A marketing consultancy launched earlier this year as the coronavirus pandemic took hold is aiming to become just the second Bath business to gain B Corp accreditaton for its ethical stance.
Backpack was started by brand and culture expert Sammy Burt in mid-March following a Covid crisis-linked redundancy.
She reached out to her network of contacts and quickly found a demand for her expertise and style of business.
But she also wanted to make sure that Backpack had a clear commitment to using business as a force for good and aligned with her own beliefs.
B Corp status is regarded as being to business what Fairtrade is to bananas or coffee.
Joining the ever-growing band of B Corp businesses is a measure of an organisation’s commitment to meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance and certified firms are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
As Backpack is still in its first year it has registered as a Pending B Corp, which requires articles of association to be completed with the movement’s purpose committed to. It then allows 12 months for the organisation to meet the full requirements for full membership.
The first – and so far only – Bath business to achieve B Corp certification is specialist brand consultancy The House, which was awarded it in 2017, where Sammy, pictured, spent six years working with a huge variety of clients including T H WHITE, Smirnoff, The Special Olympics, St John’s Foundation, University of Bath and Curo and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in B2B marketing.
She had previously worked in-house at Prima Dental Group, the Gloucester-based global medical device manufacturer, helping launch its joint ventures and business divisions around the world.
Since launch Backpack, she has worked with global life science organisation CiteAb, one of the South West’s leading digital application agencies Storm Consultancy, national energy consultant to the construction industry Energist, plus a number of start-ups in both the commercial and third sector.
Sammy, who is also the comms lead for TEDxBath and a trustee for Bristol-based modern slavery charity Unseen, said: “The past six months have been a juggling act to say the least but utterly incredible.
“Starting a new business at the beginning of what became a global pandemic, with a toddler home from nursery, provided the oddest of environments but I couldn’t have wished for Backpack to start any better and I’m so grateful to my friends for their support and my partner Jim for his unwavering confidence.
“I thought it was crucial to start as I mean to go on, so ensuring that my business is conscious of, and aligned to, the UN’s sustainable development goals was a very easy and very early decision.
“Pending Certification for B Corp will hold me accountable to these and my core beliefs of how business can and should impact society and the planet.”
While Bath has just one B Corp-certified firm – and one pending – the West of England is a flag-bearer for the movement. Bristol alone has 14, including super-ethical tea firm Pukka Herbs, which gained its accreditation shortly before it relocated from South Bristol to Keynsham.
