The responsibility of business is to use its will and resources to advance a cause greater than itself, protect the people and places in which it operates and generate more resources so that it can continue doing all those things for as long as possible. An organization can do whatever it likes to build its business so as long as it is responsible for the consequences of its actions. – Simon Sinek,  The Infinite Game

Social impact at its best involves companies and individuals uniting behind a cause to deliver a more substantial benefit. There are numerous strategies and programs that we as a business can implement so we operate in a way that protects those who work with us, buy from us, and the environment in which we live. However, there are several things to consider when thinking about corporate social impact.

First, it’s extremely difficult to improve your impact on your own. Developing partnerships and alliances, and working with organizations that share a value or cause with your company are key to advance and have a greater contribution. This is where the word “Together” in our slogan makes the difference.

Second, it is of paramount importance to act, measure, receive feedback, modify, and then take further action in an improved way. When you engage in this process, you can yield profound insights regarding your footprint, impact, and progress.

Third, for businesses to provide genuine, continuous, sustainable benefit to their communities and the world, this aim should be part of their business model, or at least part of their DNA. Not all companies impact communities in the same way, but the most effective companies are those who use business as a force for good. It can be easy to lose sight of this when focusing solely on growth, but when a particular cause is foundational to an organization, improvement can be just a matter of establishing more ambitious targets.

For this reason, in 2020 we decided to become new members of an inspiring community. Business Call to Action is an initiative launched by the United Nations in 2008 that recruits and challenges companies all over the world to develop inclusive business models that engage people at the base of the economic pyramid, by working towards seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are happy to announce that Caravela is now one of the 280 members of this community.

Now we are working for a cause larger than our own, alongside hundreds of companies who share many of our values. This initiative will help us to not only continue measuring and managing our impact, but establish SMART goals and objectives focused on improving our contributions to the SDGs. The three goals that we committed to in our application are not new initiatives for Caravela; they are projects that we have already started to work on.  In fact, some of you may already be familiar with them, but this platform helps us articulate a clear vision of where we want to be, set specific goals, and work towards them, all while continuing to source great coffee.

Our three commitments are:

In belonging to this initiative, we believe that we are taking a crucial step forward. We want to have a positive impact, and be able to measure, receive feedback, and manage this impact in order to steadily improve. Additionally, with our pursuit of the global Sustainability Development Goals we are committing to something bigger than ourselves. We aim to continue working with different entities who help us bring to life our belief that, together, we can make coffee better.

We invite you to learn more about our commitment to being carbon neutral by 2025, and see how we examined our company salary structure to ensure we are paying at least the living wage to all employees where they work.