B Corporation

E.C.One is a Certified B Corp but what does it mean? 


Certified B Corps or Benefit Corporations are businesses who have decided that profit isn’t the only measure of success, but that people and the planet should have equal footing. 


B Corps are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. They are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. 


Started over a decade ago by a handful of businesses in the U.S. there are now nearly 3,000 B Corp certified businesses in 64 countries across the globe covering 150 different industries, with one unifying goal: to use the power of business as a force for good. As well as small businesses like E.C.One there are many large B Corp companies such as Patagonia, Cook, Ben & Jerrys and Warby Parker to name a few.

B Corporation

What did it take to become one? 

To become a certified B Corp is quite a detailed process, involving a comprehensive and rigorous assessment. This includes in-depth interviews and evaluation of every aspect of our business. Initially you start with a very lengthy on-line assessment, answering questions about where your business is currently and suggesting ways to improve going forward. Here at E.C.One we spent one day a week on this over a 9-month period to gain enough points to be considered for evaluation. We then spoke at length with the B-Corp team, who asked for proof that we were doing what we said we were - such as using recycled metal and Fairtrade gold - all the way to where we source our loo paper and dispose of our waste. They deducted points when they didn’t feel we had gone far enough and made suggestions of ways to do business better. 
Transparency is a big part of the B Corp ethos; our certification profile and score can be viewed on the B Corp website here. This score also helps us to improve, and every three years we will have to re-certify and demonstrate how we have continued along our journey.  

Why bother?


True, but – why not? It would have been much easier to use a few choice words on our website such as ‘ethical’, ‘sourced responsibly’, ‘environmentally friendly’ etc and maybe show some pictures of beautiful landscape where our stones and metals might have been sourced. We imagine if we had done that most people would have felt we were responsible enough for them to consider buying our jewellery or using our services – but we would know we hadn’t done enough. We have never wanted to jump on the band wagon or be one of the ‘worthies’ - just to go about our business in a way that doesn’t do any harm and gives back to our suppliers. B Corp is a great way to do this and as part of the wider B Corp family we believe we can use business as a power for good too.