5 mins read | Creating Change

Be inspired. It’s B Corp month!

behind the b corp pala eyewear

In case you haven’t noticed, March is B Corp month and we thought we’d celebrate by showcasing some fellow B Corps who inspire us to do more for people and planet.

These companies are committed to using business as a force for good – being transparent about their impacts and encouraging others to do the same. They inspire us to stay on track and do more of what the world needs.

 

How many B Corps are there?

As of right now there are 794 certified B Corps in the UK and over 5,000 globally. Our community is growing every day – which is good news for everyone! You can explore these amazing businesses via the B Corp directory. We think you’ll discover some real gems.

Search the B Corp Directory

There are so many B Corps that inspire us to do more. Here are three things you didn’t know about two B Corps who are focussed on changing things for the better.

 

Joro Experiences

Joro Experiences is a travel company on a mission to create a unique adventure in every journey. It champions sustainable travel – offsetting emissions and raising funds for grass-roots charity projects around the world through its Conscious Travel Foundation.

eco friendly home in the mountains

Three things you didn’t know about Joro Experiences

  1. Justin Packshaw, Joro’s Chairman, just completed an expedition by foot and kite to the South Pole. Working with scientists at NASA, Stanford University and the European Space Agency, he gathered data to provide rare insights into human adaptability under extreme conditions and environmental parameters such as radiation, temperature and ice states. Read the full story here.
  2. Every Joro experience is offset to be carbon neutral. Joro works with Ecollective Travel to conduct a full carbon calculation of every journey it organises, allowing customers to offset their carbon impacts and building understanding of how travel emissions can be cut in the future.
  3. In 2020, Joro co-founded The Conscious Travel Foundation. It’s mission is to unite and educate owner-operated travel businesses around the world to reshape the impacts of tourism and raise funds for grass-roots charity projects.

 

Ocean Bottle

Our friends over at Ocean Bottle are doing some incredible impact work. Plastic is polluting our oceans at an astounding rate and Ocean Bottle is out to help stop it by collecting ocean-bound plastic before it’s too late. The world’s most needed bottle, every Ocean Bottle funds the collection of 11kgs of ocean waste in heavily polluted communities in countries like India and Ghana. By recycling and reusing the plastic, each bottle also offsets up to 18kg of CO2 to help combat climate change.

eco friendly and sustainable blue water bottle

Three things you didn’t know about Ocean Bottle…

  1. Ocean Bottle has collected the equivalent of 326,513,000 ocean-bound plastic bottles. That’s enough plastic to go around the planet 1.63 times!
  2. The base of every Ocean Bottle is equipped with an NFC smart chip that enables you to fund further plastic collection every time you refill via the Ocean Bottle App. 
  3. The first ever Ocean Bottle plastic collection centre opened in Pondicherry, India in February. In addition to supporting collectors and scrap shops across the region, the centre provides full time employment for eight people.

 

Pala

We couldn’t go without first sharing a few things you might not know about us! We’ve been a B Corp since 2020 and we can vouch that the process is both robust and inspiring. It’s pushed us to zone in on our impacts – both positive and negative – and look at every detail. We’ll be sharing more in the coming months in our next Impact Report.

eco friendly Pala sunglasses frames

Three things you didn’t know about Pala…

  1. The name ‘Pala’ is derived from ‘Impala’, the native African antelope that thrives on the African plains. Impala have super keen eyesight, needed to survive predators, which connects with our core purpose! All our frames have African names and meanings to re-enforce our connection with the people we exist to help.
  2. When we say we work in small batch production, we mean it. Our production team is the Marchese family – Gabrielle and Eleonora, Gabrielle’s father, Elmo (well into his seventies and an expert polisher!) and his two nieces. That’s pretty much the team right there. Small but perfectly formed we think! You can see how they make our sunglasses by hand in this video.
  3. We refurbished the Chinsali Vision Centre to provide eye health services for communities in seven districts in Zambia. At the time, Zambia only had seven optometrists for the whole country – a country that is three times larger than the UK! Just think about that next time you go for an eye test.

 

Find Pala at the Good News store during B Corp Month

If you are one of our London based followers then head on down to the B Corp pop-up, ‘The Good News’ Store. It is a retail pop-up in central London which is showcasing the very best products and brands that have sustainability and community at their core. Head to the counter and you may just see us there, representing the accessories segment

Good news B Corp pop-up store in London

 

…and finally, summer is coming. Let’s change lives.

As you know, our mission is to have a positive impact by changing lives – it’s a core part of our commitment as a B Corp. We’ll be announcing an exciting new project as we approach the summer and we’ll be needing your help. Watch this space!

Hear about why becoming a B Corp is so important for Pala.