After one year of dedication, we are finally a B Corp certified company! It has been a transformational process in which we have learned a lot and worked harder to improve our standards as a company and as transformational agents. And now we proudly harvest our dedication and will by joining the inspiring global community of game-changing worldwide brands that are doing an incredible job in balancing the triple bottom line of planet, people, and profit.

But this will not be another post on how great is being a B Corp but one that, hopefully, helps other companies to join us on this tidal wave of change!

Although the process of sowing good seeds and becoming a force of change may sound idyllic or even like an unattainable goal taken from the Bible that is beyond our reach... What does the path of becoming a more responsible and conscious business really is like? *Notice this post is based only on Firma’s experience

We would like to share some thoughts from our company's journey to becoming a B Corporation:

Early in the process we realised the goal could only be achieved by the sum of all of our efforts. We leveraged the commitment of the whole team and our eagerness and motivation to be (and do) better.

The B Impact Assessment process comprises around 200 questions covering different aspects of the company in relation to its employees, community, environment, governance and customers. We had to consider everything: from our number of workers to modifying the constituent documents of the company.

But what we didn’t know at the beginning was that the resolution of a question opens up another one for which we did not (yet!) have an answer... It opens up a wonderful world of fun, possibilities... and above all coordination and patience.

You may not know all the answers from the beginning, and what's more, the process will raise questions that you might not even have thought about.... You will suddenly find yourself looking for what is considered an ethnic minority in Spain, or looking for stakeholder policies implemented by other companies that have already gone through these steps. It's an ongoing learning process that needs to be embraced.

No matter how well-intended you are, meeting high standards of sustainability does not happen overnight. It requires a lot of dedication to redefine many processes, attitudes and mindsets within the company, and at many points you will need to go back and forth (and back and forth again). But as you already know: when there’s a will there’s always a way.

It’s important to involve all stakeholders in the process, and establish the basic and necessary sustainable requirements to ensure that they meet them.

At this point, it’s time that we apologise for the various forms we probably have made you fill out… ?

The B Impact Assessment is a detailed and long process which invites you to implement new ways of working, but to be successful you must embrace them within the company.

It is not just answering the questionnaire rigorously, it’s a process of self-diagnosis, of being very critical and questioning how the company works and the effect of the actions it undertakes, and being willing to change and evolve.

It’s our responsibility as a business to become a force of good: for our clients, for our employees, for our community and for our planet.

Join the movement! Reach out - we’d love to help!