B Lab

20 years ago, my teenage self stood in front of my class presenting Chronist der Winde, a book about a baker who takes care of an orphan street boy in the days before his death while the boy tells him his story. After the boy’s death, the baker dedicates his life to traveling the country to share the boy’s story in order to teach people not to lose hope or give up their dreams. That presentation shaped my belief in the power of stories to inspire change. Today, I work with a global team of gatekeepers at B Lab, that help companies understand why it's important to adopt social and environmental best practices throughout their whole business not just their most material operations or flagship brands - so that they can be a force for good. Working with a global team of people who believe in the impact of B Corp Certification and the impact telling their stories can have, is incredibly meaningful. Their stories that remind ourselves and others that change is possible. We just ought not to lose hope and our dream of what we can accomplish together. We’re not just ticking boxes; we’re part of a movement that’s redefining what success looks like in business. Every certification, every conversation, and every challenge we overcome is a step toward a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic system. Twenty years from now, I hope my kids will find themselves in a world where their dreams are nurtured by systems designed for equity and sustainability. I imagine an economy that regenerates rather than exploits, collaborates rather than competes, and gives back rather than takes. I hope they see that their actions - no matter how small - can create ripples of change - and that their dreams matter! And if they ask what I did to help build that world, I hope they understand that I didn’t just hope for it - I worked for it. Because hope isn’t something you wait for - it’s what motivates us to do the work we do every day. #20yearsofBCorp #poweredbycommunity

Hace años empecé este camino en la que fue la décima #BCorp en España, de la mano de mi mentor, John Scade. Se me hace un nudo en la garganta escribiendo esto y pensando que ya no está aquí para ver todo lo que vino después. Hubo el retiro en Menorca, después de una etapa durísima de Covid. Fuy B Leader, cofundé la comunidad B Corp de Madrid, vivimos momentos históricos como llegar al Congreso con la ley SBIC… y, poco a poco, esta comunidad se fue convirtiendo también en una parte muy importante de mi vida. Han cambiado muchísimas cosas desde entonces. Hoy trabajo en B Lab, intentando servir lo mejor posible a esta comunidad y amplificar sus voces en los espacios de política pública. Y, sinceramente, estos 20 años también me generan emociones encontradas. Mucho cariño. Mucho orgullo. Y también miedo al cambio. Porque el movimiento ya no es pequeño. Somos más de 10.000 B Corps en el mundo. Y siento curiosidad –y responsabilidad– por cómo vamos a conservar la magia, la cercanía y la ambición transformadora de este movimiento tan profundamente #grassroots, mientras seguimos creciendo. Gracias a todas las personas que han formado parte del camino 💛

Vinte anos atrás, o #BLab nascia. Eu estava dentro da Cargill, uma multinacional norte-americana, onde ali descobri o poder das empresas em mudar o mundo. Em 2006, ocupava uma cadeira corporativa confortável, crescendo de forma impressionante, o tipo de lugar onde a principal métrica era o resultado do trimestre, do semestre, do ano. Honro muito minha trajetória profissional em que aprendi sobremaneira na Cargill. Mas algo me incomodou alguns anos depois. Consegui ver o poder absurdo que uma grande empresa tem sobre vidas, comunidades e ecossistemas inteiros. E me perguntava: esse poder está sendo usado para quê, exatamente? Essa pergunta mudou a trajetória da minha vida. Ela cristalizou bem mais para frente, lá em 2017 quando conheci o Sistema B / #BLab. Hoje, duas décadas depois, olho para o que o Movimento B construiu e sinto duas coisas ao mesmo tempo: admiração pelo caminho percorrido e urgência pelo que ainda precisa ser feito. O que era nicho virou conversa de boardroom/conselho. O que era idealismo virou regulação. O que era diferencial virou expectativa de mercado. Mas aqui está o que me provoca: A maioria das empresas ainda opera com um modelo mental do século XX — extraindo valor da sociedade e chamando isso de crescimento. O próximo ciclo de vinte anos não vai ser sobre certificações. Vai ser sobre conversão. Sobre transformação real. Esse é o trabalho. E ele está longe de terminar. Você está nele? #20AnosDeBCorp #BLab #TriploImpacto #EmpresasQueTransformam #SistemaB

Twenty years ago, I sat in a movie theater on a small island and watched 𝑨𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 for the first time: I was 9 years old. Climate change? Never heard of it. Graphs? Very scary. Al Gore? A serious man with an intense slideshow on screen. I remember going home and having  𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Should we move higher up the mountain? Would our house still be safe if sea levels rose? And very importantly... if the school ends up underwater, does that mean no more school? (Especially no more PE class, which I was doing my best to avoid.) 🏝️ I wouldn’t say that was 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – there were many other phases before that, including the classic “I’m definitely going to be a veterinarian” one. But it was the day the idea of climate change entered my life and never left. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. That same year, B Lab was born. Fast forward 20 years, and I somehow ended up here – inside this very organisation through B Lab France – working on the topics that are closest to my heart: humans and their dignity. I’m still very critical of the neoliberal, growth‑obsessed economic system we live in. But I also still genuinely believe that companies can do good, repair harm, and change lives for the better. I’m grateful to have found a place where my 8‑year‑old climate anxieties, my teenage activism, and my adult questions about power, justice, and care all have a home. 20 years after that first terrifying graph about rising sea levels, I’m still learning, still questioning, and still convinced 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 – 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Here’s to the next 20 years of pushing, questioning, building, and insisting that people and planet are non‑negotiable. #20YearsOfBCorp #Poweredbycommunity

20 years ago, I was in Baghdad working for the United Nations. I was young(er), idealistic, and convinced global change was best achieved through global institutions. At the time, I genuinely believed diplomacy, development, and multilateralism were the primary levers for solving our biggest challenges. I still believe those institutions matter. But over the last two decades, my understanding of where power actually sits has changed. Because while governments write the rules, business shapes daily life for billions. Consumers voting with their wallet determine what gets built, what gets normalized, and what gets rewarded. That realization is what brought me to B Lab. Today, I lead global B Corp certification, pushing companies toward higher standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Twenty years ago, the idea that companies should be accountable not just to shareholders, but also to workers, communities, customers, and the planet sat at the margins. Now those conversations are happening in boardrooms, investment committees, regulatory systems, and in public debates across the world. Not consistently. Not always sincerely. And definitely not fast enough. But they are happening. Progress has been uneven, frustrating, and at times vulnerable to political backlash and institutional retreat. And still, I remain convinced the long-term direction of travel is bigger than any individual political cycle. 20 years from now? I hope we stop talking about “responsible business” as though it’s a special category. I hope strong social and environmental performance simply becomes part of what defines a serious, credible company. Not because markets magically fixed themselves. But because enough people decided an economic model built entirely around short-term extraction was neither sustainable nor acceptable anymore. Looking at that young man standing in Baghdad nearly two decades ago, I think he’d still recognize the mission. And he'd be proud. #20YearsOfBCorp #PoweredByCommunity