B Lab EU: Hi! Tell us briefly who you are and what your company does.
Emzingo: Hallo! Hello! Hola! We are Emzingo. We work with purpose-driven leaders, teams, and organisations to create a positive impact in their future, today. We design and implement learning experiences and programs that uncover new ways of doing business and inspire responsible leadership. Our work aims to prepare leaders to tackle social challenges and connect business performance to social and environmental impact. Ultimately, we want to build inclusive and sustainable futures. Now.
B Lab EU: Why did you decide to become a B Corp?
Emzingo At Emzingo, we have social impact built into our programs and services and integrated into our organisational culture. Emzingo and the B Corp movement have a strong alignment in values, which is what drew us towards getting a certification in the first place. In addition to the philosophical alignment on how businesses should operate, there were three main drivers for Emzingo’s decision to join the B-Corp community: i) accountability to our team and stakeholders; ii) being part of the movement; and iii) building the ecosystem.
B Lab EU: What does being a B Corp mean to you?
Emzingo: For us it means possibility. We view being a B-Corp, a growing global movement, as an opportunity to support peers and colleagues, build a worldwide network and create and live out one of Emzingo’s values, “Encourage Collaboration and Mutual Success”. We love what we do and think there should be more people thinking the way that Emzingo and many of the other B Corps do when it comes to driving leadership, creating social change and being responsible for our planet.
B Lab EU: Have you seen business benefits of being a B Corp?
Emzingo: Over the past five years since we started the process we have seen several benefits. We'd like to highlight two: accountability and reputation. Firstly, by completing the B-Corp application process, we were forced to take a hard look at the way we’re running our business, which metrics we are tracking, the policies we have in place and the ways we hold ourselves accountable. The exercise alone was incredibly beneficial.
Secondly, the challenge is that Emzingo is not a household name (yet!) Association with B Corp adds an element of credibility when approaching new partners and clients. It also gives us access and a common bond with other certified organisations with which we may want to partner, sell our services to, or support in another way.
B Lab EU: What are you looking forward to most about the 2019 Summit?
Emzingo: We had a great time during the 2018 Summit and we wanted to contribute to the community again! We will be hosting a breakout session as part of the “Lead the Beat’ track. We made great connections last year and the Summit is always a great opportunity to see old friends and make new connections.
B Lab EU: What are your plans for the future to use your business as a force for good?
Emzingo: Hallo! Hello! Hola! We are Emzingo. We work with purpose-driven leaders, teams, and organisations to create a positive impact in their future, today. We design and implement learning experiences and programs that uncover new ways of doing business and inspire responsible leadership. Our work aims to prepare leaders to tackle social challenges and connect business performance to social and environmental impact. Ultimately, we want to build inclusive and sustainable futures. Now.
B Lab EU: Why did you decide to become a B Corp?
Emzingo At Emzingo, we have social impact built into our programs and services and integrated into our organisational culture. Emzingo and the B Corp movement have a strong alignment in values, which is what drew us towards getting a certification in the first place. In addition to the philosophical alignment on how businesses should operate, there were three main drivers for Emzingo’s decision to join the B-Corp community: i) accountability to our team and stakeholders; ii) being part of the movement; and iii) building the ecosystem.
B Lab EU: What does being a B Corp mean to you?
Emzingo: For us it means possibility. We view being a B-Corp, a growing global movement, as an opportunity to support peers and colleagues, build a worldwide network and create and live out one of Emzingo’s values, “Encourage Collaboration and Mutual Success”. We love what we do and think there should be more people thinking the way that Emzingo and many of the other B Corps do when it comes to driving leadership, creating social change and being responsible for our planet.
B Lab EU: Have you seen business benefits of being a B Corp?
Emzingo: Over the past five years since we started the process we have seen several benefits. We'd like to highlight two: accountability and reputation. Firstly, by completing the B-Corp application process, we were forced to take a hard look at the way we’re running our business, which metrics we are tracking, the policies we have in place and the ways we hold ourselves accountable. The exercise alone was incredibly beneficial.
Secondly, the challenge is that Emzingo is not a household name (yet!) Association with B Corp adds an element of credibility when approaching new partners and clients. It also gives us access and a common bond with other certified organisations with which we may want to partner, sell our services to, or support in another way.
B Lab EU: What are you looking forward to most about the 2019 Summit?
Emzingo: We had a great time during the 2018 Summit and we wanted to contribute to the community again! We will be hosting a breakout session as part of the “Lead the Beat’ track. We made great connections last year and the Summit is always a great opportunity to see old friends and make new connections.
B Lab EU: What are your plans for the future to use your business as a force for good?
Emzingo: We are in the middle of an exciting process. For the first time since we launched in 2009 we have an Executive Director, our inspiring colleague Cristina Bernardo, who will lead all of our work with academic institutions under the emzingo|U brand. That will allow us to have better focus across all our clients and partners. One of our priorities for the near future is to increase our local impact, almost at a hyper-local or community level, while keeping our global presence.
B Lab EU: Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the Summit!
B Lab EU: Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the Summit!