Christian entrepreneurs seek to make positive workplace impact

“Money doesn’t last but any effect you have on people lasts forever.”

By Sandra Reimer and ChristianWeek | May 20, 2014

As a committed Christian, Bruce Taylor, president of Enviro Stewards in Elmira, Ontario, believes it’s not enough to make a financial profit with his business.

“Revenue is like blood. We need blood to survive, but the purpose of life isn’t to make blood.” In addition to earning a living, Taylor seeks to use his 10-employee environmental engineering company to create positive social and environmental impact.

His business is part of what’s come to be known as a B Corp.

Legally, traditional companies must maximize profits for their shareholders. Through a new type of corporate structure called a Benefit Corporation (B Corp), which began in 2007 in the US, company leaders choose to be held accountable for environmental and social, as well as profit goals.

At first, Taylor was skeptical about a B Corp certification that might make him look good. He preferred to do good. He felt the $500 annual fee would be better spent on five biofilters for a charitable safe water project he had started in South Sudan. But in 2010, when a colleague offered to pay the annual fee and buy five biofilters, he decided to join the B Corp community which now comprises 990 businesses in 32 countries.

“We often separate our Sundays from our Mondays to Fridays. Sundays are our sacred days,” says Joyce Sou, manager of B Corporation and Social Impact Metrics at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing in Toronto. A Christian herself, Sou believes B Corporations can help Christian entrepreneurs live a more integrated life.

To be certified, companies must complete a detailed, online assessment that rates their performance in four main areas: governance, treatment of employees, community impact, and environmental impact. Companies scoring 80 of a possible 200 points qualify as certified B Corporations. Things like the ratio between the highest paid and the lowest paid full-time employee are measured. Taylor scored well on that question, as he is compensated just three times as much as his lowest paid staff member.

Taylor is still not interested in just looking good. In fact, even though he would have scored more points on his B Corp assessment for installing solar panels on his Elmira, Ontario office, instead he invested in solar panels for an orphanage in South Sudan.

Taylor figured the panels would be of greater benefit in a country with more hours of sunshine. As well, it meant the orphanage would no longer need a generator—which saves money and is better for the environment. “Money doesn’t last but any effect you have on people lasts forever,” says Taylor.

Taylor enjoys being part of the B Corp community and is spurred on by like-minded business owners. In fact, Enviro Stewards was recently honoured as one of the top 10 per cent of Certified B Corporations in the world.

Both Sou and Taylor say it is important to be good stewards as business owners. “It’s about sharing your blessings,” says Sou.

Taylor believes we are to take care of God’s things on his behalf like he would do it if he was here. “We will give an account for how we used what we had.”