Since inception in 2010, our mission has been to be both an organic tea manufacturer and an inspiring brand that makes a positive impact. We’re delighted to reveal we’re now a certified B Corporation business – valuable for proving just how positive our impact is.
It’s worth noting that we didn’t make any changes specifically to become a certified B Corporation business. Our business framework has always been centred around doing better for our planet and our people – it just so happens that it lines so perfectly with everything B Corporation strives for.
Prajãva in Practice through our virtuous cycles
The Sri Lankan word for community – Prajãva – guides every business decision we make. We care about enriching the lives of everyone involved from farm to cup; from planters to pickers, processors and packers, to you preparing your favourite cup of tea in the comfort of your own home. Our mantra of ‘celebrating communities from farm to cup’ has acted as a guiding star on the road to success.
Our external virtuous cycle pillars are:
- Enhanced quality of life for farmers
- Education and training for our farmers and their families
- Promote sustainable and profitable organic farming
Our internal virtuous cycle pillars are:
- Empowering with knowledge
- Inclusivity through Open Book Management
- An employee-owned business
We are on a journey to continuously improve the positive impact we can have on the planet, its biodiversity and our people, while creating the finest organic teas and exciting blends with the best of what Mother Nature has to offer. More on how we achieved our Certified B Corporation status…
Who are B Corporations?
B Corps are all about building a movement to change our economic system. To do so, they’re changing the rules of consumerism. Their B Lab mobilises the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s critical challenges. They are continuously evolving tools and strategies to measure impact in various industries and practices. They’re thorough in what they do, to ensure only the companies doing the best of the best for the planet and its people become a certified B Corporation business.
Learn more about who they are, and how they’re working to shift the behaviour, structure, and culture of capitalism here.
What does it mean to be a certified B Corporation business?
Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications for businesses, B Lab is unique in their ability to measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact – that’s what makes this certification so special.
To become a certified B Corporation business you must:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing their risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
- Make a legal commitment by changing corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing information about performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
We’re really pleased to say we scored 117.8 on our Overall B Impact Score. The median score for ordinary businesses who complete the assessment is currently 50.9.
The measurements used to become a certified B Corporation business…
To measure the overall B Impact Score, B Lab create detailed questions on the following topics to make up an overall score:
- Community – This section is designed to evaluate a company’s engagement with and impact on the communities in which it operates, hires from, and sources from.
- Environment – An assessment to evaluate a company’s overall environmental management practices as well as its impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity.
- Governance – Curated to evaluate a company’s overall mission, engagement around its social/environmental impact, ethics, and transparency.
- Customers – These questions are to evaluate a company’s stewardship of its customers through the quality of its products and services, ethical marketing, data privacy and security, and feedback channels.
- Employees – Finally, an evaluation of a company’s contributions to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction. In addition, this section recognizes business models designed to benefit workers, such as companies that are significantly employee-owned and those that have workforce development programs to support individuals with barriers to employment.
To read about how we scored for each section, please tap here.
Thank you for joining us for the ride, without you it wouldn’t be possible to make such a valuable impact to our planet and our people.