understand how they could do more good over time and create a roadmap for evolution.

Mon explains, “One of the things we did with Tim was his Purpose at Work workshops. They were incredible, but I found that the most challenging part. Defining purpose and really thinking about things on a more visionary level is a tricky, abstract thing to work a team through, but Tim did a wonderful job helping us navigate that.”

The B Corp Certification Journey

The B Corp journey starts with getting everyone in your team on board for the ride. Tim introduces them to B Corp certification and to B Lab, the organisation behind B Corp. He explains why B Corp is taking off and why it’s good for business, before taking you on a whistle stop tour of notable B Corps around the world. This intro helps get your team pumped, gives any B Corp sceptics a chance to ask questions, and identifies your B Keepers, the folks in your business who will champion the process and help you shoulder the load.

Jeuneora’s Executive Director Colleen Itterman recalls the process they went through with Tim.

“We had the first B Corp overview meeting with the entire team. Then we had meetings for each section of the B Corp assessment. We said to the team, ‘If anyone’s interested in these individual sessions, feel free to come along.’ And we were really lucky that our entire team came to every single one. Tim went through every question in the assessment, the team discussed it and shared their thoughts, and we highlighted areas to action.”

“At the end, once we’d got to a baseline for our initial assessment, we had a final session to develop our three-year improvement plan which was a whole team workshop where we worked together to set the stage for the future.”

Tim explains, “To have an entire team attend every B Corp session is exceptional. Normally I work with the senior leader and a few managers. But Jeuneora had this incredible whole company buy in and a mandate from their leader that this process was valuable enough for the team to invest their time. It made the entire process more meaningful.”

Mon adds, “That buy in from the whole team was really cool. I thought, wow, everyone really cares about the business and were able to see how what they do contributes to the bigger picture. It was good to show people what goes into the business. There are touch points that everyone can see, but there are also a lot of things that go on in the background. It was a super cool process.”

Why nailing the B Corp assesment is like Pokemon Hunting

The trick with the B Corp Impact Assessment is there are two levels. The first is a basic measure of operational goodness. At the next level, you’re looking for occasions where you’ve gone out of your way to create more good with your business than you need to. These are called Impact Business Models or IBMs, and Tim likens finding examples of IBMS to being a Pokémon hunter.

Mon remembers, “When we first did the assessment, we were so hard on ourselves, benchmarking ourselves against ridiculous standards of perfection. When we did the assessment with Tim, we nearly doubled our points. It made us see we were already doing amazing things in the impact space but to us a lot of it was business as usual. Tim helped us to recognise the value in what we’re doing.”

Much more than a certification

You must score 80/200 points in the B Corp assessment to become B Corp certified. Jeuneora submitted with 119 points. Mon says, “We submitted our B Corp application well above the minimum point threshold, which we were really happy to achieve. Once we’re certified we’ll start to action our three-year plan so we can improve our impact even more.”

Of course, B Corp has value beyond entry into a global community of good businesses. Tim explains, “The B Corp assessment is a process of self-reflection that can help businesses extend their purpose horizons and understand where they can do more good in this world. And when organisations bake their purpose into their culture, that’s when they get those added benefits of enhancing their brand, attracting great talent, and all that good stuff.”

Colleen gives an example of how B Corp improved Jeuneora’s culture. “Mon didn’t realise not everyone knew the story of how she founded the business. So, the Purpose at Work workshops became a place to talk about that. And for the team, hearing the real story of how everything happened and talking about things on a more personal level made them open up more about themselves. We got to know people more deeply, and I feel like everybody’s being a bit more open with one another as a result, which is really cool.”

“The most valuable things from the B Corp process have been reflecting on where we’ve come from, being validated for what we’re doing and gaining a shared vision where our team all know how they contribute to where we’re going in the future. It feels like a really good roadmap.”

0800 JUST CALL TIM

Jeuneora are enthusiastic advocates for Tim’s B Corp certification support. Mon says, “B Corp is a big daunting process. But Tim makes it as enjoyable as possible. We couldn’t have done it without him because we were short-changing ourselves.”

