Today’s Solutions: July 12, 2026

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.

The freelance economy is boomi

The freelance economy is booming in African countries

Modern technology is allowing African countries to embrace a rising wave of informal employment in the shape of short-term, freelance work. Digital platforms are making it easier and more efficient for working people across Africa to engage in flexible jobs like ride-share services, e-commerce Read More...

The clothing industry harms th

The clothing industry harms the planet. What can fashion students do?

When Amy McCranor got her first job in fashion, she didn’t like what she saw. During a trial period at an e-commerce fashion brand, she witnessed a rapid turnover of unhappy staff, garments were sewn with competitors’ labels entered into the inventory, and stock priced at impossibly low Read More...

How buying coffee helps get ho

How buying coffee helps get homeless people off the streets in the UK

For those commuters traveling on Virgin Trains, the coffee now comes courtesy of a special social enterprise project called Change Please. Any money raised is helping homeless people to get off the streets and into work through mobile coffee Read More...

Lime offers free bike and scoo

Lime offers free bike and scooter rentals on Election Day

If you're looking for a way to the polls this Election Day, you can snag a free ride via bike or scooter from Lime. The company is offering free trips on its fleet of shared bicycles, e-bikes, and occasionally abused electric scooters on Tuesday, November Read More...

GM brings its peer-to-peer car

GM brings its peer-to-peer car-sharing service to 10 US cities

Earlier this year, GM unveiled a peer-to-peer car-sharing service, expanding its Maven platform to allow GM owners and qualified lessees to rent out their own vehicles. At the time, the company said the service was in beta in Chicago, Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, but GM has now announced that Read More...

This one staff training change

This one staff training change made a huge difference for Barre3

Barre3, the boutique strength conditioning gym, is known for its equal attention to both body and mind. Yes, there are grueling lunges and toning squats, but there are also elements of mindfulness and accepting one’s own Read More...

The Boring Company’s first t

The Boring Company’s first tunnel beneath LA will open to the public in December

The Los Angeles public will get their first ride on Elon Musk’s underground public transportation system quicker than expected. In December, the two-mile test tunnel built beneath SpaceX’s headquarters will offer free rides on autonomously driven electric platforms called “skates.” The Read More...

Danone bets on healthy eating

Danone bets on healthy eating business to boost growth

Danone is banking on its expansion into the lucrative healthy eating business to produce sales growth that will beat the French food company’s rivals over the coming Read More...

Dr. Bronner’s soap: You

Dr. Bronner's soap: You don’t have to screw people over to survive

“You don’t have to fuck people over to survive” are wise words I once heard radical comic book artist Seth Tobocman chant, repeatedly. It’s also the title of one of his books. Those words have stayed with me, and I’m a bit surprised more people don’t echo that sentiment. But one Read More...

How Ikea and HP want to help k

How Ikea and HP want to help keep plastic out of the ocean: make stuff from it

If you buy an ink cartridge from HP, some of the plastic might have come from bottles collected on streets and canals in Port-au-Prince, Haiti–intercepted before they could end up in the ocean. Since 2017, the company has worked with local collectors to gather more than half a million pounds of Read More...