Inventing new ways to solve old problems

Wang, 24, is a co-founder and chief executive of BioCellection, a startup that is tackling hard-to-recycle plastic packaging, focusing initially on plastic-film waste. The category includes not only plastic bags but also soiled plastic that covers microwaveable food, plastic wrap used for leftovers and Bubble Wrap.

Plastic film ends up in landfills or is exported overseas, where it often wafts into the water. Film tends to float on the top layers of the ocean, Wang said, where it is particularly dangerous to aquatic life.

Wang, a University of Pennsylvania graduate who hails from Canada, has been noodling on the problem of plastic waste since she was a teenager. In high school, she and her co-founder, Jeanny Yao, visited a waste-transfer station in Vancouver, British Columbia, and were shocked at the amount of plastic they saw.

Now, using a novel reaction system that employs a liquid chemical catalyst, BioCellection turns unrecyclable, contaminated film waste into chemicals that can be used by consumers and industry. The process is “very safe,” Wang said.

“It’s about a practical method that will actually solve the problem,” she said.

Michael Riedijk, an investor in BioCellection and an adviser to the company, said in an email that Wang had “great vision” and was a strong promoter and negotiator, essential skills when running a startup. He said he backed the company because “the technology they developed is unique.”

This year, BioCellection will start a pilot program in the San Francisco Bay Area to build its first commercial machine, which can process 5 metric tons of waste a day. The company is also starting to market its first consumer product: a biodegradable cleaner for electronic screens. And, Wang said, it is in talks with an electronics company to use its chemicals to make charger cables.

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Trying to Minimize Pricey Payday Loans

Jeff Zhou

Co-founder and chief executive of Fig Loans

Many borrowers with poor credit scores face a problem if they run into a short-term cash crunch: They can’t qualify for an affordable small loan to tide them over. Jeff Zhou is offering an answer, in the form of Fig Loans. The lender’s goal is to offer an alternative to pricey payday loans that strapped consumers turn to when they have an unexpected financial emergency and have no other option. “We want to offer socially responsible financial products for people who are under banked,” he said.

Zhou, 29, said he wanted to give consumers with marred credit a chance to prove they are better than their credit score — in part because he was given a chance to excel. He attended Phillips Academy, a prestigious school in Andover, Massachusetts, on a “near full” scholarship. “The school took a chance on me,” he said, " and gave an ordinary kid the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Zhou and his co-founder, John Li, met when they were graduate business students at the Wharton School and decided that consumer-friendly small loans were a promising market.

But Zhou, who grew up in Buffalo, New York, didn’t know anyone who had borrowed a payday loan. And he said Fig wanted to build a product that would serve consumers fairly. So in 2014, he and Li cold-called dozens of nonprofits seeking a partner that would help educate them. United Way of Greater Houston, which runs a financial coaching program in collaboration with community partners, saw an opportunity — and in 2015, Fig was off and running.

Fig’s target customers have checking accounts and earn $30,000 to $90,000 a year, but may have made a mistake that excluded them from the financial mainstream. Even though their finances may have stabilized, their history haunts them. Customers can apply online for a loan from Fig, which makes lending decisions based on bank statements, taking into account expenses like rent, utilities and spending, Zhou said.

Loans are $300 to $500 and, depending on the state, are repaid in four or six equal monthly installments — unlike payday loans, which typically must be repaid in two weeks, often setting up borrowers for failure. Fig’s interest rates sound high — annual percentage rates are as much as 190 percent and vary by state — yet are far lower than typical rates for payday loans, Zhou said. Repayment information is sent to credit bureaus, so borrowers can rebuild their credit.

Fig, which is based in Texas, tries to provide a bridge for these consumers, so they can qualify for traditional loans.

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Pushing General Motors to Keep Up With the Times

Julia Steyn

Vice president of urban mobility at General Motors and chief executive of Maven, GM’s car-sharing app

Julia Steyn has always relished a challenge. Her latest: building Maven, the car-sharing arm of General Motors, a nimble technology startup within a century-old automaker.

Steyn, 42, came to the United States from Russia as a teenager, as part of a youth showcase promoted by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time. Her classical piano performance during the trip led to a scholarship from a Michigan arts academy. She earned degrees from Oberlin College and the University of Chicago, followed by a career as an investment banker and, later, as a merger and acquisitions executive with Alcoa. She joined GM in 2012 and became head of Maven in 2015.

“I am OK taking risks,” she said.

Maven — similar to competitors like Zipcar — targets consumers in densely populated cities, where the costs of car ownership are burdensome and parking is elusive. In New York City, Steyn said, a parking space for an SUV can cost $1,000 a month. Car ownership is declining in such cities, she said: “So what happens next?”

