First South East Asian B Corp gets S$2m investment
Want another example of how the B Corp movement is redefining success in business?
Let’s look to Singapore for a moment, where speciality coffee business, Bettr Group, has just won investment of S$2 million from the Asia Impact First Fund (AIFF) to fund the next stage of its expansion such as growing its roastery, and funding its programmes that help marginalised communities.
Back in 2015, Bettr was the first company in South-east Asia to receive the B Corp certification. It’s still just one of six Singaporean B Corps. In a challenging climate for securing growth investment funding, this announcement shows that sustainability and B Corp certification can give businesses a major advantage. AIFF aims to provide growth capital to 10 to 15 social enterprises across Asia that have been proven to be financially sustainable and profitable. The AIFF fund is backed by impact investment platform Heritas Capital and DBS Foundation.
Founded in 2011, Bettr offers professional beverage education and owns a roastery that also sells coffee supplies. It also currently operates retail coffee bars in two businesses. The new funding round will enable the opening of retail coffee bars in more businesses, as well as fuel a venture into the business-to-consumer space to enhance its brand visibility in Singapore. With this expansion, Bettr will be able to hire more people from marginalised communities. Currently, 26 per cent of Bettr’s 50 employees are from marginalised backgrounds and comprise mostly graduates from its social programmes.
As an impact fund, the AIFF is not only interested in how much money Bettr makes. A key metric of how the fund will measure the impact of its investment in Bettr is to see the number of lives that have benefitted. A metric that aligns with the ethos of the B Corp impact assessment, where more points are awarded for evidence of positive impact. To date, 242 students have benefitted from Bettr’s social programmes, and 248 students have picked up coffee and emotional literacy skills via its early intervention programmes.
Certification as a B Corp is given by non-profit B Lab to for-profit companies that meet its standards of verified social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
Become a B Corp
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 – https://bit.ly/BookGGCall
Yours in purpose,
Ngā manaakitanga,
Tamara
