Business is, and always has been a speculative venture; trading risk for reward, and yes, sometimes businesspeople get it wrong, but the act of wealth creation, and the taxation that flows from it, is the lifeblood of any civilised society.
Never before has our business community needed a trusted partner quite like the present time. If running a business wasn’t challenging enough already, then the current raft of present-day issues has only made it more interesting. COVID-19 still ravages, Brexit still looms, digitisation cannot be ignored, and businesses are more alert than ever both to the need to include all parts of society and to play their part in preserving and protecting the environment.
Business West, the region’s largest and most prominent business organisation, has been shaping the economy and improving the prosperity of this area for nearly 200 years. We are an organisation driven by a single purpose: to make this region the best place in the UK to start, run and grow a business and a great place to live, work and learn. When we make profit, it gets recycled back into our work; no one gets paid a dividend from Business West.
To help us to decide quite where to apply our limited resources in this complex era, Business West has decided to become a B Corp. B Corp certification demands that a business considers planet and people as much as it does profit in deciding upon its activities and investments. The board of Business West is embracing this new constitutional and strategic scaffolding but recognises that it will pose some tough decisions.
As a trusted partner of more than 20,000 businesses across the region, Business West knows that what we say, and more importantly what we do, can offer powerful examples, hopefully more good than bad! As such we are very happy to share our B Corp journey, warts and all with our business community.
This journey starts with leadership and we are now looking to secure some talented new Non-Executive Directors to join our current directors as the first step in reviewing our governance arrangements and the beginning of B Corp exploration.
Due to our role as both a representative of, and, example to the business community, reflecting and harnessing the power of diversity is important to us. Not only will it better enable us to connect and support all our region’s businesses, it will help strengthen the local business community and landscape in these increasingly uncertain times.
If you would like to join us and help us on this journey, click here to find out more.
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