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.
Using candles to empower women and end poverty
It started over cannoli in a small bakery in Northampton, Massachusetts. Ted Barber and his business comrade, Amber Chand, knew they wanted to help put an end to poverty and that investing in women in places of conflict and chaos was where they wanted to start. The product needed to be easy to make Read More...
How to find a job with meditation and mindfulness
In her first month of attending Ziva Meditation on 38th Street, the trend forecaster met Noël Rohayem, a clothing designer whom she later helped to find a new job. That led to a partnership, forged last summer, for which the two are creating a made-to-fit clothing line that will be introduced next Read More...
Fair Trade products are more accessible than ever
Fair Trade Month is a time to spread the word about who and where our products come from. This means putting the spotlight on challenges like child labor in cocoa and slavery in seafood, and also celebrating the farms, factories, brands and retailers that are doing things Read More...
Tapping into nature: The future of energy, innovation and business
Nearly all living things rely on diffuse and transient flows of energy and materials. And yet, life thrives. Organisms are able to procure materials and assemble themselves — essentially constructing "technologies" — using only resources that are locally available. Increasingly, Read More...
What companies can learn from social scalers
Social entrepreneurs show that big results can come from small initiatives. Social scalers are companies that focus on market-based solutions that do not consume the scarce resources of donors and government agencies. Their goal: transform social problems into business opportunities on a national Read More...
Can a more fair and equitable free market help companies that do good?
The free market can save us, but first the free market needs to change whom it rewards. In 1970, Milton Friedman famously declared, "The social responsibility of business is to increase profits," and anything else was "pure and unadulterated socialism." According to this doctrine, business activity Read More...
From toys to turbines: Lego branches out into wind energy
Danish toy manufacturer Lego has inaugurated a wind farm off the coast of Germany. In an interview with DW, Lego’s CEO talks about the company’s efforts to run off 100 percent renewable energy – and otherwise go green. On Friday (09.10.2015), the Lego Group – together with Read More...
Social entrepreneurship enters the mainstream
Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen is acting chief of the Multilateral Investment Fund's Access to Markets and Skills Unit, with particular expertise in its regional economic development and value chains portfolios. She also advises on partnership opportunities for the MIF's grant and investment Read More...
Amazon, GE and the 'geniuses' reshaping sustainability
Summer's over, New York Climate Week has passed and the rest of 2015 looks sure to be busy for those steeped in corporate sustainability. Although the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal has rocked the world of sustainability in recent weeks, there also has been a more positive flurry of Read More...
VW scandal could herald revolution in investment industry
Volkswagen’s emissions scandal could revolutionise the investment management industry because it has proved that a company's corporate governance and environmental credentials must be taken seriously, the chief executive of Hermes Investment Management has said. Saker Nusseibeh said that Read More...