“He made the whole process digestible, put tricky questions in context with interesting real-world examples to help us understand what was being asked, and gave us supporting resources to help us put processes in place. He knows what he’s doing.”

“You can tell Tim believes in what he’s doing. It’s his absolute passion. He lives and breathes B Corp, and you can feel that. Also, he has really great energy and so much enthusiasm, but he’s not over the top or cheesy, just very genuine and motivating. He makes you feel good about doing the work. Our team really loved him and his positivity is infectious.”

“So, if you’re considering B Corp, have a chat with Tim. Once you meet him, he gives you this feeling of confidence because he knows what he’s doing, and his passion comes through. I had a winery reach out to me today wanting to talk about B Corp, so I’m just going to say to them, talk to Tim because he’ll help you through the process.”

Get your business B Corp Certified

If you’re going for B Corp and you’re finding it a challenge (it’s tough, no question), or you’re determined to slam dunk it first time around, Tim’s B Corp certification support can help you nail B Corp quicker, easier, and more meaningfully.

Save time, money and sleepless nights. Only four to six hours of consulting will have you across the threshold of 80 points unless you’ve something structural in your business you need to change. And if that’s the case, Tim will be able to spot it fast and let you know.

But even better than certification, Tim can help you with the hardest thing about B Corp, which is bringing your commitment to life, because as Tim says, “Baking in the B is what separates the Bs from the wannabees.”

“The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently” David Graeber

On Thursday 2nd May my good pal Piers Locke PhD had me come into MC for a movie screening of “Outgrow The System” a documentary by Swedish filmmaker Anders Nilsson.If you get the chance to see a screening I thoroughly recommend that you do.

Thanks also to the panellists Ali Adams , Basil Paul and Dalziel Paul for bringing some local context to the evening too.

Many people recognise the current economic system ain’t working but what do we actually want the system to do or be?

That’s what this movie is all about.

The original meaning of the word ”economy” is “household management” however it’s fair to say the word economy today conjures up different images.

When I hear a news anchor say “And now the latest from the economy in our economic outlook” I picture a Mr Creosote-type character coming on to tell us how he’s been working really hard and he’s stuffed.

The economy is the sacred cow of the West. The new religion. It’s Mediaeval Europe all over again. The high priests of finance and banking speak in their complex jargon, restricting access to the source of the truth.

Just keep consuming and you will find your way to economic heaven!

It’s turned out pretty much as JC said it would:

You can tell what’s informing a society by what the tallest building is. When you approach a medieval town, the cathedral is the tallest thing in the place. When you approach an eighteenth-century town, it is the political palace that’s the tallest thing in the place. And when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centers of economic life. Joseph Cambell

One of these complex words economists like to use is externalities. And perhaps that’s one of the biggest issues with our current economic system.

Economics Help describes them as “Externalities occur when producing or consuming a good causes an impact on third parties not directly related to the transaction.”

Yes, I don’t dispute that the current economic system has had some amazing positive outcomes. But it’s fair to say there are some significant negative ones. Pick your own social and environmental challenge and insert here.

Just think for a moment. Reflect on your own business.

What externalities are you contributing to?

Is everyone in your supply chain paid a decent wage?

How is your company spreading the wealth amongst its employees?

What environmental impact does your company have?

What does your business do for the local community?

The economy is how it is because we have created it this way. But it doesn’t have to be like this.

So what could an economic system that was accessible and understandable to all, that managed resources and maximised the positive social and environmental outcomes look like?

Well you need to go and watch the movie;-P

As a brief summary but without giving the game away the movie explores a range of solutions that are being tested as we speak.

They include the ideas of degrowth, the Not-for-Profit World i.e. businesses that do make a profit but put the profit back into the enterprise and share the wealth (check out Kilmarnock Enterprises for a great example of this), Doughnut Economics, the Wellbeing Economy, Participatory Economics, and establishing more worker-owned cooperatives. Another form that is briefly touched on is the idea of a Regenerative economy.

