Imagine a world where every single business existed to do something positive for all its stakeholders…

Midori Sustainability helps organisations to be a force for good.

How do we do this?  Through measuring impact, consulting stakeholders, coaching staff from CEO to shop floor, asking the right questions,  focussing on relationships, thinking about people rather than "resources", benchmarking against best practice, designing interventions, taking you through the B Corp certification process, connecting you to other purpose driven organisations and helping you to imagine - and put into practice - ways your business could have a positive impact on the world.

Why do we do this?

Because the current way of doing business just doesn't seem to be working any more - at least, not for many people and certainly not for the health of the environment.   But business is in a unique position to make a huge difference and help to resolve some of the problems that it helped to create. 

What if all businesses put purpose ahead of profit? 

All businesses need to make money in order for them to survive – and merely breaking even won’t help a business to thrive, to innovate, to develop its people.  Profit is desirable, healthy and necessary. 

But profit isn’t an end in itself…

Truly successful companies make a profit in order to enable them to do something more, or better.

Although they are profitable businesses, profit alone is not their sole reason for existing – and what that “something” is becomes the real justification for their existence.

Such companies may be addressing a social or environmental problem (these are the obvious contenders for purpose beyond profit) but there are many other organisations in every kind of industry who do business in a way that brings “shared value” to all stakeholders – not just to shareholders.

This means they look after their staff, their customers, their suppliers, their community and the environment.  And they usually pay a great detail of attention to their governance structures and the way in which the business is run.

The benefits of purpose-driven business

The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer UK found that in a year when trust in the government dropped to new lows, people clearly expect business to step in and fill the void, and the high expectations of business to address and solve today’s challenges has never been more apparent. The heightened expectations of business bring CEOs new demands to focus on societal and environmental engagement with the same rigour, thoughtfulness, and energy used to deliver on profits. More than half of respondents to the survey (59 %) believe that when the government does not fix societal problems, CEOs should step in. 63% also felt that CEOs should hold themselves accountable to public, and not just to the board of directors and shareholders.

The good news is that having a strong ethical purpose can bring all sorts of tangible benefits. Research carried out in late 202o by B Lab UK showed that SME B Corps enjoyed a wide range of improved indicators of success:

Companies are finding that “doing good” reaps rewards – a business that genuinely lives out a purpose serving a wider group of stakeholders is likely to:

• Attract investment

• Attract and retain great people

• Stimulate creativity and innovation

• Enjoy a positive reputation and high levels of confidence from key stakeholders

• Foster customer and brand loyalty

• Help build a stable society that sustains good business

• Deliver long term sustainable performance