NO.
82
FORTUNE.COM // SEPTEMBER 2019
Prudential has
become a big
backer of afford-
able housing in
“low- opportunity
communities,”
committing
$5.6 billion so far
in more than 30
cities. Its efforts
are especially ap-
parent in its home
city, where the rip-
ple effects of New
York’s housing
crunch have in-
flated prices. Pru-
dential “stands
out for their lead-
ership in keeping
Newark afford-
able,” Mayor
Ras Baraka tells
Fortune. Buildings
funded by Pru-
dential have re-
served as much
as 40% of their
units for low-
income tenants.The world’s largest cosmetic
brand takes aim at two goals
with its Sharing Beauty With
All initiative: It trains workers
to harvest essential ingre-
dients in sustainable ways,
and its plan is to help those workers—most of
whom are women in developing nations—keep
a greater share of the rewards. In Burkina Faso,
a top source of ingredients for the moisturizer
shea butter, L’Oréal has trained some 37,000
women to harvest and process shea nuts while
limiting deforestation. It also reduced the roles
of some middlemen, increasing the farmers’
incomes. Women in Madagascar (home of
skin-care staple Centella asiatica) and India
(hair-care ingredient guar gum) are benefiting
from similar L’Oréal efforts.THE LIST 29 – 37
CHANGE
THE
WORLD
A farmer harvests shea nuts, a key ingredient in
many lotions and moisturizers, in Burkina Faso.SERVING MULTIPLE
STAKEHOLDERS
World-changing companies
recognize that a narrow focus on
shareholder value can hurt a busi-
ness in the long run. (For more on
that philosophical shift, see “A New
Purpose for the Corporation” in this
issue.) They strengthen their busi-
nesses by investing in their employ-
ees and bolstering the communities
where they operate.PLEASING SHAREHOLDERS
On average, the global, publicly
traded companies on each of For-
tune’s four previous Change the
World lists have outperformed the
MSCI World Index since those lists
were published. Eight of the com-
panies on our inaugural list (2015)
have delivered total returns of 100%
or more since then; the MSCI bench-
mark returned 42% over that span.LISTENING TO EMPLOYEES
Many companies elicit transfor-
mative ideas from their rank and
file. Lloyds Banking Group (No. 31)
devoted resources to helping cus-
tomers with mental-health issues
after its staff chose that issue in a
companywide vote. Hilton (No. 41)
relies on individual hotel manag-
ers to devise plans for reducing en-
vironmental impact at its more than
5,600 hotels.CHANGING THE CONVERSATION
Salesforce (No. 49) was a pioneer
in discussing environmental and so-
cial issues in public filings. Now
that’s almost de rigueur among pro-
gressive-minded companies. —M.H.NO. 30
Prudential
Financial
Making homes
affordable.
NEWARKWhat Change the
World Companies
Have in Common
WORLD-CHANGING DNA
29
Its Farmers’ GainsAren’t Just CosmeticL’OréalA beauty conglomerate helps women
farm sustainably —and earn more for it.
PARIS