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Kin + Carta Leadership team celebrating  B corp announcement at the London Stock Exchange

B Corp: Being a responsible business is a journey that never ends

Thursday, December 2, 2021 was a big day for Kin + Carta. Over three years ago we started  a journey when we laid down the strategy for how we were going to transform Kin + Carta into a pure play digital transformation consultancy, becoming a responsible business was a centerpiece of that strategy. We knew if our goal was to build the technology consulting firm of the future, then we also needed to focus on building a better future.

There were a couple of reasons why we made that decision. We believe we are tasked with building the infrastructure of tomorrow's society. Whether you call it Web 3.0, the Metaverse or any other buzz word of the day,  the reality is more and more of the products, services and experiences we interact with every day, are served up digitally. And if we want our digitally-driven society to work better, then we have an inherent responsibility to make sure that the products, services and experiences that we build are accessible by everyone, inclusive of everyone, and sustainable for everyone.

We chose B Corp because they have made becoming a socially responsible business accessible, inclusive and sustainable. They provide a rigorous and thorough framework for assessing the social responsibility of an organization, provide an independent third party review, and a certification that is globally recognized by both businesses and consumers. When a business is certified as a B Corp, you can feel good about buying from that business, working for that business and investing in that business. 

As a public company, our global designation required that we amend our articles of association, committing the Board to a "triple bottom line" approach to decision making;  balancing considerations around people, profit and planet. This amendment required a vote by our shareholders, one which passed by over 99.9%; ensuring the alignment of our Board, our management team, our employees and our investors - giving both momentum and permanence to our social responsibility ambitions.

There are over 4,000 B Corps in 70 countries and 150 industries;  and that number is increasing every day. We're proud to align with B Lab's mission of redefining the role of business in society, and their vision of creating an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet.

 
Kin + Carta Leadership team celebrating  B corp announcement at the London Stock Exchange
Shereen Barros, Carlee Jaslowski and Nick Zinzan from Kin + Carta receive award from London Stock Exchange

We do not view this certification as the end of the journey.  To us, the B in B Corp could just as well stand for "basecamp". It is simply the beginning. We believe that being a responsible business is a journey that never ends. We believe that being socially responsible is not about celebrating how responsible we are but continually challenging how much more responsible we can be. 

Being socially responsible is acknowledging that balancing people, profit and planet, particularly in a fast growing business, is hard. Balance is something that is constantly tested, which means that we need to stay agile and be willing to continuously adapt and change; in how we organize ourselves, in how we consider the societal impacts of the software we create for our clients, in how we create that software, and in who is involved in the process of creating it. 

Being socially responsible is acknowledging that this journey we are on is a marathon, not a sprint; a marathon that is not a race against other businesses, but a race against society's greatest challenges; including wealth inequality, climate change, and social unrest. It is a race that every business is a part of, whether they are willing participants or not. We are proud to be active participants and leaders in this race, and our goal should be to help any other business that wishes to be a part of it.

Being one of the only 16 publicly traded B Corps in the world, and the first on the London Stock Exchange, is something very special and something we should be extremely proud of. But our hope is that someday soon, this designation won't be special at all. We want every public company to have the courage and commitment to start this journey alongside us. That's why we have committed to open sourcing everything we have created as a part of our journey to becoming a B-Corp. Every policy, every strategy, every framework. We are committed to helping B Lab fulfill its mission of redefining the role of business in society.

kin + carta employee selfie outside london stock exchange
From left to right and top to bottom: Paul Hunter, Carlee Jaslowski, Richard Neish, Alex Detrois, Paul Normington, David Tuck, Sam Cave-Penny, Shereen Barros, Chris Burzynski, Adam Grant-Jones, Lindsay Ratcliffe, Jason Turner,<br>J Schwan

I would like to pay a special note of thanks to our own Head of Responsible Business, Nick Zinzan, for guiding Kin + Carta on this journey over the past three years.  Nick's vision, leadership and steady hand were paramount to this achievement. Along with Nick, the leadership from Claire Starza-Allen, our Global Head of Legal, Shereen Barros our Head of Diversity and Inclusion, our Chairman of the Board John Kerr, Carlee Jaslowski, Paul Hunter, Paige Weldon, Chris Burzynski, Jennifer Crowley, Morgan Kainth, Kevin Mar-Molinaro, and the collective efforts of hundreds of our Kin from across the globe, all contributed to getting us to this point. As a firm we banded together to make Kin + Carta the first B Corp on the London Stock Exchange, I am so proud of all of you for making that happen.
 
We are proud to be a B Corp,  and we are proud of taking this notable next step in our journey to building a world that works better, for everyone.

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