Interview: Eshuis Accountants and Advisers

Inter iew: shuis ccountants and d isers

Conscious entrepreneurship and the leverage effect of B Corp

Saxion Conscious Business Lab and Eshuis Accountants and Advisers are the initiators of BCorpTwente. "Our aim is to create an unstoppable movement of conscious business” says Mark de Lat, partner at Eshuis.

The baker eats his own bread

"With the learning-working-doing sessions that we organise in cooperation with Saxion, we bring entrepreneurs together and encourage each other to take action and contribute to social, ecological, societal and economic value through their own business models. Eshuis is not only the driving force behind B Corp, but also a participant. The baker eats his own bread. If we motivate our business relations to do business in a more conscious way, then we also need to take more steps", says Evelyn Landhuis from Eshuis.

Making an impact on multiple fronts

A B Corp team has been set up within Eshuis. This team builds on the baseline measurement. "We are now energetically working to convert the insights from this baseline measurement into specific actions for creating multiple value and impact. Actions that range from making our procurement and mobility policies more sustainable to taking the initiative towards our (inter)national branch organisation", is how Mark describes the steps that have been taken.

Going the extra mile

"We find that the B Corp tool keeps us on our toes. It makes us go the extra mile. It also forces us to make issues such as sustainability as concrete as possible, both for ourselves and for our customers", is how Evelyn describes the relevance of the B Corp standard. “We also apply this to our daily work, for example, by pointing out to customers new laws and regulations regarding the energy transition. For example, the obligation that offices must have energy label C by 1 January 2023. Implementing sustainability themes also means training our colleagues on sustainability issues that are relevant to our customers", adds Mark.

B Corp as the basis for impact reporting

When asked how B Corp fits in with Eshuis' ambition, Mark replies: “Working with the B Corp system helps us give substance to our ambition. We combine this with the Sustainable Development Goals as formulated by the UN. Our ambition is to help clients become more successful in such a way that they make an impact on the social and economic position of the region, one day at a time. We try to challenge clients to do the right thing with their own business model. In doing so, we seriously stimulate the growth of conscious entrepreneurship. This was the motivation behind starting the B Corp series in collaboration with Saxion. The B Corp standard holds up a mirror to us and this is how we have been able to turn our ambition into reality.” Not surprisingly, this mirroring with respect to the B Corp standard was the basis for the recently released impact report, Evelyn concludes.