16 Dec 2022

Celebrating 1,000 UK B Corps

By Seismic

A whale of a time commemorating a milestone moment for the UK B Corp movement

B Lab 1,000 celebration at the Natural History Museum

On the 24th of November, we excitedly joined fellow B Corps to celebrate a remarkable milestone – 1,000 B Corps in the UK. The historic celebration took place at the iconic Natural History Museum in London with attendees situated underneath a stunning whale fossil. Seismic proudly championed the B Corp UK 1,000 celebration as an official supporter. More importantly, we are honoured to be a part in this powerful community of force for good businesses. We loved connecting with other B Corp changemakers, hearing so many inspiring ideas in the room and getting energised by what we’ve achieved, and what’s to come.

 

“My Cofounders Andy Schmidt and Amy Bourbeau were early pioneers powering the B Corp movement, and over the last four years, I have seen first-hand the potential and opportunity that the framework provides companies of all sizes and shapes. I am proud to be a B Corp Ambassador and supporting this milestone with B Lab UK.”

Paul Lewis

Cofounder and CEO, Seismic

The road from one to 1,000 B Corps

A veritable B Corp expert and die-hard ambassador for the robust B Corp assessment tool, Seismic’s Cofounder, Amy Bourbeau, was one of the UK’s first B Leaders. Amy supported founding UK B Corps, innocent drinks and Lily’s Kitchen. Together, they were early pioneers powering the movement.

Amy was at the party to celebrate the launch of B Corp in the UK back in 2015. Although a lot has changed in the world since then, what has thankfully stayed constant is the warmth, embrace, impact, and inspiration from the B Corp community. There are some occasions you will remember for the rest of your life. The B Lab 1,000 milestone celebration was one such occasion.

Amy and team discussing a project

“I owe my career to [B Corp]. I owe many of my best friends to it. I don’t know what my life would look like without B Corp, and more importantly, I don’t know what the business community would look like without B Corp. So I want to say thank you to everybody who makes it happen, to those who have believed in me, taught me so much and shared life changing opportunities with me. Let’s keep going. Can’t wait for the next big milestone!”

Amy Bourbeau, Cofounder and Chief Impact Officer at Seismic

The growth of the movement has been phenomenal, the UK community having doubled in the last year. With an average assessment score of 94.1 (a whopping 14 points above the minimum required to certify), UK B Corps span 58 industries, with 50,000 workers generating a revenue of £17bn. London is the city with the most B Corps in the world, with over 500 London-headquartered B Corps, it was a fitting location for a smash hit party.

Amplifying the B Corp movement

Seismic formed in the middle of a global health crisis, a climate crisis and amidst far-reaching social injustice. Energised by our shared passion and belief that every business has the power to drive change, it’s our mission to enable companies to prosper, by helping them become an increasingly impactful force for good. To guide us, we have created some ambitious goals. These include that, by our fifth birthday, we will have helped 10 million people work for impact-driven businesses. We’re lucky to say that our international team have worked with over 700 organisations globally, with our wider team helping to be a guiding light in ESG strategy.

When a business becomes B Corp certified, as a collective we get bigger, better, bolder and more impactful.

We were there to launch the 1st, we were the last to leave the celebration of 1,000 – and we’re in it for 10 million!