Environmental, Social, Governance
Sustainability is and always has been part of our DNA.
BiCortex supports Brazilian kids’ home through sponsored walks
As part of our health and wellbeing month, BiCortex staff took part in sponsored walks and runs around the world, with one euro donated for every km done. We walked/ran a total of 114.65 kilometers in locations as diverse as:
Tuscany, Italy, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, “Camí de Cavalls”, Menorca, Berlin Germany, Montenegro, Dresden Germany, Portugal – multiple locations, Hamburg Germany, El Salado Colombia, Senegal and Argentina.
We are proud to have been able to support Maria de lourdes, a non-profit organization based in Rio de Janeiro, which currently serves around 35 children, adolescents and adults who are bedridden, that is, who cannot walk, with physical and/or mental disabilities.
Founded in June 1998, the institution is an integral part of Brazilian civil society and has a team of specialized professionals with experience working with people who need special care.
BiCortex awarded EcoVadis Silver Medal
We’re very pleased to have been awarded a Silver Medal by EcoVadis, an independent provider of business sustainability ratings. We were assessed on the basis of our policies and processes in the areas of ethics, labour and the environment and were placed in the top 25 per cent of all companies worldwide. We have identified areas for further improvement and are meeting with partners to establish a roadmap of actions.
Sustainability
Sustainability is, and always has been, part of our DNA. Since its inception, BiCortex Languages has been a close-to-zero-paper company. All internal and external communications are conducted on a digital basis, as is almost all of our administration and accounting. For face-to-face lessons, neither the attendance reports nor the student feedback are collected on paper, but rather through a proprietary app developed by BiCortex called BiCortex Manager. As a result, we only print documents on an extremely rare basis. We encourage the use of digital rather than printed teaching materials and collate data so that we can measure our progress in this area.
Business travel has always been limited and where possible we seek to do this by lower emissions alternatives such as train and also seek to offset carbon.
Since 2020 virtual lessons have increased, further reducing travel, however, for face-to-face lessons BiCortex encourages teachers to use non-polluting transportation means, such as bikes and electric cars.
Corporate responsibility
We ensure that all local laws are complied with and staff is trained to approach stakeholders and customers in a respectful and culturally sensitive manner. We always ask for feedback and act upon this.
We have formal policies on a number of key areas including Diversity, anti-bribery, health and safety, privacy and whistleblowing and all employees have been trained internally and externally about best practices, our processes and our policies.
Through paradiGM community we support a number of NGOs (Choose Love, Refugees International), we have supported the ERC Foundation and we also canvass our employees about which organisations they would like the company to support via donations in their respective communities.
BiCortex supports Syria and Turkey relief efforts
BiCortex is pleased to have been able to support relief efforts in Turkey and Syria.
Our staff and the company together raised a total of 702 GBP for the DEC campaign.
- £30 could provide blankets for six people to keep them warm
- £50 could provide emergency food for two families for 10 days
- £100 could provide emergency shelter for four families
Social Responsibility - Ukraine Crisis
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia affects all of us. In the interests of world peace, whether or not one has friends and family in Ukraine, the brutal invasion by a neighbouring country resulting in millions of innocent lives being affected, has to be condemned in the strongest way possible.
As a company with a global community and belief in democratic values, BiCortex Languages stands in solidarity with Ukraine. As such, we are offering free services to Ukrainian refugees. We have no doubt that our commitment to helping the refugees of Ukraine will support and help many people.
BiCortex CEO's Trip to the Ukrainian border
Humility and compassion led our CEO to embark on a journey of over 2800km from Spain to the Ukrainian border in Poland. He felt he needed to be on the ground and offer his support to the Ukrainian refugees firsthand. He dropped off humanitarian aid and donations and was also able to bring back a total of 11 Ukrainian refugees. Our CEO’s support for Ukraine acts as an inspiration to us here in our work.
Relocate the Profit: 1 Euro per invoice donations
BiCortex Languages is now a member of Relocate the Profit, an initiative where different companies in the relocation industry come together to help raise funds for charity.
The donations collected are for Livingstone Tanzania Trust, an organisation that works with the communities in Tanzania to help young people reach their full educational potential. They aim to help break the barriers that prevent young people from getting quality education such as hunger, unhygienic toilets, lack of water, teaching staff or learning materials, to mention a few.
As such, in the same spirit of helping to build a better world and change the lives of others, BiCortex will be donating one Euro per invoice sent to every customer. We hope that our commitment to Relocate the Profit will greatly support and change many young lives.
BiCortex supports netball charity event important to staff
Move 2 Fight Hunger Challenge
BiCortex provides German lessons to migrant women’s group
BiCortex is happy to have provided a German course to Aquarela Frauengruppe.
Aquarela Frauengruppe is a non-profit organization that was founded by a group of five women who migrated to Germany. Their primary focus is on promoting integration, preserving Brazilian cultural heritage, and providing support to migrant women and their families in Germany, specifically in the region of Braunschweig and Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The organization undertakes various projects including areas such as health, education, culture, and art, all with the goal of bringing about positive transformations in the lives of women and their communities. It creates a welcoming environment that unites and empowers women, fostering positive and ethical transformations in their lives and communities. They uphold certain values, including providing a safe space for all women regardless of ethnicity, religion, race, or sexual orientation. They offer activities that facilitate integration in Germany and strive to be socially active, working towards improving the status of women across all societal levels. One of their noteworthy projects is the German Course for refugee women: Ich finde keine Worte; In collaboration with IFK and Familie-und Kinderhaus from Wolfsburg, this initiative specifically targets refugee women who may face social challenges and language barriers. The program not only teaches the German language but also emphasizes social integration. Additionally, childcare services are provided during the classes, enabling mothers with young children to participate.
As of June 2023 Aquarela has over 100 members and has already made a significant impact on the lives of hundreds of women across diverse locations through the provision and exchange of information in open online events and social networks.
BiCortex calculates carbon footprint as part of aim to reach net zero
We have published our carbon emissions as we seek to reduce the amount of CO2 from our activities.
Last year we emitted in the region of 16 tonnes of CO2 through scope 3 (supply chain emissions) .
Our largest source of emissions is business travel. This is understandable because while we hold many meetings remotely, relocation is a “people business” and there is no substitute when building relationships with customers to meeting in person. However, because it is our largest source of emissions it also presents the greatest potential to have a positive impact.
We are looking at ways of reducing this including:
- Flying less
- Carpooling and hiring electric cars
- Where flying is the only option – taking flights with lower emissions and no or fewer layovers