Chief Administrative Officer Kenyatta Brame on Cascade Engineering’s B Corporation Certification
An Interview Excerpted from the B Corp Handbook
In the B Corp Handbook (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2014), author and business leader Ryan Honeyman outlines the key areas in which companies can use business as a force for good. Incorporating real-world examples, questions from the B Impact Assessment and interviews with business leaders, the Handbook is an essential tool for any changemaker looking to do good business by affecting positive change in the world.
The following interview — in which inspirational business leader Kenyatta Brame discusses the assessment process and benefits of certification — has been excerpted from the B Corp Handbook.
Kenyatta Brame
Chief Administrative Officer, Cascade Engineering
MANUFACTURING — MICHIGAN
Q: What business benefits do you directly attribute to your B Corp certification?
A: One of the biggest benefits is collaboration. The certification gives us an opportunity to get to know B Lab and other B Corps, learn from them, and share with them our best practices. The certification also keeps us alert to improvement opportunities within the company and to the changing sustainable business climate outside the company.
Q: What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome to certify as a B Corp?
A: Cascade Engineering under Fred Keller’s leadership has been a triple bottom line-focused company for over a decade now. Even with our existing practices, the certification process challenged us to look at a few areas we had not considered before. The entire process is very rigorous, which assures transparency and a well-documented commitment to the principles of B Corp certification.
Q: What was your biggest surprise about becoming a B Corp?
A: The biggest surprise for us is to see the increasing number of companies, both small and large, here in the U.S. and abroad, that are joining the movement every day. When we first became a Certified B Corp in 2010 there were only about three hundred other certified companies, almost all in the United States, and we were the largest of them all. The situation is very different today, and we are no longer the largest Certified B Corp. Now there are thousands of B Corps in thirty-plus countries.
This interview was excerpted from the B Corp Handbook: Copyright 2014, Ryan Honeyman. Reproduced by Permission of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
This interview is just one in a series of similar interviews. See the full series list in The B Impact Assessment Process and Why B Corporations Certification Matters, or take a quick trip to the next interview: Partner Anders Ferguson on Veris Wealth Partners’ B Corporation Certification.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
