For the first time ever, Fortune is recognizing and ranking a list of companies that are doing well by doing good. The “Change the World” list includes 51 companies on six continents that are making a positive social impact as part of their business model. Fortune partnered with FSG, a nonprofit social impact think tank, to collect and vet more than 200 nominations received from dozens of business, academic and nonprofit experts around the world.
HOW FORTUNE DEVELOPED THE LIST
According to Fortune’s published methodology, the magazine’s editors considered four criteria when evaluating a company:
- The degree of business innovation involved
- The measurable impact at scale on an important social challenge
- The contribution of the shared-value activities to the company’s profitability and competitive advantage
- The significance of the shared value effort to the overall business
Fortune’s editors selected and ranked the final list of 51 based on the magazine’s own reporting and by the analysis provided. If you take a quick peek at the list online, you’ll see only 50 spaces. That’s because two companies occupy the Number 1 position. At the top of the list are Vodafone and Safaricom, two companies that collaborated on the M-Pesa mobile-money platform that allows people without bank accounts to make transactions. Fortune reports that 17 million people are using M-Pesa in East Africa, India, Romania and Albania. The M-Pesa platform has revolutionized the economies of those countries and in return, Vodafone has experienced unparalleled brand loyalty.
The first “Change the World” list appears in print in the September 1st issue of Fortune, but you can view the list online, complete with case studies and best practices, here on the publication’s website.
