How B Corps are Placing Dignity at the Center of Business

When Maimouna talks about her work, she doesn’t speak in the language of “supply chains” or “economic growth”. She talks about possibilities. As a dairy farmer working with B Corp La Laiterie du Berger in Senegal, her partnership with the company has given her a secure and stable income, and helped her shape a future built on dignity.

Thousands of miles away in Kenya, Antonate Akinyi Ondewe’s story begins with something most of us take for granted: access to a toilet. Through the support of B Corp Who Gives A Crap, her community now has access to safe water and sanitation, a shift that ripples far beyond infrastructure, touching health, education, and everyday dignity.

These two stories, though at opposite sides of the same continent, share a common thread: companies that see business as a means to build dignity and opportunity. Whether by strengthening the livelihoods of those at the heart of the supply chain or giving communities access to something that should be a basic human right, La Laiterie du Berger and Who Gives A Crap have dignity-building as a core business strategy. This is how they are doing it. 

For veterinarian Bagoré Bathily, something wasn’t adding up. Senegal has a long tradition of cattle herding, yet nearly 90% of the milk consumed in cities is imported as powder, creating a deep dependency on global markets and leaving local herders economically marginalized. 

So in 2006, he founded La Laiterie du Berger to change that. His mission was “to build a dairy industry that values local milk, ensures fair conditions for producers, and at the same time meets the country’s nutritional needs,” explains Bagoré. Today, the company collects fresh milk from more than 800 Senegalese pastoral families. 

But the impact goes far beyond the milk itself: by providing a stable, guaranteed market and a fair price, the company delivers reliable income to families who previously faced immense uncertainty. “Beyond figures and income,” continues Bagoré, “there is a fundamental human dimension: dignity. Being recognized for one’s work, knowing that your efforts nourish the community, and seeing your children’s future secured through that work—that is true dignity. Food security, livelihoods, and respect for each producer are deeply interconnected, forming a virtuous cycle that transforms lives and communities.” 

The effects are transformative. Where families once had to migrate constantly for pasture and income, they can now put down roots. Children who would have been uprooted can now attend school consistently. Families can plan, invest, and thrive. The impact is particularly significant for women, who traditionally bear the disproportionate burden of managing the household and caring for children when families are displaced. By creating economic stability, La Laiteire’s model empowers women and strengthens the entire community fabric.

While La Laiterie du Berger is building dignity into local food systems, Australian B Corp Who Gives A Crap is doing the same through a roll of toilet paper. 

Around the world, 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation, a crisis that fuels disease, pollutes ecosystems, and strips people of their basic dignity. Founded in 2012, Who Gives A Crap set out to tackle this challenge head-on. The company’s model is simple: they sell toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, and other eco-friendly household products, made from recycled paper or bamboo, and donate 50% of their profits to fund water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiatives around the world. “We realised toilet paper—something most people use daily—could be part of the solution,” explains Annika Messing, PR Lead of Who Gives A Crap, “by making eco-friendly household products and donating 50% of our profits towards sanitation and clean water, we’re working towards giving everyone in the world access to clean water and a safe toilet.” To date, they have raised over $18 million AUD, a sum that helped its impact partners reach 575,000 people in 2023 alone.

The company backs organizations with vision and deep community ties, providing unrestricted funding that allows partners to direct resources where they’ll have the biggest impact. This supports partners like Fresh Life in Kenya, which provides eco-friendly toilets in urban settlements, and Water For People, whose ‘Everyone Forever’ model ensures lasting sanitation infrastructure for entire regions.

The lack of toilets isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a direct assault on dignity, disproportionately affecting women and girls who risk danger and harassment, and collectively spend an estimated 200 million hours each day simply walking to collect water. For Who Gives A Crap, stories of reclaimed dignity are the driving force. As Annika says, witnessing the journey of people like Antonate—who went from growing up without proper sanitation in Kenya to becoming a Fresh Life supervisor leading change in her community—is what it’s all about. "This [BBC StoryWorks] film is such a great reminder of why we do what we do," she continues, "and just how powerful something as small as toilet paper can be. Our donations—made possible by our customers—really do help create a life-changing impact."

What links a Senegalese dairy and an Australian-founded sustainable toilet paper company is more than just a desire to do good. Both are Certified B Corporations, part of a global movement of companies committed to using business to benefit people and the planet. They embed justice and human well-being into the very DNA of their business models, not as charity but as a core strategy. 

And this commitment is growing stronger, with the new B Lab Standards requiring every B Corp to formally establish and publicize a purpose to create a meaningful positive impact. For La Laiterie du Berger, that’s food sovereignty. For Who Gives A Crap, it’s sanitation justice.

Their work, as that of thousands of other B Corps, challenges us to rethink the very purpose of business. They prove that it is possible to build successful, profitable companies that simultaneously create a more just and equitable world. Their work is a blueprint, a reminder that every company—no matter the size, sector, or geography—has the power to build dignity into the fabric of everyday life.

Learn more about La Laiterie du Berger: The dairy farms in the Sahel, Common Good

Learn more about Who Gives A Crap: A fresher future, Common Good

*All stills in this blog are taken from the films above, produced for La Laiterie du Berger and Who Gives A Crap by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions.