Gloucestershire businesses as a force for good
B Corp is 'the gold standard of sustainability', but can 'doing good' really be good for your business too? There was a comprehensive answer, and a peep into the future, at this Gloucestershire event.
🔒 You’re reading a members only edition of The Raikes Journal. We let you have a look at the top of the edition, and maybe give you a taste of the big story that is today’s focus – but that’s all, unless you upgrade to paid. As well as being able to read the second and third editions of the week in full, you will be able to see beyond the paywall that locks all our archive after two weeks, view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series and comment on our stories. And you will be helping make sustainable this community interest company dedicated to supporting your community – Gloucestershire. All for just £2.30 per week!
Dear Readers,
We hope your week has gone well – so far! Today we unveil another of our backers helping make this community interest company possible. This particlar sponsor will be known to most of you in the county, and if it’s not – perhaps you should take a look.
It is a true UK centre of excellence, a giant springboard for future talent, home to tech start-ups and to one of the most dominant rugby teams in the country currently – and it has probably the most beautiful panoramic views of the county from its main offices to be found at any place of work.
And speaking of backers, our main story is a report on a meeting of minds earlier this week as one of our Founding Partners, QuoLux, did what it does best - brought together business and delivered some insightful food for thought to the growing cluster of firms interested in or committed to the sought-after B Corp status.
This was an opportunity for businesses big and small (Barnwood Group was in the audience, as was the leader of Business West and the VCS Gloucestershire) and those from the third sector too to see under the bonnet of Hobbs House Bakery and Creed Foodservice.
It also saw QuoLux reveal that one of its online tools was being used in a trial to bring ESG-conscious (environmental, social and governance) corporates and public sector organisation and small businesses together to discuss procurement opportunities – with results that made Phil Smith, leader of Business West, declare he wanted to hear more.
If you want to read it all, you will have to become one of our members – which is not just about getting access to the stories, it’s about making sustainable a community interest company so it can continue to bring them to you and champion the county we all love, live and work in. Afterall, if we don’t, who else will?
Enjoy!
Group subscriptions can get a 20 per cent discount here…
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (we’ve already let you know about QuoLux and more partners will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support from all of you is invaluable! For commercial opportunities visit our About page. To get in touch email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
But first, our briefing note...
🍻 This story should have caught everyone’s eye who is following Gloucester’s ongoing redevelopment. Among the big headline-grabbing projects like the city council’s £107 million The Forum scheme transforming King’s Square and the University of Gloucestershire’s ongoing repurposing of the former Debenhams building are those private businesses not party to any Levelling Up cash but that will make all the difference. Just as Gloucester Brewery was brave to be one of the very first to move into the then still undeveloped Docks now it looks to have got a foot in the door of the aforementioned Forum. Geoff Smith, managing director of the brewery, has confirmed he has shaken hands with Rich Palmer, project manager of The Corner, to try to push through plans to redevelop the former Chambers pub in King’s Square.
🏗️ Gloucester may well have the lion’s share of redevelopment of late, but Cheltenham is also able to pull an exciting project out of the bag – and it has done so with news that its MX (Minster Exchange) Centre is due to open very soon. Probably early April. This is the long-awaited new headquarters for Cheltenham Festivals – which runs the likes of the Literature, Jazz and Science festivals in the town – its Growth Hub business support service hub and office space for the growing demand from tech businesses we are told are clustering in the town ahead of the Golden Valley Development. The project, beside the town centre’s only surviving medieval building (The Minster, St Mary’s church), is at least a £10 million investment and closely linked to the nearby Hub8 cyber workspace.
🎉🎓 Congratulations to SGS College which has a campus in Stroud at Berkeley Green, has received its latest Ofsted results. Celebrations are in order as the college received an overall rating of ‘good’ with ‘outstanding judgements for personal development’. Apparently Ofsted said the college has been ‘courageous’ in its development of new full-time provision for learners aged 14 to 16 in Gloucestershire and committed substantial time and resources to developing the curriculum. SGS Create ensures 14-16 year olds for whom mainstream education is not right will have the opportunity to access first-class facilities and the right learning environment to enjoy their education. It opened its doors in September 2023.
