Origins
To talk about our origins, we can’t just start with our “date of birth”. We have to go further back – to 1988, to be precise.
That was the year Trans-Edit Group was founded, a Milan-based professional translation company that spent 30 years harnessing the potential of globalization and the digital revolution, becoming one of the top 100 language services providers in the world.
One of the founding partners of Trans-Edit Group was Laura Gori, now the founder and CEO of Way2Global. Drawing on her experience as a translator, coupled with her insatiable curiosity for artificial intelligence and machine translation, Gori was able to drive the growth of Trans-Edit group, turning it into a small localization multinational that would go on to win a prestigious award from the Italian Stock Exchange due to its innovation and leadership in the sector.
Although Trans-Edit Group was a just a regular company, it always had a strong innovative spirit, earning the praise: “You’re a B Corp and you don’t even know it!” Indeed, the company’s biggest strength was its commitment to social causes, something reflected in its innovative policies and practices spanning corporate social responsibility, company benefits, flexibility, employment and female empowerment.
Fueled by an ambition to be much more than a company that simply pursues profit, and by the belief that “doing business is about having an idea and turning it into value for others”, in 2017 Trans-Edit underwent a transformation, with Way2Global emerging as a result.
Being a Benefit Corporation
The appeal of being a Benefit Corporation, an American-led revolution that now has tens of thousands of companies in its ranks in 70 countries across the world, was so strong that Gori decided to bring her 30-year journey in traditional business to an end – and start again from scratch.
And so, on 2 August 2017, Way2Global was born. A start-up inspired by this disruptive new sustainable business model.
Created in the image of American Benefit Corporations, Way2Global was set up with the legal form of “Società Benefit”, a status specific to Italy, and quickly got to work championing the case around the world. Indeed, after the USA, Italy was the first country on the planet to add Benefit Corporation to its list of legal forms, through the Stability Law of 2016.
Benefit Corporations are new, responsible companies that – in addition to profit – pursue social and environmental goals through tangible, measurable action, with these aims enshrined in the company statute.
Being a Benefit Corporation has enabled Way2Global to evolve its traditions in corporate social responsibility and innovation to join a model for change that contributes to laying the foundation for a new, regenerative, sustainable and – ultimately – better world in terms of economic, social and environmental development.
Responsibility, sustainability and transparency are at the heart of what we do every day.
This business vision is perfectly summed up by our company slogan: “Beyond borders for a better world”. For Way2Global, translation is about facilitating inclusive understanding and building bridges between different individuals and cultures – to cross borders and overcome language barriers.
It’s a vision that’s even found support in the United Nations General Assembly, which on 24 May 2017 officially recognized the translation profession as an activity with the power to “bring nations together and promote peace, understanding and sustainable development”.
The B Corp vision
In January 2019, having passed an audit by certifying body B Lab Europe based on the B Impact Assessment, Way2Global officially joined the B Corp world.
Certified B Corps represent a select group of companies that believe in business as a driver for common good and that want to rebuild the capitalist system to promote ethics and sustainability. Most importantly, they view doing business in a responsible way with the same significance as they do the pursuit of profit.
The overall intention is the same as that of Benefit Corporations, but while a Benefit Corporation is a legal form, B Corp is an international certification issued by the third-party body B Lab following a stringent audit that looks into compliance with social metrics.
Way2Global obtained B Corp certification in recognition of the positive impact of its activities on the environment and on society, as well as for the strong focus it places on people, company governance, relationships with the community and the ecosystem.
Then, in September 2019, it was honored to receive the Best for the World Honoree title in the Governance category, ranking in the top 10% of the 3,000 B Corps in the world for governance impact.
B Corp certification indicates future-oriented companies working to bring about a paradigm shift based on solidarity, interdependence and sustainability, with the aim of responding to the big, global challenges set out in the UN’s Agenda 2030 SDGs.
Assuming responsibility for the collective cause and ensuring that value generated outweighs resources consumed are the only ways that companies today can provide coming generations with a better future. That’s why we work side by side with other Benefit Corporations to make sure that becomes a reality.
In the spirit of transparency, you can fill out the form below to get a copy of our Integrated Report and Impact Report: