Building Better Businesses: BCorps, Benefit Corporations, & Social Enterprises [10/10/18]

Have you been thinking about applying to become a BCorp, or wondered what's behind a company's claim to be a "social enterprise?" What are the best ways to build a business that demonstrates your values, and "does well by doing good?" Join our panel on October 10 to hear from local business owners who are answering these questions in practice across different industries. Stay to learn how you might implement similar measures to start or run your business with a triple-bottom line mentality and metrics, considering the social, environmental, and financial return on your work.

Our panelists bring a range of experiences and represent both product and service companies, and will share their decision-making around becoming a "better business" in the different they've chosen to represent (or certify) that. Following the panel, participants will break out into peer workshop groups with panelists, representatives from B Local Boston, and other social enterprise practicioners for Q&A around better business practice implementation so that attendees can test what application of similar principles would look like in practice for their own organizations along different models.

Panelists:
Sandhya Murali is Co-founder and CFO of Solstice, a hybrid-model organization social enterprise and non-profit that works to make local, renewable energy accessible to every American through community solar. Sandhya is responsible for finances, product development, solar developer relationships, and financial inclusion at Solstice.

Deana Becker is the Director of Stakeholder of Operations at Preserve. Preserve, a certified B Corporation based in Waltham, MA has been using recycled and compostable materials to make stylish, eco-friendly household products since 1996.

James Razsa is Co-founder and CEO of Democracy Brewing, a worker-owned craft brewery and beer hall serving fresh brewed beer and delicious food made from scratch. All workers are paid a living wage of $15 or more and after one year of employment all workers can become equal owners in the business, run for the Board of Directors, and of course, vote. James brings a passion for worker cooperatives and organizing to Democracy Brewing, and was for a labor and community organizer for many years before turning his focus on solutions of economic power for working people.

Wafaa Arbash is Co-founder and CEO of WorkAround, a social enterprise impact sourcing provider helping companies get more done for less while giving jobs to refugees. WorkAround restores dignity to refugees through economic empowerment by connecting them to fair-wage work through an online platform. Prior to WorkAround, Wafaa served as a program manager for Startup Institute and supported refugee education in Jordan. She worked in Syria for more than five years in social development programs.

Carter Powers is the Chief Operations Officer of Dimagi Inc., a for- profit social enterprise and certified B Corporation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, that delivers open-source software technology suitable for low-resource settings and underserved communities.

The panel Moderator is Katie Shultz, Director of Impact Hub Boston, Boston's home for the innovators, the dreamers, and the entrepreneurs who are creating tangible solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. Impact Hub Boston is one location in a global Impact Hub network, the world’s largest network focused on building entrepreneurial communities for impact at scale

Event Partners:
B Local Boston connects, builds trust, and fosters collaboration among certified B Corps and their employees. They use their collective resources to drive positive impact and provide leadership in our communities by using Business as a Force for Good.

ImpactFest 2018
This event is a part of ImpactFest, our annual week-long celebration of our community’s impact, of the strength of our social impact ecosystem in Boston, and of our fifth birthday as Impact Hub Boston. Learn from current members, Impact Hub alum, and other local social entrepreneurs about their work on pressing social and environmental issues and lessons from their entrepreneurial journeys. Contribute your skills to projects making a better Boston at Open Project Night. Discuss critical issues of our times and the roles we have in resolving them. Celebrate our fifth birthday as a community and home for social impact in Boston, and help imagine the local issues we might work together to tackle into the future. Build your network into a community.

Join us: October 1-10, 2018. See the full roster of ImpactFest events at https://impacthubboston.net/impactfest-2018

Building Better Businesses: BCorps, Benefit Corporations, & Social Enterprises

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Building Better Businesses: BCorps, Benefit Corporations, & Social Enterprises

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