More people are agreeing that profit is no longer the only way to measure success in business.

Successful entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson and Bill Gates have charities. Even music stars, like R&B singer Usher, are giving back.

Meanwhile, there is a special group, who I have decided to rank in my top 10 list of people making a difference through their work. I’m not ranking them by the amount of money they have made or putting them in any particular order, but simply as 10 people endeavouring to make the world a better place somehow through their work.

It is very notable that the majority of these top entrepreneurs are helping people gain a deeper meaning about life, improve health or save the planets resources in some way.  No matter which of these areas interests you, if you run your own business and care about the world, you should definitely check out my FREE webinar, make a difference and double your profits in 90 days. You never know, you could be added to a list like this one day!

Top 10 People Making a Difference Through Their Work:

1. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Microcredit and the Grameen Bank, Muhammad was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Grameen Bank, which means (Village Bank), provides loans to poor Bangladesh women. Between 1983 and 2007 the bank issued loans of US$ 6.38 billion to 7.4 million borrowers and helped many people out of poverty.

But it’s not just the financial aspect for the borrowers that’s inspiring about the Grameen bank, it’s the ethics with which they decide on who can have the loan and the social aspect of repaying the loans that make Yunus’s vision so amazing.

2. Jamie Oliver is a TV chef who uses food to create change in several ways. He has campaigned to improve the UK childrens’ diet at school and lobbied the government to make change. He also trained disadvantaged and jobless young people to become top chefs and created a restaurant called Fifteen where he employs newly trained youngsters, thereby giving them a career as well as the skills and knowledge about good food. Fifteen is now a global chain of restaurants.

3. Dale Vince founded Ecotricity, which has been building wind turbines and selling electricity across the UK since 1996. They take the money their customers spend on electricity and invest it in clean forms of power like wind energy, so more people can take steps to reduce their carbon emissions and protect the environment. Ecotricity is now the 7th largest electricity supplier in the UK.

4. Guy Watson got so excited by fresh, organic veggies that he created a business called Riverford Organic Vegetables. Guy says, “When I set up Riverford I was determined that I would use the business to make the world a better place.” Today Riverford supplies thousands of veggie boxes across the UK.

5. Dr. William Bloom is the co-founder of The Foundation for Holistic Spirituality, an organisation dedicated to an inclusive approach to spiritual traditions. He is one of the UK’s leading educators on well-being. He has worked with the Civil Service and with thousands of individuals and was a co-founder of Alternatives in London, which has helped helped countless people over the past three decades.

6. Janey Lee Grace is an author and radio presenter who shares everything she can on the best natural and holistic ideas for adults and kids and our environment… in a realistic way. Her work has made natural products and natural remedies more accessible for women and encouraged them with their well-being as well as helping to reduce the impact on the environment.

7. William “Bill” Drayton is a social entrepreneur. In 2005 he was named by US News & World Report as one of America’s 25 Best Leaders. He is responsible for the rise of the phrase “social entrepreneur” and the founder of Ashoka Innovators, an organisation dedicated to finding and fostering social entrepreneurs in over 50 countries, who work to answer the world’s most urgent social problems.

8. Kresse Wesling is a serial environmental entrepreneur. Her devotion to creating the best possible products from almost 100% recycled materials or the most ethically sourced materials has made her a respected leader. In 2007, with several successful businesses to her name, she was named as one of Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35″ list. Her interest in environmental issues was spawned at the age of eight, long before it became such a hot political potato and it has been a burning passion of hers ever since to do business in a way that will positively impact the environment and people.

9. Lucinda Drayton decided to leave the mainstream music industry after she became disillusioned with it. She created her own record label, Blissful Records and has now sold over 200,000 CD’s. She also teaches classes where she combines her music and meditation practices to help people connect with themselves at a deeper level.

10. Nick Hart-Williams is a project manager at Schumacher Lectures. Since 1978, they have created the premier environmental gathering, offering an entire day to hear great speakers, to meet like-minded people – and to celebrate! Nick also co-founded Be the Change, whose symposium explored how, by pulling together on an unprecedented scale, we can move in a new direction, towards an era of interconnected action and collective well-being.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook… Good wishes.

Neil

p.s. Who is your favourite person making a difference through their work and why?

Be Sociable, Share!

•