The forthcoming election is a “window of opportunity” to rethink the role of business in society, a campaigner for changes to the Companies Act told a Barbican audience last night.
Chris Turner, campaign director of the Better Business Act, told attendees at a panel event celebrating the third Better Business Day that the Better Business Act would be a step change in the way firms interact with their stakeholders.
The Better Business Act proposes amendments to Section 172 of the Companies Act, which serves as the job description for bosses.
The Better Business Act would empower directors to make decisions that align the “interests of people, the planet and profit”, rather than purely the latter.
Speaking at the event, Holly Branson, Virgin’s chief purpose officer and a long-time supporter of the legal change, told the audience of founders, campaigners and business leaders that embedding purpose across her multi-billion pound business had been good for the firm’s bottom line.
“We’ve put in place a purpose filter which is at the heart of every decision we take,” she said, with only those moves that pass that filter going ahead.
She was joined on the panel by Safia Minney, the ethical consumer and fashion campaigner, and Josephine Phillips, the founder and CEO of Sojo — the ‘Deliveroo of clothes repairs’ – which serves retailers with solutions for the easy repair of pre-owned items.
Phillips said changes to the act would be part of an important cultural shift happening across businesses which reflects the scale of the global challenges we now face.
“As a founder you have a great luxury of having purpose at the heart of everything you do from the off,” she said.
The vast majority of the British public back a change to company law to put people, the planet and profit on more equal footing, new research by B Lab UK — the home of the B Corp movement in the UK and the Better Business Act — has found.
Some 76 per cent of the UK public believe that, more than ever before, the law needs to change to give businesses a legal responsibility to prioritise people and the planet alongside making a profit.
The Better Business Act also has strong business support and is backed by a broad and growing coalition of almost 3,000 organisations including Tony’s Chocolonely, Iceland, the Institute of Directors and Lucky Saint.