How women-owned companies and entrepreneurs are driving energy for good

Girls’s Historical past Month is upon us, devoted to recognizing and honoring a number of the most influential ladies and ladies. We are going to undoubtedly see media highlights of feminine trailblazers from the previous and current whereas companies spotlight the accomplishments of their feminine staff and fierce govt leaders.

Nevertheless it’s additionally B Corp Month, recognizing companies which might be audited for his or her affect on all stakeholders, not simply profitability. So make room for one more worthy point out: women-owned companies and feminine entrepreneurs who pursue social and environmental affect, alongside revenue.

Based on a current examine printed by the World Entrepreneurship Monitor, in 2021, ladies’s Complete Early-stage Entrepreneurial Exercise (TEA) price was 15.2% in the USA, up from 13.6% in 2020. Motivating many of those ladies entrepreneurs was the need to make a distinction – a staggering 70.5% of these surveyed.

One such firm, FoundHer, goals to fight the discrimination that moms typically face when returning to the workforce after a profession break. As an entrepreneurial women-owned recruiting agency, FoundHer serves this mission by putting ladies and moms with company purchasers who worth flexibility and implement truthful pay practices.

“When purchasers come to us, now we have already skipped the brink of getting to clarify profession breaks on behalf of our candidates,” explains Runa Knapp, Co-FoundHer and Chief Enterprise Growth Officer. “We received’t all the time say ‘sure’ to taking over a shopper. It’s vital for us to grasp a shopper’s insurance policies round supporting ladies via parental depart, selling ladies internally, hiring ladies for govt degree positions, and implementing insurance policies round flexibility and equal pay.”

Not too long ago FoundHer achieved its B Corp Certification, a personal certification issued by B Lab to for-profit firms primarily based on their “social and environmental efficiency.” The motion round companies and entrepreneurs who’re utilizing enterprise as a drive for good has grown over time and in line with B Lab statistics of self-reported information, roughly 40% of US primarily based B Corps are presently operated and run by ladies.

One other current addition to the B Corp roster is The Produce Mothers®, an influencer model with a mission to get extra vegetables and fruit on each desk. The Produce Mothers® leverages its content material platform and model partnerships to teach customers on the advantages of consuming recent produce, the rising course of, and methods to choose, retailer and serve recent meals.

“I felt strongly that this idea of teaching folks on-line about vegetables and fruit might do superb issues and make a distinction not only for family mothers like myself, however for each stakeholder within the provide chain,” explains Lori Taylor, CEO and Founding father of The Produce Mothers®.

The corporate’s purchasers embrace farmers who interact with Taylor’s group for content material advertising and marketing and ambassadorship over the course of a harvest season or a calendar yr. Shoppers are evaluated on standards reminiscent of: fee of truthful labor wages, practices round defending the atmosphere and implementing sustainable practices, amongst others. However simply as vital because the number of the suppliers and the produce they produce, is the messaging to customers.

“The world of influencer advertising and marketing just isn’t usually rooted in values: it is rooted in metrics, cash, and in making folks’s faces well-known. Research present that as much as 90% of individuals really feel worse about themselves after scrolling via social media and being uncovered to influencer advertising and marketing content material, and we try to vary that.” Taylor provides.

An early adopter of integrating objective with revenue, The Tea Spot was one of many first firms to change into B Corp licensed in Colorado in 2011. Because the main tea model for wholesome hydration, founder and CEO Maria Uspenski created the corporate’s mannequin of social entrepreneurship by incorporating its mission to foster well being and wellness via free leaf tea with its 10% for Wellness program. Ten p.c of all earnings are donated in-kind to most cancers survivors and neighborhood wellness applications.

“We insist on the best requirements of meals security and high quality from all of our sources and distributors. And, as a Colorado-based Public Profit Company and licensed B Corp, our firm donates 10% of all earnings for wellness,” stated Uspenski. “To this point, The Tea Spot’s program has donated greater than 1 million cups of tea and $100,000 via our 10% for Wellness pledge. One of many issues I really like most about our dedication is that it’s so inspiring for our staff.”

FoundHer follows an identical sentiment to The Produce Mothers® and The Tea Spot when evaluating their very own “supply-chain.”

Knapp provides, “We maintain ourselves to the identical requirements we search for in our purchasers. As a purpose-driven enterprise, we hunt down numerous and/or women-owned small companies for our personal vendor wants reminiscent of authorized, advertising and marketing, PR, and so on. Simply as we hope potential purchasers will see our value-add, we’re conscious of offering the identical alternatives to others like ourselves.”

By constructing loyalty inside the provide chain, Knapp, Taylor and Uspenski have seen will increase in earnings, repeat purchasers, and significant engagement at occasions and on social media, leading to actual affect.

“At The Tea Spot, we outline success in our enterprise as a perform of the breadth of our affect in selling wellness via tea. Being a high tier B Corp “Greatest For The World – Neighborhood” honoree, we’re impressed to increase this attain to many extra hundreds of thousands of individuals across the globe,” concludes Uspenski.

With ladies main the cost, there’ll little doubt be numerous different companies sprouting as much as proceed fueling the drive for good.

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