They do range from more aggressive types of reform (degrowth) to ones that are easier to grasp like exploring worker ownership schemes. Across the various options, the movie showcases how people are making some progress and scoring some goals.

The big problem though is that most of us are unaware of our externalities, and we don’t know what we actually want at the most basic level let alone what we want our business to achieve.

And maybe that’s why the vast majority of businesses are still operating from a Business As Usual standpoint. Make money, don’t do anything illegal. That’s the entry-level for business.

Admittedly some of these ideas are currently niche or fringe but what is stopping most of us from even seeing that the current system isn’t working for us let alone thinking about our externalities?

If you are reading this it’s most likely from a fairly comfortable position both physically and materially.

And you are also most possibly stuck on the hedonic treadmill of consumer capitalism. Living a life driven by your fears and desires, controlled by the many multi-billion dollar advertising industry that just wants you to consume!

Meanwhile, a larger number of the planet are barely getting buy and don’t have access to the most basic of amenities, particularly clean energy.

And that’s because we have been manipulated into believing that a good life can only be found in happiness via material success.

This is Edward Bernays and I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard of him.

The nephew of Sigmund Freud he was the man that introduced the idea of propaganda to the world.

He was essentially the guy who created the modern consumer-driven world that we live in. The one that tells us that a good life is about looking good, feeling good and having good things.

That we should chase material wealth in the pursuit of happiness.

He did this by recognising that we are emotionally driven by fear or desire and we need to fit into the tribe.

As he said,

“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.”

We are deeply conditioned to play nicely in the current economic paradigm. And it is this that is at the heart of the challenge.

This idea of needing a values change came through in the Q&A session on the night and this is at the heart of how and why change will happen.

Gus Speth summed it up the best.

I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we scientists don’t know how to do that.

I have no idea which economic system is the best one. That’s well above my pay grade but I know that for us to get there it’s us as a species that need to develop first.

We need to extend our purpose horizons, how far into the future of doing good we can see.

Thoughts in the room on the night as to what this could look like fell into two extremes. At one end it was some AI-driven tech utopia of having more with less inputs and damage, others saw a return to basics, doing less with less.

I do know though that change is going to be messy and the very idea of doing business better is nuanced and all shades of grey.

But what we need is more of us to get involved. It’s time to reclaim the lost souls of business.

The first step to any change is awareness and if you have read this then you are now implicated.

I also know that B Corps are playing a massive role in shaping the thinking around what a new economy could look like.

Did you know that B Corps are now required to amend their corporate governing documents to ensure that they at all times consider the impact of their operations on other stakeholders like their employees, community, suppliers and the planet?

Some of the highest-performing B Corps are also worker-owned entities.

Think of how your business makes an impact beyond its financial return. Have a look at your broader performance through the B Corp Impact Assessment (it’s free to do).

Let me know your thoughts too.

What do you see as being the biggest externality?

What would your ideal economy look like?

If you want a chat about how I could help you on that journey I’d love to have a cuppa with you in person or virtually!

Becoming a B Corp reaps a host of benefits, one of these is greater access to investment capital, loans and growth funds. We call it the double whammy ROI of B Corp.

According to B Lab UK, 70% of B Corps that seek equity finance end up raising the amount they want, compared with 56% of all companies.

Why? In a nutshell, more financiers, bankers and investors won’t work with companies lacking a sustainable strategy. These investors are under pressure from a range of stakeholders, including consumers, who are demanding better ESG performance from businesses. B Corp certification can therefore enhance a firm’s credibility with investors seeking sustainable returns.

According to Morgan Stanley, the growth of sustainable finance in the next decade will be driven by three main trends:

• Expect a greater diversity of sustainable investing strategies across assets and themes, partly driven by growth trends among Millennial investors.
• The net-zero transition will change approaches to land use, in order to satisfy demand for renewable power, metals and minerals and nature-based solutions.
• A proliferation of regulations and voluntary standards across the world will reshape corporate strategies, disclosures and availability of data.

