10 impact-driven businesses to get on your radar
I have a running list of websites to go through each week that highlight impact-driven businesses and great things happening in the space. It keeps my inspiration muscle working and I always have at least one take away for my own business or something to share with someone who might find it relevant.
All these sweet articles can definitely turn into a bit of a wormhole, so I decided to pull out 10 impact-driven businesses doing truly brilliant things that grabbed my attention. They’re from a range of different industries and at different stages of growth. Most of the businesses below are North American based - I’m super keen to learn about ones from across different countries so I have a request! Please share below in the comment section any companies you know of outside of N.America that are making waves. TY in advance!
1. Sundara
Based: New York, USA
‘Sundara’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘beautiful.’ The company recycles old hotel soap into new bars and distributes them across India, Uganda and Myanmar. They hire local women as community hygiene ambassadors and provide free hygiene education classes for vulnerable populations. Sundara has distributed over half a million bars of soap to date, working with hospitality partners like Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, and they reach over 50,000 children each month.
Photo credit: Sundara website
2. Equal Reality
Based: Sydney, Australia
Equal Reality provides diversity and inclusion training through an interactive VR experience. Users experience the world and understand a new perspective from the point of view of other genders, races and ability levels. Equal Reality has collaborated with corporations including Google, the NYC Department of Education, and the Australian Government and have some impressive companies backing them. Check out the sweet video below to get a better idea of this business!
3. Salt Spring Coffee
Based: Salt Spring Island, Canada
If you’re a coffee fan and live in Canada you’ve likely tried their delicious coffee. A long-standing registered B Corporation (since 2010!), Salt Spring Coffee has put social responsibility and sustainability at the centre of their business. They work with a Fair to Farmer program that creates direct partnerships with the coffee communities where its beans are grown and help implement sustainable farming practices at the coffee origin. Salt Spring Coffee is also a member of 1% for the Planet, and donates 1% of their annual sales to non-profits that protect the planet.
4. Leesa
Based: Virginia, USA
Leesa is a direct-to-consumer online mattress company. They plant one tree for every mattress sold, and also donate one mattress for every 10 sold. To date, they have donated over 32,000 mattresses to over 1,000 non-profits! A beautiful quote on their website that testifies to this, “For millions of families, a bed makes a difference between a continued life of poverty and a new morning, fresh with possibility”. Leesa has been a certified B Corp since 2016.
5. Watsi
Based: San Francisco, USA
Watsi build technology to make universal health coverage possible. Through their global crowdfunding platform, anyone is able to directly fund low-cost, high-impact medical treatments for people in need. Since 2016 Watsi has raised more than $6.5m to fund treatments for over 8,000 patients.
6. Change Please
Based: London, UK
What if your morning coffee could change lives? Since 2010, homelessness has doubled in the UK. Now, over 4,000 people sleep rough every night. Change Please believes that the nation’s love of coffee is so strong it could be just what is needed to end homelessness once and for all. With the average Londoner treating themselves to two cups of coffee every day, the prediction by 2020 is for the number of UK coffee outlets to hit 21,000 which would create over 100,000 jobs. Despite this, the industry is facing a huge skills shortage, not just in the UK, but around the world. Change Please address this skills shortage by training the homeless community to be baristas. They provide full barista training, jobs paying London Living Wage and support with housing, bank accounts and mental wellbeing. “Really good coffee doesn't just taste good - it does good too.”
Photo credit: Change Please website
Maxine is a photographer based in Vancouver, Canada, and works with small heart-centered businesses to create joyful, honest images so they can show up on-brand, and aligned with their values.