IQbusiness joins the B corps
FOR MOTIVATING MORE ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES
Management consulting company IQbusiness has proudly announced that it has been named a Certified B Corporation.
The purpose of this certification is to recognise businesses across industries and continents for their commitment to driving and inspiring more ethical business practices.
“We are excited to have the company join this growing movement and becoming one of the founding African B Corps,” said Olivia Muiru, executive director of B Lab East Africa. B Corporation certification is to business what Fair Trade and Organic certification is to products like coffee and milk. Essentially, it measures how a company operates holistically, and what its impact is on all stakeholders. Organisations that meet verified higher levels of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability are eligible. Globally, there are over 2 300 Certified B Corporations in over 50 countries across 130 industries. Currently, there are 17 African companies that have met the standard.
In South Africa, IQbusiness is the largest of the five companies that have been certified. “B Corp Certification is all about redefining the concept of business success,” says CEO Adam Craker.
“And that’s always been a big part of what we do and our core purpose, which is to grow people, businesses, and Africa.
“We are realising our purpose by helping to solve the economic, environmental, and social issues the continent faces.”
Craker added that the decision to apply to become B Corporation® certified was to create motivation to spur on the company’s continued improvement. The organisation’s core business alone has far-reaching social and environmental impacts, often linking businesses to organisations dedicated to making a difference in this industry.
However, the CEO points out that it wasn’t until about three years ago that the company started putting in the real work to earn its wings.
“IQbusiness had just turned 16, and much like an adolescent teenager, our focus began to shift from what we do to why we do it,” says Craker.
“We wanted to determine the reason for our existence as a company – what was our purpose?”
That was when the company launched www.growth.co.za and the most recent Inclusive GROWTH.co.za conference and report to shed light on how businesses can drive shared prosperity.
The company isn’t just talking the talk though, it’s walking the walk too, joining forces with Partners for Possibility to wage war against the education crisis in the country. One of the ways they do this is by connecting school principals with business leaders.
“Principals are teachers, yet schools are essentially enterprises that are now expected to run successfully, with little to no experience in this area,” says Craker.
“This is just one instance illustrating the potential of shared prosperity.”
Knowledge transfer between these principals and business leaders means the former is better enabled to run the school more efficiently, while the latter benefits from insights into how their future consumers think and behave. And collaboration with B Corporation can only lead to more projects from the company, which is constantly striving to go above and beyond in redefining business success.