B Corp Certification
Transparency and accountability.
In May 2023, Harmony Projects became B Corp Certified. This certification means that our hospitality, food and retail businesses have been verified as meeting B Lab’s high standards for social and environmental impact. We are now part of a globally recognized community of business working collectively for economic systems change. Over the coming years, we will be working together as a team to maintain our certification, as well as find innovative opportunities to improve!
When we first opened the doors of Harmony Hotel, we knew we wanted to do more than just provide a place to stay. We wanted to use our business to have a positive impact.
As the years went by and both Nosara and our network of businesses grew, we realized the importance of clarifying our ongoing efforts to support the health and well-being of our community, team, and environment. We wanted to measure and share our impact, and hopefully motivate others to join us. That’s when we started thinking seriously about B Corp. It gave us a framework to organize our initiatives, reflect our core values through action, and to demonstrate our commitment to making a difference.
We started looking into the B Corp certification process in 2018, but it was the unexpected arrival of the pandemic in 2020 that really motivated us to take action. With the temporary collapse of tourism in Costa Rica and our businesses facing significant challenges, we saw an opportunity to reassess and reprioritize all aspects of our operations.
The B Corp certification process provided us with a valuable tool: the B Impact Assessment. It was like taking a snapshot of where we were and identifying areas where we could have a greater impact. We dove into the procedures and protocols of all of the businesses managed by Harmony Projects with a level of scrutiny that shed light on the complexities of our organization, and where we had the chance to improve.
Every B Corp is scored using five impact areas:
Our B Corp Journey
Led by our Sustainability Specialist, Daniel Rojas, this process required the collective effort of our entire team, from managers to gardeners to maintenance staff, housekeepers to restaurant crews. Together, we gathered and organized tons of data so that we could critically assess all aspects of our operations.
Going through the certification process was a real eye-opener. It not only highlighted the good we were already doing but, more importantly, it showed us how to better incorporate transparency and traceability into our culture, and really pushed us to make improvements in areas we hadn’t necessarily considered before. And now, we have a fuller understanding of how each of our businesses contribute to making Harmony Projects a B Corp certified organization.
Of course, we faced challenges along the way. Being in a remote area of Costa Rica meant that our way of working didn't always perfectly align with the B Corp certification requirements. We had to navigate the complexities of explaining our historical social, community, and environmental impact within a system that wasn’t completely familiar with the dynamics of our region. Clarifying our process for making local donations was one of the biggest hurdles we faced. Initially, we didn't meet the certification's requirements because of differences between the operation of nonprofits in the US versus Costa Rica, but we worked closely with the B Corp team to explain our unique context and create an effective plan for recognizing the full extent of our donation initiatives.
Looking ahead, certification is not the end of our B Corp journey. We are determined to maintain and improve upon the actions we have taken because there is always room to do better. It's an ongoing and exciting process for our entire team, and we take pride in being part of a growing community of companies that are dedicated to using business as a force for good.
-June 2023