GM’s answer is Maven, available in 17 cities in the United States and Canada, including New York, Detroit, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It made its debut in Toronto this year. Maven’s 137,000 members can use an app to access a GM vehicle on demand by the hour to run errands, or longer for business trips or personal vacations.

Many urban consumers, Steyn said — particularly young ones — prefer access to transportation on demand, rather than car ownership. GM’s average driver is older than 49. With Maven, Steyn aims to build a service company within GM and attract younger customers.

Maven also offers weekly car rentals to workers in the gig economy, who can use the vehicles to transport passengers for ride-hailing companies, or to deliver food and packages.

“I’m a passionate advocate for changes in the business model that consumers are demanding,” Steyn said.

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From Travel Addict to App Creator

Ruzwana Bashir

Co-founder and chief executive of Peek.com

During a trip to Turkey, Ruzwana Bashir realized she wanted a better travel app.

While visiting Istanbul, Bashir, 34, a travel enthusiast who has visited dozens of countries, spent the better part of 20 hours trying to book excursions and contacting tour operators. “It was a very frustrating experience,” she said.

That eventually led to the development of Peek.com, a website and travel app that helps users book outings and activities with vetted operators — a sort of OpenTable for travel experiences.

“Experiences make you happier than buying products,” Bashir said. People enjoy the anticipation as well as the activity itself, she said, and then they have shared memories.

Bashir, who is British and attended Oxford, worked in finance at Goldman Sachs and Blackstone, where she learned about the hotel industry and other travel-related businesses. After graduating from Harvard Business School, she decided that she really wanted to be an entrepreneur.

She and her co-founder, Oskar Bruening, bonded after discovering they had both gone horseback riding in Mongolia.

Peek was started in 2012 and has since raised $20 million in venture funding.

Booking air travel and hotels online is now fairly straightforward, Bashir said. But arranging activities once travelers arrive at their destination remains a challenge. Travelers often don’t want to book far in advance, to allow for flexibility for weather or personal preference. But if they wait until they arrive, they may end up spending excessive time researching and calling to schedule outings.

With the app, Bashir said, travelers can get ideas by viewing pictures, then book basic activities like walking tours and museum visits as well as more exotic activities, such as hot-air ballooning, sky diving or touring monasteries in Greece.

Local operators can use Peek’s software to manage bookings, which is helpful, she said, because they tend to be out with clients and not sitting at a desk managing appointments.

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Reducing Implicit Bias to Change Investing

Daryn Dodson

Founder and managing director of Illumen Capital

Daryn Dodson was motivated to start Illumen Capital, a private investment firm, partly by a statistic.

Just 1 percent of the many trillions of dollars in the asset management business, which invests money for big institutions and private investors, is managed by firms owned by women and minorities. That contrasts with a recent analysis that found no significant difference in the financial performance of asset-management firms with diverse ownership.

With Illumen, Dodson aims to invest in private equity and venture funds, with a caveat: Managers must agree to undergo training to reduce implicit bias that may be creating blind spots in their choices of employees to promote and companies in which to invest. Illumen focuses on impact investors: those who aim not only to make a return on their money but also to spur social or environmental changes.

Implicit bias refers to assumptions and stereotypes that may unconsciously affect decision-making. In the financial context, Dodson said, unexamined attitudes may, for example, cause fund managers to pass up promising investment opportunities if a company is headed by a woman or a person of color.

“Unless you’ve thought about reducing bias,” Dodson said, “you may be leaving money on the table.”

Dodson, 39, has spent the past seven years as a consultant to the board of the Calvert Funds, a $12 billion pioneer in the field of socially responsible investing.

Dodson, who grew up in Washington, said working to broaden financial opportunities had been the focus of his career.

Illumen’s approach is to use research-based interventions developed in partnership with Stanford University, Dodson’s business-school alma mater, to help investors avoid race and gender bias. Illumen expects fund managers to commit to three years of training and analysis, he said. “He knows this is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Illumen also has a nonprofit partner that offers “impact experiences,” in which investors and fund managers spend time in communities to better understand the context in which their investments are made.

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How We Picked Our Visionaries

People love lists.

We want to check out the best places to travel, catch up with the best inventions of the last 100 years, be in the know about the best-dressed people, the best books, the best schools. And on and on.

Of course, there is a risk to listmaking. Maybe your choices won’t hold up over the years. Maybe the best book of decades ago seems not so great today.

With the list-making fervor and its risks in mind, we searched for people who would fit our criteria for visionaries. They had to be people who are forward-looking, working on exciting projects, helping others or taking a new direction. We wanted diversity in gender, race and ethnic background.

We assigned writers who are knowledgeable about the subjects we deemed most important. And we limited the list to 30.

Narrowing down the numbers was a huge challenge. And that’s a good problem to have. It means there are a lot of people out there who are following their visions.

We hope this inspires you to follow yours.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.