For more company achievements, head to inc.com/BIB2021.
There’s plenty about the past year that we’re ready to put in the rearview, but before we give 2021 a curt little parade-wave buh-bye, we’d like to acknowledge some of the companies that made it better. A lot better.
Some were just doing what they do, and that thing was notably—laudably—beneficial to their customer base. Companies such as Nova Credit (page 64), which helps immigrants import their credit histories and establish a financial footprint in the U.S. Other companies invested beyond the core business, through charitable donations (in money or expertise), pro bono work, or material support. Like BW Property Management Group (page 61), the Orlando-based home and lawn maintenance firm that gave 30 homeless people an on-ramp back into society by training them, giving them living-wage jobs, and housing them.
These are the best in business—the gold, silver, and bronze finishers in 49 categories—as determined by Inc.’s panel of editorial judges. They are the private companies that put purpose before profit. They acted with intention to leave the world a better place. They proved that supporting the community is smart business, for the short term and the long term. The bottom line for each of them: There’s more to a company’s worth than the bottom line.
GENERAL EXCELLENCE
GOLD
PARAMOUNT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
CEO: PRAMOD SAJJA
On paper, Paramount Software might seem like a standard dev shop. Its 250 employees, mostly distributed programmers, develop software and do IT consulting for hire. But a closer look at this Alpharetta, Georgia-based company reveals that it leans hard into emerging technologies, educating other companies about the future and building reform-minded projects on everything from food supply to corporate environmentalism.
The tool it built on the blockchain to track products from farm to aisle has helped prevent millions of pounds of food waste and brought both transparency and greater profits to farmers in developing nations. “You can buy an apple in Kroger, see the QR code, and—as an ethical consumer—track that apple and see its entire journey right down to the farmer in Peru,” says
