Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The richest woman in the world, Alice Walton, is worth over $100 billion, NBC's Hoda Kotb is stepping down from the Today show, and Fortune’s Ellie Austin explores the women-led and women-focused companies on this year's Change the World list. Have a splendid weekend!
- Changemakers. Now in its tenth year, Fortune’s Change the World list spotlights companies that are committed to doing good while turning profit. The new edition of the list, published this week, features 52 businesses that, according to Fortune editors, harness “the creative impulses of capitalism to address social problems.” A number of these companies are women-led. Others aim to close the gender gap in different areas of society. Here are some highlights.
— Maven Clinic, the health care company founded and run by Kate Ryder, focuses on closing the health care gap for women and families. Since its launch 10 years ago, Maven has partnered with employers and health care plans to help its members get faster access to specialists in fields such as abortion care, maternal health, reproductive health, and fertility treatments. The company’s menopause care program reached more than 1 million people at 150 companies within weeks of its launch.
— Watching her own daughter struggle with remote learning during the pandemic led the child psychologist Elizabeth Adams to cofound Ello Technology, a company that leverages AI to provide one-on-one reading tutorials via a mobile or tablet app. Around 30,000 children have used the technology, many of them from lower-income households.
— Levi Strauss, run by CEO Michelle Gass, is championing the issue of voter turnout with nonpartisan initiatives. The first, launched with two other companies, helps workers vote without losing paid hours. The second aims to boost political engagement among community college students.
— Over the past year, Santander, the Spanish bank led by executive chairman Ana Botín granted almost $1.3 billion in microloans to entrepreneurs in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Peru who have limited access to mainstream financial services.
— With Zūm, founder and CEO Ritu Narayan, an Oracle alum and mother of four, is replacing high-polluting diesel fuel school buses with an all-electric fleet. The company currently serves around 4,000 schools across the country.
— Canada-based GreenShield is tackling the gender gap in mental health care access via a free tool that pairs women with professionals based on their care needs, as well as their culture, race, language and religion.
— Led by CEO Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech captures carbon emissions at factories and landfills before they enter the atmosphere. It then recycles them to make chemicals and fuels in a process that is more eco-friendly than using “virgin” carbons.
Read the full 2024 Change the World list here.
Ellie Austin
ellie.austin@fortune.com
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