Celebrating Women Tackling Some Society’s Biggest Challenges on International Women’s Day

As we mark International Women’s Day this year, we celebrate the trailblazing achievements and we toast the success of so many women around the world. But even as we celebrate these accomplishments, we can’t lose sight of the work we still have in front of us to level the playing field. In fact, the pandemic has laid bare the full depths of this challenge. We are seeing a K-shaped recovery in what has unfortunately become a K-shaped economy – and women are once again bearing the brunt of it. Business has a huge role to play in expanding opportunity for women – and it starts within each of our organizations.

Through the Citi Impact Fund, we use our own capital to make equity investments in startups that are addressing five societal challenges: workforce development, financial capability, physical and social infrastructure, sustainability and access to capital and economic opportunity. These companies are doing incredible work that has the potential to make our communities more equitable and sustainable, and the majority are founded by women and minorities. In some cases both!

I am happy to highlight the women behind four of these companies and spotlight the work they’re doing to make a real impact. Meet our women Citi Impact Fund recipients:

Founded by Meena Sankaran, KETOS, Inc. (“KETOS”) is transforming the water industry with the goal of making water safer and sustainable for today and for future generations. KETOS serves an array of industrial and agricultural enterprises, commercial businesses, institutions, cities and utilities, empowering them to make smarter decisions through real-time water intelligence and predictive analytics. Meena’s leadership in engineering innovation, strategy, and strong culture have been instrumental in KETOS success.

Erica Plybeah, Founder of MedHaul, came up with the idea for her business after struggling to find a way to get her grandmother, who is confined to a wheelchair, to her doctors’ appointments. Today, MedHaul helps provide non-emergency healthcare transportation options to often overlooked populations across the Southeast. Every year, nearly 4 million Americans with chronic conditions miss their medical appointments due to transportation issues. Particularly for low-income and/or older patients with diabetes, asthma, and arthritis, this can mean the difference between managing chronic conditions at home and ending up in the emergency room. MedHaul provides a cloud-based, mobile-optimized marketplace that automates the transit management process and links healthcare providers with specialized transportation services.

Allison Robinson, CEO and Founder of The Mom Project, is building better workplaces for women. Her marketplace based in Chicago provides job opportunities and fosters a community with guidance and insights into various aspects of integrating motherhood and work. For companies, The Mom Project not only provides access to an experienced talent pool of more than 300,000 women, but helps build the infrastructure needed to recruit, retain, and promote women. This includes an analytics platform called WerkLabs that evaluates flexible/remote work arrangements and provides resources on best-in-class practices, policies, and processes for supporting women in the workplace.

Founded and led by Colleen Costello, Vyv (formerly known as “Vital Vio”), has created a new kind of antimicrobial and cleaning protection. Colleen and Vyv believe the world would be a better place if they can invent smarter ways to address the significant challenges created by germ issues. With that mission in mind, Vyv offers proprietary continuous-use, non-UV antimicrobial LED technology for homes, public places, and industry. Today, Vyv can be found in food manufacturing and services, healthcare facilities, travel and hospitality, retail, commercial and public buildings and many other places as antimicrobial overhead lighting. Vyv’s versatile LED technology is also embedded into commercial and consumer products and applications – shower lights that stop mold growth, humidifiers, bathroom fans, behind cleaner elevator buttons and addressing complicated microbes in many other diverse and creative ways.