Then and Now: Purpose-driven business important to Jeff Clapper

Jeff Clapper believes business exists as a force for good in the world.  “Business can balance profit and purpose,” he said. “Business can be purpose-driven and create benefits for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.”

As president and CEO of 8th & Walton, Clapper built a healthy, thriving business, led the Bentonville-based company to earn B Corp certification and launched the Consumer Impact Summit in Bentonville.

From Chicago, Clapper worked for his family’s magazine business after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, eventually becoming publisher and then selling the magazine in 2006. He launched and sold an online video game in 2010. About that time, his wife accepted a work assignment in Bentonville and the couple moved to the area. Clapper joined 8th & Walton and bought the company in 2014. He was named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2015.

Founded in 2006, 8th & Walton historically taught classes to medium- and large-sized Walmart suppliers. Over the past 10 years, Clapper focused the company’s mission on education, training and advisory services for small- to medium-sized Walmart suppliers, so they “become better partners with Walmart so that more people have access to healthy, affordable, sustainable products.”

“The cool part of it, on a philosophical purpose, is that when a company is trying to build a healthy, profitable business and use that business as a force for good in the world, they can have a much bigger impact by way of a large, mass retailer like Walmart,” Clapper said. “And so, our team, as they are advising these suppliers, can have a really big impact through the work they do with our clients.”

For example, “one of our clients is a fish supplier,” he said. “We’re helping reduce how much fish gets thrown out at the end of each week by helping them understand what Walmart is going to be ordering and how to optimize to those orders. Also, we helped a company take out some of their packaging, which has resulted in creating more space for the product at the shelf. And that means that they can have higher inventory, better inventory level or availability. They get better sales, and they take out millions of pieces of plastic every year. So, it’s better business, and it’s better impact.”

As part of Clapper’s vision, he led 8th & Walton through the rigorous process of certification by B Lab, a global nonprofit organization. B Lab certifies companies that meet exceptionally high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency, and benefit all stakeholders – employees, communities and the planet. 8th & Walton was the second certified B Corp in Arkansas. A member of 1% For The Planet, the company gives 1% of revenue to improve the environment.

Clapper also launched the first Consumer Impact Summit this past September to connect and offer resources to consumer product companies interested in both improving revenue and profitability and prioritizing sustainability, ethical practices and social impact. The summit had 250 attendees.

“The event is designed to be a space for those leaders of business to share their stories and learn from each other through the challenges that come with trying to achieve both of those outcomes at the same time,” he said.

As an outgrowth of the event, Clapper wants to “bring the outside world of impact-minded businesses and make them aware of how many purpose-driven business leaders are here in Northwest Arkansas today,” he said. He plans to “take the business community that’s here and plug them into the broader community.”

Being “part of building Northwest Arkansas’ brand as a place for purpose-driven businesses to grow” is important to Clapper. He’s doing that through the Consumer Impact Summit and “being involved in other business communities that aren’t as familiar with Northwest Arkansas yet. They’re not retail or CPG specific, but they are purpose-driven kind of organizations or businesses or conferences, and so engaging in those conversations, but primarily just building the consumer impact community.”

Clapper serves on the Walton Arts Center Foundation Board and corporate leadership council, is a member of First United Methodist Church in Bentonville and sings with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas.