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Last June, conservative activist Robby Starbuck launched a campaign targeting woke companies, threatening boycotts unless they renounced their policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through the end of 2024, many companies buckled, including Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, Harley-Davidson, and Walmart. The movements momentum continued to grow after the November election, claiming McDonalds, Target, Amazon, Meta, PBS, and others. Then the anti-DEI mob ran into Ron Vachris, a guy who started at Costco as a forklift driver more than 40 years ago and rose to become the CEO in 2024. In January, the National Center for Public Policy Research submitted an anti-DEI proposal at Costcos annual shareholder meeting. On January 23, Vachris and the companys board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders reject the proposal, and more than 98% of shareholders did just that. Three days later, 19 Republican state attorneys general sent Vachris a letter demanding Costco end its DEI policies. Vachris and Costco didnt budge, which is why Fast Company is recognizing him as the inaugural recipient of the World Changing Ideas Visionary of the Year. Vachris declined to talk to Fast Company. (Who can blame him? The last thing he needs is to look like hes taking a victory lap.) Vachriss actions, says David Glasgow, a DEI expert at NYU Law School, provided a good example for other organizations that are feeling a lot of fear and anxiety right now. Studies from McKinsey, MIT, and others confirm the long-term financial benefits for companies with strong DEI policies. They tend to have teams that are more creative. Workers tend to be happier. Theres less attrition and turnover when you have a focus on inclusion, says Northwestern Universitys Alvin Tillery. Costco retains workers at a higher rate than its competitors, and employees earn a median annual wage of $47,000 (compared with about $27,000 at Walmart). Vachris, a prime example to shelf-stocking employees that Costco rewards top performers, may also inspire other leaders to stand up for their principles.
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E-Commerce
When Adebayo Alonge and Amy Kao launched RxAll in 2016, the Yale business school classmates were focused on helping reduce counterfeit medications in the supply chain of African countries. RxAlls flagship RxScanner uses AI and light spectroscopy to spot counterfeit pills, helping pharmacies and regulators improve safety. As the scanner picked up adoption, Kao and Alonge identified additional ways to secure supply chains. Those now include everything from drug procurementhelping to connect pharmacies and hospitals with companies whose products routinely test as high qualityto demand prediction via a point-of-sale platform, and even financing for independent pharmacies to ensure they can maintain product supplies. Alonge says that 95% of African pharmacies are independently owned and still operate with handwritten records. The friction really is around understanding what products are low quality, understanding what products are in demand, and getting access to the financing to purchase [quality] products and put them on the shelf, he says, noting that RxAll uses a pharmacys POS dataand aggregated data across regionsto help predict demand. In the past year, RxAll has seen its network of pharmacies more than double, reaching 5,000-plus locations, largely in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Meanwhile, the RxScanner has helped remove 1.3 million counterfeit medications from the supply chain. RxAll is also working with regulators and governments to identify bogus pharmaceuticals and even plan public outreach around illnesses based on what medication is in demand. Last year, the company forged five partnerships with government agencies, including Nigerias National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. The goal, Kao says, is to enable these public partners to take a more proactive approach and address counterfeiting and drug safety before tainted products get to patients. Ideally, we work ourselves out of a job, she says. Explore the full list of Fast Companys World Changing Ideas, 100 inspiring projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for everyone.
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E-Commerce
Top-selling Peruvian cement brand Cemento Sol partnered with ad agency Circus Grey to make the sidewalks of Peru more accessible. In collaboration with the countrys largest advocacy and service organizations for the visually impaired community, the Sightwalks project created cement tiles with coded markings detectable by an individual using a walking stick. The tiles feature tactile horizontal lines; the number of lines are associated with adjacent businesses, services, or venues. The project is both scalable and adaptable to any urban setting. Creativity can be a powerful tool, says José Luis Rivera y Piérola, creative chairman and CEO of Grey Peru. Explore the full list of Fast Companys World Changing Ideas, 100 inspiring projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for everyone.
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E-Commerce
In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement warning that plastic foodware could potentially leach hormone-disrupting chemicals into childrens food. Seven years later, millions of children across the U.S. are still eating hot cafeteria lunches off plastic dishware. Manasa Mantravadi and her startup, Ahimsa, are working to change that. A board-certified pediatrician and mother of three, Mantravadi was spurred by the AAPs findings to launch Ahimsa in 2019 to make steel dishware for children. Having gained traction with direct-to-consumer sales to thousands of families, Ahimsa is now aiming to get into schools across the U.S. Through a partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the company launched a national pilot in 2024 called the Conscious Cafeteria Project, which saw 15 elementary schools (in California, Minnesota, Indiana, and New York) swap their plastic trays and utensils for reusable stainless steel over the course of a school year. The nonprofit Upstream claims that permanently eliminating plastics from these cafeterias can reduce their average annual CO2 emissions by 83%. The project displaced more than 1 million single-use items in total and decreased water usage by 78% (the difference between water used during production for single-use plastic and production for reusable steel). And, by making the swap, each school saved nearly $4,000 per year. One major challenge Mantravadi continues to face is that many school administrators are unaware of plastic dishwares risks. She shares educational content and research on Ahimsas Instagram account, and the companys website includes additional resources. Children cant advocate for themselvesthey dont have voting power, they dont make purchasing decisions, Mantravadi says. Its my job as a pediatrician, its parents jobs, its legislators jobs, its teachers jobs. Were the adults in the room, and weve got to make better choices to invest in the health of our children. Explore the full list of Fast Companys World Changing Ideas, 100 inspiring projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for everyone.
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E-Commerce
Healthy soil is alive. Its full of insects, fungi, and microbes that break down dead organic matter and convert it into nutrients. Microbes are the most abundant: One teaspoon of soil contains more microbes than there are people on Earth. As all these organisms do their work of decomposition and nutrient cycling, they release energy. Milú Brunells Soli lamp turns that energy into light. The recent Savannah College of Art and Design grad designed the outdoor lamp to use microbial fuel cells, a type of battery that converts the chemical energy released by microorganisms (like those in soil or wastewater) into electricity. When Brunell, an industrial designer with a passion for sustainability, embarked on her senior project at SCAD, she wanted to design lighting with more than just function in mind. She says she was guided by the question, How can we create things that help us be in tune with our environment? Microbial fuel cells arent totally new, but they are still a nascent technology. Researchers have said they could be an alternative to fossil fuels, powering everything from biosensors to wastewater treatment and desalination plants. In research labs, the cells have powered small fans, LEDs, and calculators, and scientists have also conducted wastewater treatment pilots. But scaling up this electricity source is still a challenge because it produces relatively low power and isnt yet cost competitive. Brunell focused on designing lighting because she loves the way it can shift emotions or create ambience. Though mostly a conceptual project, the Soli lamp is now a functional prototype, powered by a microbial fuel cell Brunell built herself using the soil from her own garden. She sees Soli working one day for streetlights or in public parks, too. Soli is just the beginning of creating awareness, and asking ourselves, If we nurture soil and we give back, how can we explore this relationship further? she says. Instead of just exploiting Earth, how can we collaborate with it, respect it, and coexist with it? Explore the full list of Fast Companys World Changing Ideas, 100 inspiring projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for everyone.
Category:
E-Commerce
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