Becoming a B corp
Urban Spa is proud to certify as a B corp.
Urban Spa announced yesterday it has earned B Corp Certification from the nonprofit B Lab, becoming one of 300+ companies in Canada to certify as B Corp. Certified B Corporations are for-profit companies that use the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. There are more than 3,200 B Corps in 150 industries and 71 countries around the world. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. B Corps like Urban Spa are leaders of a global movement of people using business as a force for good.
In less than a week, Urban Spa will join a growing community to kick off B Corp Month! What is B Corp Month, you ask? It’s our annual celebration of the community of Certified B Corps and our collective impact. All month long in March, we will share what matters most to us and how you can vote for a better world by choosing B Corps like us. To kick off our announcement before B corp month begins March 1, we share a short interview with President and Founder, Jennifer Lewis.
Jennifer Lewis on becoming a B corp
Why was becoming a B Corp personally important to you as President of Urban Spa?
“As a company we have always been focused on the environment and people. The B Corp certification felt like a way to say it loud and proud that we do business differently. From a personal perspective , I love being around other B Corps owners. I am the daughter of a banker and an Anglican minister, so B Corp seems like a natural confluence of this.”
What is the key advantage of achieving B Corp certification at this stage of your business?
"As a small business, we do not have a Chief Sustainability Officer! The discipline of the B Corp Certification helped Forever Natural to create structures and processes to track our sustainability."
Every B Corp recertifies with the B Corp assessment, every 3 years. What exciting areas of advancement does Urban Spa hope to achieve between now and then?
"The biggest goal as a product company will be to source locally as many products as possible. That may require finding and partnering with someone to create some manufacturing in Canada that does not currently exist. It drives me crazy that in Canada there is no one manufacturing end use consumer products like our foot files or soap caddy. One of the many things I love about our hair care products is that they are all made in Canada. One of the criteria for Urban Spa’s new products moving forward will be to focus only on products made in Canada."
Do you have a comment or burning question about B Corps? Let us know in the comments and we’ll share more about what we’ve learned.
