Helm is delighted to announce that it has been certified as a B Corp.
Formerly known as the Supper Club, Helm is the UK’s leading network for the founders of scaling businesses. We are a community of like-minded, innovative pioneers keen to have a positive social impact on the world.
For almost 20 years, we have been helping business founders focus on building and growing their businesses. While this has always included helping them grow as leaders and people, and helping their businesses have a positive impact in their community and society, we have recently formalised this into a three-strand strategy to promote business growth, personal growth and better growth.
Business as a force for good
Duncan Cheatle, founder and chairman of Helm said, “After years of working with founders to make sure that business is realising its full potential to be a force for good in society, I am delighted to have the official recognition that Helm itself is practicing what we have long directed others to do. It’s a privilege to be part of the brilliant B Corp community, among ever-increasing numbers of pioneering businesses who share our desire to see business realise its potential as a force for good.”
Penny Penati, head of operations at Helm, who led the certification project agrees the hard work has been worth it, “It is, as you’d expect, a high standard to meet. The certification process is as tough and rigorous as it must be. It can be daunting to review every single aspect of how your business operates and how its people behave. Working with the in-house team, our suppliers and our fantastic members, has been a brilliant experience.And the journey doesn’t end here. We’re already working on ways we can keep improving.”
How B Corp certification works
The B Corp certification process measures a company’s performance over five key areas,
Governance, Workers, Community, the Environment, and Customers. In each area there is a maximum score of 40 points, making for a total of 200. To pass the certification process and become a B Corp, a company has to be able to prove to the satisfaction of independent assessors that its systems, processes, behaviours and culture are good enough for it to score a minimum of 80 points.
Penati explains that after certification there is still plenty of scope for improvement. “As a B Corp you have to re-certify every three years, so we see this as just a start. This is not a one-off, box-ticking exercise, it is a continual process of improvement and development.As a team, we’re committed to working together with members and our suppliers to keep getting better.”
Why Helm’s B Corp certification matters
As the B Corp process and impact becomes more widespread and more familiar, so it will become an even greater magnet to attract both customers and talent. Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm, says that while only 6% of members are currently B Corps, 20% have started on the journey. “I’m expecting that within two years half our members will have reached accreditation.”
One Helm member who recently signed up is Alex Cheatle, founder of Ten Lifestyle Management and a CityAM columnist. As he wrote in a recent column explaining the case for certification: “[B Corp] is an extremely useful tool to help us create a more successful business that we can be proud of. And this month, 95 per cent of our voting shareholders, including some of the hardest capitalists in the City, agreed.”
To learn more about B Corp and the certification process, visit https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/