It’s about more than just avoiding the big polluters of the world; investors are actively seeking to invest in businesses with solutions to our biggest challenges. This includes renewable energy, energy efficiency, water technology, social housing, and more.

In recent years, we have seen a tectonic shift of capital. At the beginning of 2020, the value of sustainable investment in major financial markets globally stood at $35.3tn, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA), and accounts for 36 per cent of all professionally managed assets across the US, Canada, Japan, Australasia and Europe. The previous two years alone saw growth of 15 per cent, the GSIA said. Actions and ambitions towards decarbonization have also increased. This is just the beginning – the tectonic shift towards sustainable investing is still accelerating.

Here are some examples of how sustainability is shifting the economic landscape…

• In 2023, the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (.W1SGIGTD)had a total return of 21.7%, compared to returns of 17% for the global broad market (.SBBMGLU).
• Kiwi B Corp Kathmandu secured a $100 million loan from ANZ under the condition that they maintained their B Corp Certification
• UK B Corp Coutts Private Banking and Wealth Management firm says ‘responsible investing’ is one of three key factors consider when deciding where to invest clients’ money – along with managing risk and managing costs.
• Most banks now offer green loans. For example, the ANZ Business Green Loan lends amounts of up to $3 million to help businesses invest in their sustainable goals.

Around the world, institutional investors, bankers, private equity and angel investors, are demanding higher sustainability credentials from the companies they support financially.

That’s where B Corp Certification comes in. As an independently verified certification, it’s the gold standard and gives credibility to ethical claims.

It offers investors an easy way to spot a truly sustainable business from a greenwashing fake one that’s just saying the right things but not doing anything.

In summary, having the B Corp logo is a clear sign to prospective investors that your firm is committed to ethical practices. It gives your business an edge over non-certified competitors when you’re looking for loans, seed funding, growth funding, or other capital investment.

Ready to be a B Coporation?

Becoming a B Corp reaps a host of benefits, one of these is boosted customer sales and brand loyalty. We call it the double whammy ROI of B Corp.

Around the world, we’re seeing a tidal wave of consumers demanding to know more about the provenance of what they’re buying. From clothes to cars and food, consumers are voting with their wallets and increasingly choosing ethical goods and services, which is driving massive shifts in the business sector.

A few statistics to highlight this shift…

• US sales of products marketed as sustainable grew 5.6 times faster than other products from 2013 to 2018 – NYU Stern Center
• In 2015, a survey of 30,000 consumers in 60 countries found that 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for products or services from companies committed to positive social and environmental impact – Nielsen, 2015
• In the UK alone, the market for ethical products grew to more than £81.3 billion in 2017, with demand for sustainable fish growing by nearly 37% in 2016 (Ethical Consumer, 2017)
• 73% of UK consumers want to be more sustainable in 2021 – YouGov
• Two thirds of consumers support carbon labelling on products across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK and US – YouGov
• Millennials (80%) are almost twice as likely than Baby Boomers (48%) to pay more for sustainable products – Nielsen… and Gen Z are likely higher.

Given this soaring demand for sustainable products and services, companies are trying to figure out how to both be more sustainable and market themselves as such without risking accusations of greenwashing.

That’s where B Corp Certification comes in. As an independently verified certification, it’s the gold standard and gives credibility to ethical claims.

As well, it offers customers who are worried about issues like plastic pollution, climate breakdown, and social justice, an easy way to spot a truly sustainable business from a greenwashing fake one that’s just saying the right things but not doing anything.

When customers see the logo on a product or service, they tend to automatically trust that brand more than a non-B Corp competitor and thus be more inclined to buy.

In summary, having the B Corp logo on your packaging, marketing materials and pitch documents, is a clear sign to prospective clients/customers that your firm is committed to ethical practices. It gives your business an edge over non-certified competitors when pitching for business and is proven to have a direct positive impact on sales and profits.

How do B Corps compare with other businesses?

It’s a question we get asked a lot around here at Grow Good.

But what people really want to know is, do B Corps make more money that ‘business as usual’ companies?

