Women Behind The B: Catherine Draper, Engagement Manager At B Lab UK

As part of B Corp Month and International Women’s Day at x+why this March, we’re celebrating the women behind the B. Catherine Draper is the Community Engagement Manager at B Lab UK. B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet.  It was created in 2006 with the mission to inspire and enable people to use business as a force for good.

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Tell us a little more about you and your role at B Lab UK?

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I’m Catherine Draper and I’ve worked with the B Lab UK team for just over 5 years.  I joined the team soon after the launch of the B Corp movement back in 2016 as the Team Support, and I am now the Engagement Manager. The time has flown by - when I first joined, the Community was still in the early-days with slightly  over 100 B Corps, and we are now close to 700!

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It’s been an amazing opportunity to get to jump in and learn about all the different aspects of the B Corp movement. My role has changed a lot over the years – but at its core it’s focused on bringing together our community of like minded businesses and encouraging them to collaborate on creating a positive impact, sharing best practices and generally anything that helps to foster a greater sense of connection and community!

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What does it mean to be a B Corp?

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Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Beyond this, what inspires me is that it is a movement of people using business as a force for good who are always striving to keep on learning and doing better.

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What are some of the impacts that B Corp aims to have when it comes to women in the space?

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A lot of the work that we are doing in the UK is about encouraging B Corps to think about justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, as we recognise that we cannot credibly build an inclusive economic system without addressing the fundamental injustice, inequity, and violence that disproportionately impact people of colour and women. You can learn more about this work here.

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On the 9th March we are running an event led by our UK People and Culture Working Group, where B Corps will be sharing more about how they celebrate, support and nurture women everyday through their policies and practices and how men can speak up and advocate for gender equality too. If you are a B Corp you can sign up to join us for the event here, and if you aren’t a B Corp - make sure to keep an eye on our social media for the highlights and other resources that we will be sharing.

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How does being a woman in business at a B Corp compare to your experiences in the past?

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I still feel really early on in my career, but something I’ve always been very motivated by at B Lab is having so many inspiring and powerful female leaders as role models throughout the global movement, such as Katie Hil, who was the Executive Director at B Lab UK when I joined back in 2016 and is now the Chair of the Management Board of B Lab Europe and also Charmian Love, who is the Co-Founder of B Lab UK and our Activist in Residence. It's great to see so many inspiring women making such a positive impact on the world!  

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Do you think it’s a possibility that one day all businesses might be run this way and what is stopping governments from making it mandatory?

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When we think about our Theory Of Change at B Lab UK,  our mission is to transform the economic system into a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative global economy, so ultimately, yes, the aim is that the role of business is redefined so that all businesses are a force for good.

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In terms of Government, we are running the Better Business Act Campaign in the UK, which launched in April last year and is aiming to change the UK law to ensure every company in the UK aligns their interests with those of wider society and the environment and we are calling on the Government's leadership to help deliver this new contract between business and society.

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The Campaign and Coalition is open to all businesses, not just B Corps and it’s been so incredible to see the progress made in such a short period of time, with almost 1,000 companies signed up to support the campaign.

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In terms of the past, present and future of your B Corp Journey, do you have some key insights from each stage?

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For me personally, it has been an amazing experience to have been able to join the team back in its infancy in 2016. In the beginning there were around 100 B Corps, who were really pioneering businesses, taking the plunge and becoming certified.

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Now there are so many leaders from across so many different sectors, industries, locations and size of businesses, becoming, or in the process of becoming certified. It’s been amazing to see the growth and momentum over the last few years, but still with the same sense of community, of openness and best practice sharing.

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In terms of the future, we’re looking at an expected 1,200 certified businesses in the UK by the end of this year, so over double our current community, which is very exciting and i’m really looking forward to seeing the continuing stories of positive change and collaboration.  

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Is there a common challenge that companies face when tackling elements of the BIA?

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We have so many B Corps in the community of all kinds of sizes and backgrounds – so I’m not sure that there’s a common challenge faced by all. However one thing we have really encouraged the community to focus on over the last few years is the issue of the climate emergency and climate justice.

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Ahead of COP26, along with our Global Partners and the Global B Corp Community, the B Corp Climate Collective was launched to  move the conversation beyond commitments and towards meaningful actions on climate. Recognising that lots of companies find it challenging when thinking about the ‘how’ of reducing their emissions, the B Climate Tools Base was launched in partnership with Oxford University, and it’s such a fantastic resource, full of best practices and guidance  to help all companies along their journey.

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What are your sources of inspiration and what motivates you?

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Personally, what motivates me is other people – I always thought that I was an introvert, but I actually think that connection and collaboration is what really motivates and inspires me to do more and i’m lucky that I get to be in a role where my job involves meeting so many inspiring people every day. As the Engagement Manager, I get to learn about so many great people and businesses, and amplify their stories.

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Nature is my other source of inspiration – being able to get outside, go for a walk and get out and swimming in the sea is always important to me!  

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How has what you do changed you as a person?

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To give an honest answer, I tend to be quite an anxious person, and It’s easy to see the scale of the problem with social inequality and the climate emergency and feel hopeless and unmotivated, but I'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by people, and companies that are striving for solutions.  

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In that sense, the work that I do has really changed my outlook and hope for the future – it’s given me a greater sense of purpose and wellbeing.

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