GenerationHope Inc., or Hope, the company that sells water under ‘Hope in a Bottle’ and uses its profit to build public schools, is the country’s first “Certified B Corporation”.
B Lab, a global non-profit organization, added Hope to the list of about 2,100 “B Corps” from 50 countries and over 130 industries working together toward one unifying goal: to use the power of business to help solve social and environmental issues.
“We feel honored to be part of the growing B Corp community, whose vision and values so closely align with our own: to connect the interests of business with that of society,” said Hope chairwoman Nanette Medved-Po.
B Lab certifies companies based on how they create value for non-shareholding stakeholders, such as their employees, the local community and the environment.
This recognizes an increased emphasis on other stakeholder values, particularly social and environmental concerns.
This trend in corporate governance—which has led to the growth in “triple-bottom line” thinking—has fueled the emergence of the Certified B Corporation.
The first generation of B Corporations was certified in 2007, and the number of firms earning certification has grown exponentially ever since.
Hope was launched in 2012 and is run as a business, where all of the profits it makes go into building classrooms. It has so far sold over 10 million bottles with the help of corporate partners like 7-Eleven, Starbucks, Mercury Drug and Seda Hotels, allowing it to build almost 50 classrooms around the country.
“We’re not a charity. We are a business. The difference is that when you buy Hope, you are voting with your peso to support public schools in the Philippines,” said Medved-Po.