To help make our community interest company sustainable and fund this new way of providing quality journalism supporting the county we rely on the generosity of our partners, but also on paid-for subscriptions and ‘founding member’ contributions - rather than clickbait. So, if have not already, please consider joining those ranks. It costs just £2.30 a week or 33p a day if you pay for 12 months up front (£120), or £12 per month. The benefits include access to two extra newsletters a week (we will soon paywall our second and third newsletters), as well as access to our archive (which will paywall after two weeks) and our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series in our Reports & Deals channel. Groups of two or more subscribers get a 25 per cent discount. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
Saluting one of Raikes’ incredible supporters
Today we give a round of applause and say a very big ‘thank you’ to Hartpury University and Hartpury College, one of the supporters that has helped make Raikes possible.
When we began researching whether there was demand for an independent, journalistically-led website covering business, education, training and the third sector we had everything crossed support would be there.
Stuart Emmerson, director of business development at Hartpury University and Hartpury College, was one of those who turned around and said ‘yes’ almost right away.
For Raikes, this was not only a vote of confidence. Emmerson will probably not realise, but some of what he said in our conversation has helped shape Raikes already – and it moved us closer to one of the most exciting institutions in Gloucestershire, one determined to encourage businesses too.
“We’ve known Andrew for a long time and know he is committed to supporting the county’s business community. We supported the first iteration of The Raikes Journal when it ran through the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Emmerson.
“And in its new form as a community interest company - but still dedicated to championing community, business, education, training and the charity sectors - it sits well with the values we have at Hartpury.
“Plus, it was a chance to do what we have made a name for ourselves here at Hartpury for doing - supporting businesses and helping them grow.”
For a community interest company just starting out these words alone are a massive boost.
What he was referring to by ‘supporting businesses’ is too broad to cover in detail here, but ranges from its on-going relationships with countless farming operations to clever agri-tech businesses.
Some of the latter are embedded in the ecosystem it is building around its Agri Tech Centre – where fledgling firms are either based, can seek counsel or stage events.
Hartpury has a regular newsletter for its business community and today, what started as an agricultural education centre for 50 students just after the Second World War, now caters for 4,500 students and is a UK centre of excellence for a number of sports. Its Gloucester-Hartpury Womens Rugby team is attracting commercial sponsors who want to be close, not just to a vibrant, passionate, inspiring group of people – but a team which is last year’s winner of the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby league and this year’s current stand-out team too.
For those lucky college and university students - whose ultimate aim is to enter the world of work as well-equipped as they can be – close proximity to those real-life businesses and entrepreneurs is priceless.
We hope to bring you the incredible stories of some of those businesses and the people driving them forward over the coming months.
That way, we hope, it is not just Hartpury and Raikes who win from the relationship – but everyone interested in learning more about Gloucestershire and the great stories it is creating too.
Gloucestershire businesses as a force for good
B Corp has become 'the gold standard of sustainability', but can 'doing good' really be good for your business too? There was a comprehensive answer, and an exciting peep into the future, at this Gloucestershire event.
By Andrew Merrell
As more companies begin to look towards achieving B Corp status, the accreditation that marks them out as putting people and planet alongside profit, it seems one question remains – is it good for business?
Staff recruitment, retention, wellbeing of staff, becoming a better place to work, the impact on the bottom line and the supply chain - it was all covered off by two real-life case study companies (one B Corp, one not) in front of an audience from the business community and the third sector.
This was an event staged at Brickhampton Golf Complex by leadership development specialists QuoLux, itself a B Corp and which also delivered a fascinating look at just where this kind of approach to business can ultimately take those brave enough to make the journey.
Dr Stewart Barnes, QuoLux’s chief executive, revealed the firm was involved in a trial in the North West of England using one of its digital tools to help big, ESG-conscious businesses (environmental and social governance) discover smaller, equally ESG-conscious local firms in their region to bring into their supply chains. The economic benefits of retaining the money in the region, clear for all to see.
The trial involves major corporates and large corporates who will work with small-medium companies, charities and social enterprises to align with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 269 targets. Data is fed into QuoLux’s SDG Congigurator, which then delivers potential matches.
It was data leaders in the North West saw value in when it came to arguing their case for central government to unlock the coffers of regional investment and potential green finance.
And it was a session that ended with the leader of Business West, Phil Smith, declaring, he was “happy to have a further conversation” - leaving others in the room wondering ‘will West-based businesses soon be invited to take part in a similar trial here?’.
George Herbert, of Hobbs House Bakery, explained why the firm had begun its own B Corp journey and the resulting impact.
“We are a family business. I’m the fifth generation – but we have a sixth generation already training in the company too.
We began our B Corp journey in 2016.
“Why? We have always tried to do what we thought were the right things – but we wanted our brand to grow even more and wanted people to really understand what we were doing.”
