Backpack is the newest member of the global BCorp community. Certified B Corps are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. BCorp positions itself as “a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using businesses as a force for good”.
In the first year of business an organisation may register as a Pending Certified BCorp which requires articles of association to be completed and submitted to Companies House with the movements purpose committed to. It then allows 12 months for the organisation to meet the full requirements for full membership.
Backpack now has Pending Certified status and will spend the next 12 months ensuring that it starts as it means to go on - with a clear commitment to using business as a force for good.
Sammy founded Backpack in mid March following Covid crisis related redundancy. She reached out into her network and quickly found a demand for her expertise and style of business. Since launch Backpack has worked with global life science organisation CiteAb, one of the South West’s leading digital application agencies Storm Consultancy, national energy consultant to the construction industry Energist plus a number of exciting startups in both the commercial and third sector.
Sammy says “the last six months have been a juggling act to say the least but utterly incredible. Starting a new business at the beginning of what became a global pandemic, with a toddler home from nursery provided the oddest of environments but I couldn’t have wished for Backpack to start any better and I’m so grateful to my friends for their support and my partner Jim for his unwavering confidence.”
“I thought it was crucial to start as I mean to go on so ensuring that my business is conscious of, and aligned to the UN’s sustainable development goals was a very easy and very early decision. Pending Certification for BCorp will hold me accountable to these and my core beliefs of how business can and should impact society and the planet.”
As a trustee of Modern Slavery Charity, Unseen and Comms Lead for TEDxBath it is not surprising that Sammy has founded her new brand and cultural entity on purposeful principles.
Backpack was a finalist in the Creative Bath awards Startup category at just three months old, has launched courses aimed at in-house marketers for 2021, has been invited to speak at a number of events and is attracting new clients from beyond the South West for the new year.
“I hope to be one of many successful startups of 2020.”