The B-Corp Movement: Cultivating Business as a Force for Good

 

September 7, 2018
Escaler Hall 
Ateneo de Manila High School Football Field, Project 4, Quezon City, 1800 Metro Manila, Philippines

 

What is Barnraising Manila?

The Barnraising Asia Tour 2018 is a multi-city Roadshow spearheaded by the B Corp Movement in Asia. B Corp, or Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good.

With a thrust to promote social business in Asia, and in the Philippines, the Barnraising Asia Tour aims to set the standard as to how Social Businesses start, and scale. The tour will travel to Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila. The event will take place in Manila on September 7, 2018 from 9am to 5pm at the Escaler Hall and School of Management of the Ateneo de Manila University.

“Barnraising” takes its name from incredible acts of interdependence found in rural Europe and North America. These are times when a community comes together and, in one day, raises a barn’s frame from the prairie using little more than rope and the power of collaboration. Everyone has a role to play, whether in doing the labor, planning the work, or cooking the meals that keep everyone going. Members contribute their time freely but with the understanding that they too can count on the community to pull through when they need help. The B Corps in Asia were inspired by this example and by the examples of gotong-royong in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, bayanihan in the Philippines, long khaek in Thailand, and siong pang phuānn (相幫伴) in Taiwan. No matter what culture we come from, we can all relate to the power of a community that comes together to create something from nothing.

 

BEYOND SIMPLE CONNECTION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING, WE AIM TO:

  • Kickstart the growth of B Corporations in countries where they currently do not exist, or where numbers are low and growth is slow
  • Connect local innovators and social/environmental entrepreneurs to facilitate collaboration, idea-sharing, and partnership on impact initiatives
  • Familiarize local social entrepreneurs with the B Corp concept and B Impact
  • Assessment to accelerate their certification
  • Present B Corps as a market-driven public policy solution to government actors
  • Present B Corps as a rewarding investment target for financial actors
  • Present B Corps as a subject of critical import and social relevance for researchers