The B Corp process is paperwork, evidence, and a lawyer — then someone else checks it. B Lab runs the standard. For companies here, B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand is the regional door.
This is the shape of it. Not our score. Not a date. We will not pretend a certificate exists before it does.
1. Measure the business
You register on B Lab’s assessment tool and answer how the company actually operates: workers, community, environment, customers, governance. Size, sector, and where you sell change which questions apply.
You upload evidence. Policies, invoices, supplier notes, how waste is handled, how people are paid. If you cannot show it, it does not count.
B Lab updated the standards in 2025. Newer applicants certify against the current version, not a slogan from five years ago. The constant is the same: you are scored on practice, then checked.
2. Change the constitution
In New Zealand, certification is not only a questionnaire. You amend the company constitution so directors must consider stakeholders — workers, community, environment — alongside shareholders. That needs a shareholder special resolution. Template clauses come from B Lab. Your lawyer fits them to the Companies Act.
That lock is the point. A marketing page can be rewritten. A constitution is slower.
3. Submit, then get verified
You submit the assessment and pay the fees. An independent reviewer tests the answers. They will ask for documents you thought you had already attached. Gaps mean more work, not a badge.
Only after a pass do you sign the B Corp agreement and appear on the public directory. That directory listing is when you may use the Certified B Corporation name and logo. Until then, the honest line is: we are in the process.
4. Stay in it
Certification is not permanent. You recertify on B Lab’s cycle (commonly every three years). Standards move. The second time is not a reprint of the first form.
What we will not do on this site
We will not put the B Corp logo on Our Impact or on packaging while we are unverified. We will not write “Sidekick is a B Corp.”
What we will write: what B Corp is, why a Wānaka soda company is doing this, and a short note the day the directory goes live.
