W.S. BADGER

gilsum, new hampshire

founder and Ceo: bill whyte revenue: $16 million

employees: 100 “badger bill” whyte stumbled into business in an effort to solve his own problem: whyte, then a carpenter, found that his fingers were split and cracked from the harsh new Hampshire winters, and he started playing around with beeswax and olive oil to soften them up. by 1995, he was making badger balm in the back room of his house and selling it to stores in a wooden box: “i would go into a store, and people would say, ‘i have burt’s bees already.’ and i would say, ‘my stuff is better.’ then they’d throw me out because it was like criticizing religion.” today, w.s. badger makes a full line of organic skin products that it sells direct and at retailers like whole foods and cracker barrel. in 2011, w.s. badger became a b corp. the pay for the highest-paid fulltime employee is capped at five times that of the lowest paid, which is $15 an hour, more than double new Hampshire’s minimum wage. a chunk of profits goes to employees through profit sharing (7%) and to charitable contributions (10%).