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Richmond entrepreneur encourages women business owners to combine business, social responsibility

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economic-forecast-header“There’s a growing movement here in Richmond and elsewhere that’s redefining success in business – it’s more than being the best in the world, it’s about being the best for the world and you can join in by becoming a Certified B Corporation,” TMI Consulting CEO Tiffany Jana told entrepreneurs on Thursday, March 5, at the 2015 Enterprising Women of Excellence Awards from Richmond chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners.

“Benefits of becoming a B Corp include differentiating your business from your competition, being part of a cooperative economic structure and the fact that being part of a global movement for good attracts and retains high potential employees.”

“Right here in Richmond, we have the most active B local group in the nation,” says Jana. “We get together more frequently and more creatively than other communities. We have a newsletter, a Meetup and tons of events. The most recent was at Ardent on Tuesday where we invited local B Corps to join with TMI, Richmond Region Tourism and Richmond’s Tourism office in an effort to bring a B Champions Retreat to RVA.”

What made TMI become a B Corp? “The diversity and inclusion industry lacks unified standards. We pursued B Lab’s Certified B Corp assessment as a voluntary social accountability benchmark. The certification provides our clients measureable impact data and accountability that demonstrates the authenticity of our mission and effectiveness of our work. TMI’s Certified B Corp status differentiatesus from other leadership and diversity consultants,” says Jana.

Certified B Corporations meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The performance standards are comprehensive and based on triple bottom line accountability; economic, social, and environmental. They measure TMI’s impact on employees, suppliers, community, and the environment. TMI’s B Corp score is available at www.bcorporation.net/tmi.

More than 1,000 businesses have now joined the B Corp community. B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and just good marketing; 2) accelerating the growth of the impact investing asset class through use of B Lab’s GIIRS impact rating system by institutional investors; and 3) promoting supportive public policies, including creation of a new corporate form and tax, procurement, and investment incentives for sustainable business.

For more information about TMI Consulting visit www.tmiconsultinginc.com or call (804) 225-5537

Contributors

Contributors

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