Episode 220: Kerrie McDevitt
May 25, 2022
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
You’ve heard us share about the exciting process of becoming a B Corp Certified business, but you’re probably wondering why this is so important. Kerri McDevitt is a Senior Consultant at Impact Growth Partners, a small consulting firm working with businesses across the world to become B Corp Certified who care about (as Kerri says) the “three P’s”: people, purpose and profit.
The B Corp Certification is given to businesses meeting high levels of standards that show they are global leaders in inclusivity, equitability and helping create a regenerative economy. Companies must go through a rigorous, long process of providing an application and documents that are analyzed and scrutinized to ensure only companies meeting a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above pass. The B Impact Assessment allows you to create a plan for your business and is broken down into five sections: governance, workers, community, environmental and customers. Companies must also legally change their corporate governance to be accountable to all stakeholders and be transparent in their performance level on the B Lab’s website. For Lori and The Produce Moms, this was an opportunity to become more structured and strategic in business operations and, as Lori says, “it was a huge graduation for my business to become B Corp certified.” The beautiful part about putting your company through the B Corp certification process is it allows you to embed your values into your business, so they’ll last generations to come. The Produce Moms worked on getting certified for over 15 months and was under assessment from a specific person at the B Lab. How did TPM stack up? Well, even though the minimum score needed to pass the assessment is 80, we had a total of 117 points!
A great example of how TPM operates with a B Corp level standard happened recently when one of the team members took off work for a family member’s medical leave. It was a tough call as to what to do for Lori. This team member is unique in her gifts and skill sets with some of our publications and we couldn’t ask anyone else for the same level of creative output. At the same time, we had partners waiting for these deliverables and couldn’t delay. Lori took into consideration all of our stakeholders, farming partners, internal team members and audience to figure out how to serve everyone. She decided to slightly change the creative deliverables and when our team member came back, Lori looked at what work could be shifted back on her plate, so she didn’t lose out on pay from the time she was gone.
Businesses get credit under the B Corp Assessment for having an “impact business model”. The Produce Moms was recognized for their contributions giving back to 1% for the Planet, giving back to organizations that support the Earth, and being involved in the beautification of Indianapolis. TPM was also recognized for being advocates for the produce sector and farmers, and educating the public about healthy eating and nutrition.
The beautiful part about the B Corp community of other certified businesses is how collaborative it is. Everyone seems to be focused on how to help each other out, lift one another up and welcome new businesses, like TPM, through sub-committees and forums. Lori’s entrance into the B Corp community has been extremely warm and welcoming thus far!
Wondering why businesses are looking to become B Corp certified, or if there’s been an uptick in interest? COVID was certainly a catalyst for many businesses to turn in their B Corp applications. It really gave us all an opportunity to pause, reflect and open our eyes to how major of an impact climate change is making on our world, along with the inequity and injustices we may have been ignoring. A lot of companies started to reflect on how they could do better and help our community be better… like Kerri says, “businesses trying to be the best for the world, not just the best in the world, and the best for everyone.”
All of us are focused now more than ever on creating a positive impact – whether it’s in how we treat the environment, how we treat our employees, how we include one another, and becoming B Corp certified is one of the best ways a business can ensure this. The Produce Moms’ score is now public on the B Corp directory, and you can see other businesses who are certified too. The process to become certified is lengthy, and although that can be a major setback for a company (finding the time), Kerri says you can achieve a “pending B Corp certification” first, which can benchmark your mission and make the process later on easier!
If the B Corp certification should inspire anything in all of us it’s to focus on working together for a greater purpose and the common good for us all! It’s an honor to become a part of this prestigious community and The Produce Moms will continue to strive to be a force of good, bringing you the education, information and connection you need to help support our farming and agricultural industry workers, supply chain, women, environment and more.
How to get involved
- Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
- Reach out to us – we’d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we’d love for you to help us spread the word!
