TED Talks Daily
What sex, soap and alcohol taught me about making an impact | Myriam Sidibe
22 Aug 2025
What if saving lives and growing a company went hand in hand? Public health expert Myriam Sidibe thinks many businesses are going about social impact all wrong — and leaving millions of dollars on the table at the same time. Drawing from decades of experience, she reveals a playbook for brands to create real impact, proving that what’s good for society can be great for business.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. She shares a proven blueprint for how companies can thrive more by aligning with societal needs and not just their bottom lines.
Everyone talks about building a better world. But let me tell you, without a business model designed to get us there, it's just wishful thinking. In the private sector, we've seen retreats. DEI diluted, ESG scaled back. Brands that were once bold are afraid of being called woke. It was like a purpose gold rush. They all rushed in, dug around for a bit, thought it was hard, and they're moving on.
And I say, stop! Your business models are failing you. Your business models are failing society, and they're failing us. And you know what? And just as the private sector is retreating, aid is disappearing. Progress on everything from women's health, climate change, education, isn't just stalling, it's reversing. Yet the needs have not shrunk. They have grown deeper, louder, more urgent.
Now, the key question is, how are we going to reduce the gap between what is really needed and what's being done? The answer isn't more philanthropy. And it isn't finger-pointing. We need to fix business models. And the way we will fix business models is together. Because we need to create new kinds of value for people, planet and profit. And this is what I came to speak to you about.
I've been working at this space for decades, at the intersection of public health and global brands. I'm an author, a longtime campaigner on ethical business, and you know what excites me the most? It's when I get companies to dream up their mission in a way that they can help solve a global problem, whilst being great for their business. And let me show you how that works.
So first, I never expected to be working in a corporation trying to solve a global problem. I grew up at dinner table, where the main course served was justice. Me and my younger siblings were raised between refugee camps and UN report briefing. And every night was a lesson in inequality and possibility. This is us living in rural Mali, next to Timbuktu.
And it is in places like this that I grew my conviction that I wanted to make a difference for the most vulnerable in this world. Years later, when I went on to do my doctorate in public health, I came across a staggering fact. Over one million people could be saved by something as simple as hand washing with soap, and mostly children under five.
And yet only one person in five washed their hands after the toilet. Oh well. And a massive opportunity for a bar of soap. So fueled with all this conviction and this desire to save lives, I joined the world's largest soap manufacturer, Unilever. In countries like India and Bangladesh, where child mortality was obscenely high, soap was already in eight out of 10 households.
And the iconic bar of soap, Red, Lifebuoy, was in the market leaders. So what was the problem? the technology was there. Obviously, the challenge was behavior change at scale, because soap on shelves doesn't save lives. Behavior change does. So we reimagined our business model around three things. We committed for the long haul, because behavior change takes time, trust and trial. Two,
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