Your Values shouldn't stop at your product

Why an ethical brand vets its suppliers, its materials and its partners, then hands its money to a company profiting from the very industries it exists to replace.

If you run a purpose-led business, you already do the hard part.

You interrogate what goes into your product and where it came from. The plant-based founder chases suppliers on provenance. The vegan fashion brand refuses leather, wool and anything with a murky trail. The refill shop rejects packaging that can't be reused. The cosmetics brand won't touch an ingredient that's been tested on animals.

You've each built a business on the idea that what goes into a product, and how its made, really matters. Then insurance renewal season arrives, you sign a policy, and none of that scrutiny applies.

I find that strange, and I say that as the person who used to sell those policies.

The bit of the supply chain nobody checks

When people talk about an ethical supply chain, they usually mean the physical stuff.

Raw materials, factories, freight, packaging, labour. Fair enough, that's where the harm is obvious (and where it’s easiest to check).

But there's a second supply chain sitting behind every business, and people just seem to look right past it. Your professional services. Your bank. Your accountant. Your law firm. Your insurance broker.

These providers get chosen on price, convenience and a warm recommendation. Things are starting to change, but typically, values rarely come into it.

And that's understandable, because for decades the sector gave you no way to choose on values even if you wanted to - maybe all the suppliers were equally amoral?

Your bank lends to whoever clears its risk criteria. Your broker earns commission from whoever pays a premium. The vegan skincare brand and the company still testing on animals are very often served by the same providers, funded by the same pooled money, advised by the same people who see no contradiction in it.

So here's a really honest question. If a business would never knowingly buy a material from a supplier whose values it finds objectionable, why is it comfortable buying professional services from one?

Values that cost you nothing are just marketing

REALLY HONEST no longer takes on new clients that make or sell animal products. Or weapons. Or fossil fuels. Or that cage animals for entertainment, tear up land for mining, or run gambling operations. We believe we're the first mainstream UK business insurance broker to draw that line publicly. Our pledge is here.

I won't pretend it's painless. Food and drink is one of our biggest sectors, so this decision genuinely costs us revenue. That's rather the point, though. Values that never cost you anything are just marketing. If a business makes or sells animal products, we're not its broker, and we'd rather lose the premium than profit from something we believe causes harm.

The idea didn't come from inside insurance. It came from Andy Shovel, co-founder of vegan food brand THIS, who joined our board despite cheerfully admitting he knows nothing about commercial insurance. That's exactly why we wanted him. To shake things up a bit.

This isn't only about food

The pledge is easiest to picture in food and drink, because that's where the plant-based movement first went mainstream. But the line we've drawn is broader than that. It's about destructive industries wherever they show up: fashion built on leather and wool, cosmetics tested on animals, entertainment that cages living things, energy dug out of the ground.

Which means the businesses we exist to serve are broader too. If your business is built to do less harm, or actively more good, you're the sort of client we want.

What "ethically aligned" should mean

Being told your broker is a B Corp is nice. Being told your broker will turn away the abattoir, the arms dealer and the oil major is a different kind of statement. One is a badge. The other has a price tag, and we've decided that we’re happy to pay it.

For a values-led founder, this matters for reasons beyond the warm, fuzzy feeling. Your suppliers are part of your story. When you tell customers, investors and partners that your business is built on a coherent set of values, the credibility of that claim depends on it being true all the way down.

An ethical brand banked, insured and advised by providers who bankroll the opposite side isn't lying, but it is leaving an awkward thread to pull at. Snipping that loose-end is becoming part of what it means to be a serious purpose-led business.

We think the professional services layer is the next place that scrutiny is going to be applied.

Founders are already asking their material suppliers harder questions than they did five years ago. The bank, the broker and the accountant are next, and the providers who can't answer honestly will feel it in their wallet.

The point

You've done the work to make sure your product reflects your values. It seems a shame to stop at physical suppliers.

We can't fix an entire industry on our own. But we've picked business insurance up out of the gutter, given it a haircut and taken it out of its double-breasted suit.

What we can do is make sure that when a purpose-led founder chooses us, every part of that relationship points the same way their business does.

If your values run all the way through your supply chain, they should run through your suppliers too. Including this one.

REALLY HONEST is a B Corp certified, FCA-regulated commercial insurance broker for ethical and purpose-led businesses. If you'd like a quote built around your product and your values, rather than a generic template, come and talk to us.