Bas van Abel

Van Abel set up Fairphone in Amsterdam in 2013, first as a campaign about conflict minerals, then as a company selling phones built to be opened with an ordinary screwdriver. Batteries, screens and cameras are sold as spare parts, and later models come with long software support, which is the commercial point: a phone you keep for years. It sells in modest numbers next to the giants and has had lean years, but it has kept shipping new models. He has handed the chief executive's job to others and remains on the board.