B Corps in Vancouver

On May 19, 100 leaders descended on the Roundhouse in Yaletown for Vancouver’s first B Corp Leadership Development conference—a regional event for B Corps, by BCorps. The theme of the event? Be Bold: Building on the Best.

What is a B Corp?

B Corps are for-profit companies that have been certified by B Lab, a non profit, for meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. At last count, there are more than 1,600 Certified B Corps from 42 countries around the world. And Salt Spring Coffee is one of them. In fact, we were recognized in B Lab’s first “Best for the World” list in 2012—an honour that was acknowledged at this year’s Vancouver conference.

What went down at the conference?

Event participants, including several members of the Salt Spring Coffee team, networked, shared best practices, and discussed how best to use and share their B Corp Certification with the world.

Key topics included:

• How individual missions and collective action can change how you do business.
• How to communicate your impact and tell stories that build your brand.
• How to demonstrate what matters most as an impact-focused business.

How do we make people care?

Salt Spring Coffee co-founder Mickey McLeod, Smak Healthy Fast Food co-founder Amanda Ladner and Mills Office Productivity CEO Brad Mills participated in a panel discussion on how B Corps can make an impact through their supply chain and procurement practices, led by Localize CEO and founder Meghan Dear.

Conference go-ers learned how these businesses choose supply chain partners, how they inspire and take inspiration from them, and how they maintain healthy partnerships that advance sustainability principles without sacrificing quality.

Mickey shared an example of how Salt Spring Coffee dealt with declining quality from a coffee co-op partner, first offering support to address the problem and then temporarily pausing purchases until the co-op was able to deliver the quality required. The lesson? It’s equally important to conduct business using fair practices and deliver great quality.

What next?

Learn more about our B Corp journey
Learn more about B Corps
View the conference agenda

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