Whole Life Magazine

August / September 2016

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is for Better Business B How B Corps are making a profit and a positive impact By Lisa Beebe E dward Belden likes to look at everyday things and ask himself, "How could we do that a little bit more green or make it more sustainable?" One day, while riding his bike past an ice cream shop in Atlanta, he had the idea of making bike-churned ice cream. "at's what hap- pens when you ride a bike a lot. You get to thinking and create new ideas." Years later, Belden decided the time was right to start a business that was sustainably minded and also socially con- scious. He founded Peddler's Creamery, a bicycle-churned ice cream shop in downtown Los Angeles that includes giv- ing back as part of its mission. He hopes to have the business certified as a B Corps. B Corps are for-profit companies that have proven they meet high standards of social and environmental perfor- mance, transparency and accountability. B Lab, the nonprof- it organization that offers the certification, explains it more simply on their website: "B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certi- fication is to milk." B Corps are companies that work to solve social and environmental problems while also mak- ing a profit. To be certified as a B Corp, a company has to complete an assessment of its impact and achievements, set up a corpo- rate structure that makes sustainability part of the company's mission, sign B Lab's Declaration of Interdependence and Term Sheet, and pay an annual certification fee. More than 1, 800 companies have been certified so far, including house- hold names such as Seventh Generation, Ben & Jerry's, Method and Warby Parker. Whole Life Times spoke to three entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles area who are re- defining success to include having a positive impact on the world around them. 26 wholelifetimes.com

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