“A B Corp with a good score attracts”

Paola D’Angelo, director of Innpact, the first B Corp headquartered in Luxembourg, explains the story behind the company’s certification, the benefits it provides and how Innpact continues to set the trend for future B Corps.

Innpact specialises in offering cutting-edge impact financing solutions and received certification as a B Corp in 2015, making it the first B Corp in Luxembourg. Since then, the company has been named a “Best for the World” B Corp 10 times.

The management of Innpact, whose first three letters stand for “innovation”, worked with the certification idea suggested by a staff as the B Corp philosophy, which prioritises business as a force for good for people and the planet. The suggestion resonated with the company’s ambitions, explains D’Angelo. “It required us to look critically at how we do things in terms of business, clients, customers, but also in terms of how we treat people and opportunities given to the team [for example],” she explains.

An ongoing process

Every three years, certification needs to be renewed, and this has become more challenging, likely due to growth and increased professionalism, D’Angelo adds. However, this reinforces the legitimacy of certifications. “It’s kind of an audit system. It’s just that you don’t audit your financials, but you audit everything--your community input, your workers, [etc.]. So as a company, when you start, it is a learning curve, a continuous gap analysis,” says D’Angelo.

“We saw that even though we’ve been certified in 2015 [and] then in 2017, and now we are still working on the 2020 data… we need to continuously ask ourselves [whether] we are doing the right thing with the best possible level of transparency and professionalism,” continues D’Angelo, stressing that being a B Corp is a commitment to the team and clients, but also in terms of time and resources. “Our score has been changing because questions change, because they become stricter, and I have to say, also because others become better. And then you think: I could do better as well.”

Resulting gains

Commendations and recommendations are made based on the responses provided during the evaluation process. Innpact’s current employee shareholder programme is one example. “Having employees investing makes you even more accountable.” These suggestions are not compulsory and remain “a company’s decision”, she adds.

Joining a network of businesses with a B Corp mindset is another benefit. D’Angelo also highlights the certification’s “traction or attraction” on people. “To see that a financial advisory company is a B Corp with a good score and not just the basics--that attracts. We’ve had a number of employees join [because of] that.” However, this attraction comes with high expectations. “Because they say: if you manage a B Corp, you must be really good at what you do.”

Setting an example

Becoming the first B Corp is exemplary. “We were the first, and many others then came. And we were the first in financial services,” says D’Angelo. The decision to change the legal and governance structure of the company but also the “articles of constitution of the company” helped embody this commitment, she adds.

Prior to becoming a B Corp, the company’s social contract entailed setting aside a portion of its annual revenue for donations or investments in impact-generating initiatives. While this practice may have existed before, D’Angelo says, “what B Corps helped us accomplish was to formalise [that]”.

Company values, partnership, openness, transparency and adaptability are some ingredients that help the company maintain excellence, says D’Angelo. Also “being impact-focused and not theme-focused allows us to span to so many different initiatives”.