Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
The world’s leading companies on human rights
It is difficult to gauge which multinational companies are leaders and laggards when it comes to human rights. But a report issued today makes an attempt. The study, a shared effort by Aviva Investors, the United Kingdom NGO Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC), and several other Read More...
The buy-one-give-one business model has hit the property market
Every time someone buys a pair of TOMS shoes, the company sends an additional pair to people in developing countries. TOMS is renowned for their buy-one-give-one model, and now a new project will apply that same model to the property market. The project, BuyGiveWork, will give an office space to a Read More...
Timberland and Nike are bringing sustainability to the shoe industry
An MIT study determined that the process of making a typical pair of sneakers results in 30 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Considering that 20 billion pairs of shoes are produced globally each year, it's safe to say shoes are a major culprit in the fight against climate change. Thankfully, Read More...
Women in East Africa made a business out of leaves mostly chewed by men
“It really changed my life,” Karanja recalls. Since then, she has been able to invest in property and farms, send her children to school and university, and convinced her husband to join the business, too. “Khat was really profitable. I got in, and never looked back,” she Read More...
Platform makes it easier to donate essentials to local homeless people
A new crowdfunding application, StreetChange, provides homeless people in the streets of Philadelphia with a bluetooth beacon which allows app users to donate basic necessities to them. Those with the bluetooth beacons make a wish list of basic necessities, and as soon as a StreetChange client Read More...
Nestle, Danone start alliance to make 100 percent sustainable plastic bottles
Plastic water bottles cause a lot of pollution as they are made from non-renewable resources, fill landfills and don’t degrade. So it’s good news that Danone and Nestlé Waters, two of the world’s biggest bottled-water manufacturers with brands such as Evian and Perrier, have created Read More...
Tesla shows how self-driving cars will disrupt the insurance industry
Tesla is not only changing the car industry. It is also the first automaker that has quietly begun to sell car insurance. In the future, Tesla plans to include insurance in the price of its vehicles. Why? Because self-driving cars will completely disrupt the insurance industry. Since Tesla Read More...
New Exxon CEO supports Paris climate deal, carbon tax
The world’s largest publicly traded oil company appears to be more concerned about climate change than the President of the United States. While Donald Trump works on rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations and wants to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, new ExxonMobil Chairman and Read More...
Lyft announces huge Midwest expansion, launching in 54 cities and four new states
Good news, residents of Sheboygan, Wisconsin! Lyft, the ride-hailing company not currently plagued by a sexual harassment scandal, is coming to your town — as well as 53 other cities. Most of the cities are concentrated in the Midwest, with a few on the East Coast and Southern states. It’s the Read More...
In Seoul, a sharing economy takes hold that leaves Uber and Airbnb in the cold
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon wants to make the South Korean capital a global role model for the sharing economy, but he’s defending the city fiercely against the very startups that have shaped the concept. Ever since the second-term liberal mayor entered office in 2011, the 60-year-old Park—whose Read More...