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Tech firms rule at 'doing well by doing good'

Paula Gilbert
By Paula Gilbert, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 26 Aug 2015
Vodafone and Safaricom's success with M-Pesa sees them top Fortune's 'Change the World List'.
Vodafone and Safaricom's success with M-Pesa sees them top Fortune's 'Change the World List'.

Technology giants and telcos have come out on top in the first 'Change the World List', which showcases and ranks companies that are "doing well by doing good".

South African-born Elon Musk's endeavours were also on Fortune magazine's recently released list of 51 organisations that are tackling the world's toughest challenges in a sustainable and profitable way.

The publication says the aim of the list is to spotlight companies that have made significant progress in addressing major social problems as a part of their core business strategy. The companies were not rated on their 'overall goodness' or social responsibility, but rather by how they deal with major social or environmental concerns in a positive way by integrating them into their competitive strategy while still profiting.

"It is based on our belief that capitalism should be not just tolerated but celebrated for its power to do good," according to the magazine.

Companies changing the world

Topping the list is Vodacom's parent company Vodafone, together with fellow telco giant Safaricom. These two come in at number one, mostly for their successful roll out of mobile-money platform M-Pesa in East Africa.

M-Pesa was launched in 2007 as a way for people without bank accounts to use their smartphones to save and transfer money, receive pensions and pay bills. Now 42% of Kenya's gross domestic product is transacted through M-Pesa, and 17 million people in East Africa, India, Romania, and Albania use the platform.

The mobile wallet has revolutionised people's lives while still making the telcos a nice chunk of change.

Coming in second place is newly named tech giant Alphabet, known to most as Google. According to Fortune, there is no greater force against ignorance than Google. The search giant empowers its billion-plus users with information of all varieties, in 159 languages. Processing over 100 billion queries a month: "Google has so profoundly changed our world that it's hard to remember life before it." It is ranked so high because of the "discoverability" it provides through mechanisms like Google Scholar, Google Translate, Google Earth and Google Books.

Italian energy giant Enel makes the list at number five for its contribution to renewable energy and the advancement of clean power. Enel's fastest-growing subsidiary is Green Power, which made $3.9 billion in revenue last year.

Communications equipment company, Cisco, ranks eighth for pioneering an outsourcing collaboration between Israel and Palestine, which helped the area's IT outsourcing sector grow 64%. Cisco's Networking Academy has trained 5.5 million students around the world since 1997, while giving itself a "broader, cheaper pool of technical workers and a foothold in dozens of new markets".

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX came in at number 36 on the list.
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX came in at number 36 on the list.

And let's not forget Facebook. The social network rounds out the top 10 due to its power to enable connectivity and boost community. The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge did not hurt either, as it saw millions of Facebook users help raise $115 million for the ALS Association.

South African companies Discovery and SABMiller also made the list at number 17 and 19 respectively. SABMiller was commended for its focus on improving the livelihoods of the people its products depend on by supporting small business, while still advancing sales. Discovery ranks at 17 due to the success of its Vitality wellness programme.

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX came in at number 36 because, as the magazine puts it: "Discovery is a public good ? exploring new worlds is akin to changing the one we live in." The Tesla founder's batteries and electric vehicles are also regarded as world changers.

Other tech, banking and telco companies that made the list include: MasterCard (11), Grameen Bank (12), Alibaba (13), IBM (20), Roshan (21), Equity Bank (32), Philips (34), Intel (39), Twitter (41), Fitbit (43), Opower (45) and Kickstarter (48).

Other famous brands on the list include Nike, Unilever, Walmart, Marks and Spencer, Ikea, Danone, Toyota, Ford and Starbucks.

Making the list

To assemble the list, Fortune editors and non-profit think tank FSG enlisted the help of dozens of business, academic and non-profit experts around the world. Journalists and a joint team from FSG and the Shared Value Initiative then vetted more than 200 nominees.

Four criteria were considered:

1. The degree of business innovation involved.
2. The measurable impact at scale on an important social challenge.
3. The contribution of the shared-value activities to the company's profitability.
4. Competitive advantage and the significance of the shared value effort to the overall business.

Nominees were further vetted and the final list of 51 was selected and ranked by editors based on the magazine's own reporting and the analysis provided.

For the full list, click here.

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