The answer is, overall, that’s a big YES. Numerous studies have shown that B Corps financially outperform their ordinary business counterparts.

Many studies have been done on this now and data from recent years shows that, overall, B Corps see higher revenue growth than their non-B Corp ‘business as usual’ peers.

A new paper by the Insights team at B Lab, summarises the vast data on revenue and headcount growth from the B Impact Assessment (BIA); a comparative international study of economic survival during the COVID-19 pandemic; and a literature review, delivering important findings. The report is called ‘Financial Performance and Resilience of B Corps’ and it asks: ‘how do B Corps compare to other businesses?’

To answer that question, B Lab analysed three sources: data on revenue and headcount growth from the BIA; a comparative international study of economic survival during the COVID-19 pandemic; and a literature review.

They found:

• Higher Revenue Growth: B Corps globally were more likely to increase revenue.
  • Between the years 2019 and 2020, 79% of B Corps experienced an increase in revenue, while 54% of Ordinary Businesses demonstrated a revenue increase.
  • Between the years 2020 and 2021, those numbers were 85% and 61% respectfully.
  • Overall, B Corps’ revenue increased by 25 percentage points between 2019 and 2020 and 23 percentage points between 2020 and 2021.

• Better Economic Survival: B Corps are more likely to survive tough times.
  • From 2019 to Sept 2023, 95.6% of B Corps sampled were still active businesses, while only 87.8% of Ordinary Businesses in the sample were still active.
  • The difference between these two groups is 7.8%, with a p value of .0016; the result is significant at p < .01.

• Higher Rates of Hiring: B Corps are more likely to hire new workers.
  • Across the world, B Corps are 1.62 times more likely to have increased their worker base by more than 25% over the last 12 months in comparison to ordinary businesses (40.1% of B Corps have).

In addition to B Lab’s own studies, several independent studies have found promising results in terms of the impact of B Corp Certification on revenue growth rate, as well as sales growth.  Paelman and colleagues (2021) note: “Our dataset allows us to study how the effects of B Corp certification [sic] evolve over time, which was previously untested. Our study documents a positive effect of B Corp certification on turnover growth and also that this effect increases with the time since certification, implying that certification requires some time for its full effect to become apparent.”

It’s not necessarily an immediate effect though. Other studies do not find short-term financial gains after certification, especially for smaller companies (possibly because of the efforts required to certify).

In summary, if you want your business to be more resilient and make more money in the longer term, become a B Corp.

Does this mean that you should become a B Corp just to make more money? Well, you can but ideally, you’d also want to be part of a movement looking to transform the global economy to one that values people and planet just as much as profit. It might therefore seem ‘not very B Corp’ to be focussing on revenue growth at all.

But here’s the crux of it. In order to be a force for good in the world, B Corps need to be viable and profitable businesses. The more profitable a business is, the greater positive impact it can have on the world because money is a powerful changemaker. It bestows choices, freedoms, influence, and power. So let’s put more of it in the hands of people working to do good in the world.

💳 Download the Financial Performance and Resilience of B Corps paper now: https://infogram.com/1tgl93rr6z7d7df4xo1q6xv8d0ip86gl6lq

Become a B Corp

Are you more convinced that B Corp is right for you? Would you like to join the B Corp companies using business as a force for good? Here at Grow Good, we exist to coach people through the process of becoming B Corp certified.

The B Corp Impact Assessment framework  is free to access and provides dozens of useful insights and opportunities for any business but it can be confusing and overwhelming.

We are consultants who have completed the official training provided by B Lab, the organisation that runs the B Corp certification programme. We live, breathe and sleep B Corp. We are your friendly B Corp buddies. We make it easier. We translate the questions into plain English and give you a host of template policies and example documents so you don’t have to start everything from scratch or reinvent the wheel. We show you how to unlock the big point scoring areas most relevant to your business.

Are you ready to go B Corp? It’s completely your decision but if you are, and if you think it would be helpful to have a guiding hand through the process, we’re here to help. Drop us a line or jump straight in and book a free call here.