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By focussing on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of her work — and not the ‘what’ — Hocking knows she will live a meaningful life by helping others

Jacqui Hocking, Co-founder of the Singaporean startup Gone Adventurin’, will be leaving the company to devote her time and energy towards promoting the B Corporation business model and focussing on her true love of storytelling.

There is a bit of symmetry in the decision because Hocking helped make Gone Adventurin’ the third company in Singapore to receive a B Corp certification.

In short, B Corp means means the company is a for-profit business incorporated under standards focussed on sustainability. This means more stringent requirements in regards to the rights of workers, the community, suppliers and consumers, as well as more strict considerations regarding environmental protection.

For information about Gone Adventurin’, the company explained on Medium the development as Ashwin, Laura and Jacqui, the three Co-founders, are taking new directions.

As one might expect from the woman who started a company called Gone Adventurin’, Hocking said she might go AWOL for a few months ahead of this life change because #adventure.

e27 asked Hocking some questions over email about her passion for B Corporations, her time at Gone Adventurin’ and the problems she hopes to solve. The edited transcript is below.

On Facebook you said you are going to be “focussing on B Corporation community movement”. Do you mind explaining what that means on the ground?

The B Corp Community Movement is something which is gaining traction all over the world, having starting in the US, it is slowly making its way into Asia — thanks to the amazing drivers like Corey Lien in Taiwan and Sakulthip Keeratiphantawong from NISE in Thailand.

Although there are official Global Partners all over the world, the concept of Purpose-Driven-Profit is still fairly new in Asia.

After meeting so many incredible B Corps from around the world, and also reading the amazing B Corp Magazine created by Bryan Welch, I have decided that I want to volunteer my time to help build an unofficial community that believes in the idea of using business as a force for good (specifically in Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia).

Mostly — using my love of film and storytelling — I hope to share more stories of B Corp companies leading the way.

Also Read: Gone Adventurin’ becomes third Singaporean startup to get B Corp status

My personal objective is to get more people inspired to do the free B Impact assessment and start thinking about things beyond profit for their startups.

The assessment is a FREE tool which helps you assess your impact and make sure you have the rights policies in place for things like environmental protection, workers’ rights and corporate governance.

If, after doing the assessment, you also qualify to become B Corp Certified and join the global community of B Corporations, that is great too! 🙂

What are you most looking forward to in this new adventure?

I have always been driven to stand for a higher purpose, not take anything for granted and work hard to create a lasting impact.

I was lucky enough to discover a passion for filmmaking and be born into a generation with so much technology at my fingertips. So, I have been working endlessly over the last 10 years to create videos for social and environmental impact.

The one thing I realised very quickly while travelling was the similarities between everyone, and yet, there is a huge disconnect between people in NGOs (like the TOPtoTOP foundation ) and their supporters in the corporate world.

To be able to innovate how [humanity] will work for a better world, companies need a framework. Thankfully, with the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals, now we have just that. 17 clear goals and objectives to achieve by 2030.

I guess I am most looking forward to seeing how more people and companies embrace these new ‘KPIs’ and how the merging and collaboration between different sectors [can help business] come together and do good.

Also Read: The most important Apple announcement ever

Here is one of my favourite quotes that keeps me going:

“Very simply put — one of the great needs, maybe certainly one of the greatest needs in our world — is for us to know one another, to know what’s really going on in the world around us and to feel a commonality of need and purpose with other people.”

“People from different walks of life, other nations, other ethnic backgrounds, economic statuses, different philosophies, and religions… we need to find a common bond with the rest of humanity and the documentary allows us to do that.”
—Albert Maysles (Documentary Filmmaker)

What is the biggest challenge you hope to help solve?

For me, UN Global Goal number 5, Gender Equality — ‘to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’.

Why?

Because often I find the leaders of achieving and working towards the Sustainable Development Goals are women, and, given a chance, if we create equality the rest of the goals will naturally follow.

See: This amazing article by the incredible Nor Lastria.

And how do you see B Corp as means in which to create this change?

I do not think there is any CEO in the world right now that WANTS to destroy the planet. Everyone is trying to find new models of doing business which is good for their companies and the planet.

B Corp is one of the ways which can help these leaders with a simple framework to make small and powerful changes to their business to ensure a sustainable future.

For example, the B Team is a not-for-profit initiative formed by a global group of business leaders to catalyse a better way of doing business, for the wellbeing of people and the planet. People like Richard Branson and Marc Benioff, they collaborated with B Corp to create a shorter assessment for busy CEOs.

I really believe that B Corp is enabling people to really own their purpose and make it happen. It is inspiring.

What personal challenge are you most nervous about and would like to conquer?

Change, in every form, is always frightening.

But that is why it is so important to get out of our comfort zone and take new leaps and bounds into the unknown. To be honest, I do not know where I’ll be in a few months time, and that can be very scary. But at the same time, it is in times of adversity that the best of humanity thrives.

Also Read: For social enterprise, how to balance social good with the realities of business?

I honestly believe that by keeping focus on ‘how’ and ‘why’ I do what I do, rather than the ‘what’, I know I will live a meaningful life and hopefully have helped as many others along the way as possible.

My business strategy has always been open source and collaboration first — helping everyone as much as I can — and through that process, I’ve met some incredible people.

I never dreamed that one day I would be lucky enough to have done the things I have done. I am forever grateful for all the incredible experiences I’ve had so far and to be honest,everything from here onwards is a massive bonus.

Of course financial independence and sustainability is incredibly important to me, but life has proven again and again and again that doing good is just good business.

**Shameless Plug**
Looking forward to seeing you all at our First Singapore Eco Film Festival in November 10th -13th!

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To follow Hocking and her B Corp mission, check out her website.

Photo courtesy of Mathew Lynn.

The post Gone Adventurin’ Co-founder Jacqui Hocking moves on, plans to help build Asia’s B-corp community appeared first on e27.

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