República del Cacao presents, Cacao Talks: Why be a B Company?
República del Cacao promotes the exchange of knowledge among its entire community of farmers, producers, allies, collaborators, chefs and chocolate lovers. With the aim of motivating the emergence of more actors of change, on March 29 the company held its event "Cacao Talks: Why be a B Company?" together with the participation of two other important organizations in the sector, TippyTea and Cusi, closing the month of the B Corp companies.
República del Cacao's Cacao Talks were born in 2019 as a space to dialogue, share and inspire in community, after a 3-year pause due to the pandemic, the company reopened this space in line with the B Corp month, celebrated during the month of March globally.
In Ecuador there are only 27 companies with B certification, República del Cacao being one of them. The goal of all these organizations is to meet the highest standards in economic, social and environmental development, thus committing themselves to be better companies for the world. Throughout the month, República del Cacao and its collaborators shared with their community their best practices and projects of positive impact thanks to which they have this certification, closing the month with this great event whose essence was to exchange experiences and ideas of value so that more companies join the B Corp movement.
República del Cacao moderated this conversation, held at its Chocolate Boutique in La Floresta, led by its Sustainable Business Coordinator, Carolina Falconí, and the speakers were Philippe Bongrain, CEO B2B of República del Cacao, José Luis Quintero, Co-Founder of Cusi and Vanina Enciso, President and Commercial Manager of Tippytea. All of these companies were founded in Ecuador and all three have different stories about their path to becoming B Corps. The obstacles, anecdotes and learnings they gained reflect companies that were born with sustainable business in their DNA and entire teams committed to the goal of becoming better and better and generating a positive impact with all their actions.
"It's an invitation to enter into a process of continuous improvement, because when you measure yourself against the system you realize there's still a lot to do."
José Luis Quintero mentioned during his speech, talking about what it means to enter the B Corp certification process and the challenges it entails. In addition, the event was attended by other important players in the sector such as Sistema B Ecuador, YPSILOM, the World Food Program, the EU Ambassador, Pacto Global, the French Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce, UDLA and USFQ, among others.
Regarding the changes generated by the development of spaces for dialogue, inspiration and community such as these, José Ignacio Morejón of Sistema B Ecuador said the following:
"We can develop more B Corp companies in Ecuador with this type of events and with this type of demonstrations that this more than a certification is a community, a movement that moves alone, with a single purpose of generating a positive social and environmental impact, using business as a force for good."
For República del Cacao, being a B Corp is not the end, it is only the way, and its objective is to continue fostering the exchange of knowledge, creating platforms that promote the discussion of transformative ideas and thus add more actors in society on the road to sustainability.
