People : Planet : Profit

The B|23
Programme

Wildanet set itself the challenge of becoming a B Corp in 2023, and at the new Liskeard HQ launch in 2022 Helen Wylde CEO, announced that Wildanet would be sponsoring a programme to see 22 other companies join it to work towards gaining the accreditation - this project became known as B|23.

After engaging Cornish B Corp and B Leaders Matt Hocking and Simon Thomason from Leap to lead to project, Wildanet, already signed up to be the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce ESG Partner for 2022 -2023, co-hosted a sold-out breakfast event at the iconic Eden Project in January 2023.

Helen, alongside Chamber of Commerce CEO Kim Conchie, guest speaker Ruth Murray from Gresham House, and Simon Thomason addressed the 180 strong room of Cornish businesses, giving talks on B Corp, the triple bottom line of people planet, profit, and how they could sign up to the Wildanet B|23 project.

The breakfast launch saw 94 companies sign up for the Inspiration Day which was held at the Old Bakery Studios in Truro in March.. There were guest panels, talks and an opportunity to ask questions of business that had already gone through the B Corp Business Impact Assessment themselves.

There was a 7-day period after the Inspiration Day for companies to commit to the programme, which would see the cohort led through five events, each one focusing on a different impact area of the B Corp Business Impact Assessment - Governance, Workers, Environment, Community and Customers.

Events are being held in inspirational venues, with inspirational speakers. These will include The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cabilla Cornwall, Newquay Orchard, The National Maritime Museum Falmouth, and The Hangar. Speakers include Chris Hines, one of the founding members of Surfers Against Sewage, Finisterre founder Tom Kay, and Mark Cuddigan CEO of Ella's Kitchen

The cohort finishes in July with a garden party at Wildanet HQ in Liskeard, when hopefully all companies should be ready to submit their Business Impact Assessments to B Lab UK for consideration.

Funding has been secured from Cornwall Council to run a second Cornish cohort in September 2023, and plans are being made to roll out the programme to Devon in 2024.