It is reasoning backed up by a study from the Harvard Business School, which concluded B Corp was proving a meaningful way for firms to distinguish themselves from the ‘green washing’ employed by some competitors.
As Herbert explained, it was not just a badge to Hobbs House Bakery wore, it had become both compass and light on a journey that had impacted everything from the origins of its ingredients to investment plans and culture.
It was challenging, but was also helping Hobbs House thrive, he said. Turnover is currently £8 million, it has 160 staff, four shops, a cookery school, and produces an estimated 150,000 items every single week with supplies and resellers including ike the acclaimed Gloucester Services, as well as Boston Tea Party and Butcombe Brewery Group.
B Corp, said Herbert, had probably had its most impact internally at a senior level.
“It has made a difference in terms of recruitment of staff to our senior positions. What we have published about our journey has helped them to get a better understanding of the business and it has appealed to them,” he said.
And it was also impacting how it was able to influence its suppliers to come with them in their journey, ultimately producing an even better product, ethically, environmentally and in terms of that all-important outcome - taste.
The findings chime with the claims made by B Lab, which certifies a company’s B Corp status. Its message being that firms that give equal priority to its mantra - ‘people, planet and profit’ - and engage with the process improved decision-making, strengthen staff retention, future-proof operations and make themselves more financially resilient.
Figures from B Lab claim B Corps outperform ‘ordinary’ businesses worldwide on top-line growth between 2019 and 2021 and were also significantly better equipped to survive the pandemic - with more than 95 per cent of B Corps continuing to operate through to 2023, compared with 88 per cent of firms that were not certified.
It also claims 78 per cent of British consumers think all businesses should put the interests of people and the planet alongside profit in their decision-making.
Martin Holmes, people director at Creed Foodservice’s, said the Staverton family-owned firm, was not actually B Corp, but its efforts over a number of years chimed well with the B Corp message and that meaningful change, and especially putting people first, had made a positive impact on their business, including the all important bottom line.
Creed currently employs 450 staff and last year donated an estimated £80,000 in value to charitable causes in its community, including 505 volunteers hours by its staff, more than half of whom regularly support its internal monthly fundraising lottery that gives all funds raised to what is currently six chosen charities.
That effort includes giving an incredible 29 tonnes of food to Fairshare, a charity which redistributes food firms are no longer able to sell to a good home.
“Why are we not B Corp? Quite simply, for us it is cost,” said Holmes.
For a company of its size the cost could be in the region of £30,000-plus.
“It is something we discuss pretty much every year. I would like us too, but it has to be the right balance.”
In the meantime, and for a number of years, it has been working to make itself a great place to work – working out how to make that meaningful, from paying the fair wage as a minimum to staff welling, how staff are treated and interact, and its supply chain.
Creed Foodservice, he said, was incredibly proud to be recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK – with a highly prized two-star rating in the respected Sunday Times annual listing.
“We are working towards three stars and expect to achieve that soon,” said Holmes, underlining as Herbert also had that such efforts were an ongoing journey.
For Holmes, for a culture to be truly ‘people first’ leaders had to lead by example, be present and visible - and not expect everything to be easy or to fall on the shoulders of staff.
“The first year we tried to achieve Best Company to Work For I remember some very challenging questions,” he said.
“It is not so much about what your employees think of you, but about your leadership abilities, their personal growth and wellbeing, whether the company genuinely gives something back.
“We are really pleased now that currently our highest criteria (in the Best Places to Work survey) was how we look after our staff’s wellbeing.”
Its company values, he said, (commercial, friendly, nurturing and proud). were not only pinned to the wall of the business, but the foundations of its cultural DNA
As for the bottom line? Likely to be a major deciding factor in all those in the room deciding whether to embark on their own journeys. Best Place to Work recognition but where had all that effort left Creed Foodservice?
Its last set of published accounts show it passed £100 million turnover for the first time in what was its 50th year of trading.
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable! Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
🔓 You’ve been reading a free edition of The Raikes Journal, for which we are grateful. Please do spread the word about what we are trying to do - create a real, journalistically-led, community-orientated, Gloucestershire-focused digital magazine. If you upgrade to paid, you will get on average eight extra members-only editions every month and will be able to see beyond any paywalls, as well as read Raikes’ rolling Top 100-plus Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You will also be allowed to comment on stories, make suggestions for what we should be writing about, vote in our awards, and might even be invited to our roundtable events. And you’ll be supporting the rebirth of high-quality journalism in Gloucestershire on a website championing the county you love — all for just £2.30 per week (£12 a month or £120 a year! Ask us about 20 per cent off for groups of two or more.