Disclaimer: this list will NOT include anyone whose last names are Jobs, Murdoch, Bezos or Gates. We know those stories, and frankly, they are not representative of what it is to be an entrepreneur today. These entrepreneurs are home-grown Australian business people who found a niche in the market, and made it theirs.
Melanie Perkins
Heard of her? Melanie is the co-creator and CEO of Canva, the multi-billion dollar Tech company that started in Australia. With Canva, Melanie took the design ecosystem and concept, and created a single platform for it to exist on. Canva is accessible to anyone.
Melanie was inspired by the struggles of students she used to tutor in Graphic Design. She noticed they were having issues with Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft, and realised there was a dearth of user-friendly, accessible design applications.
Her entrepreneurialism was inspired by the needs of others. Melanie found a hole in what was available, and decided to fill it.
Nick Molnar
Nick is one of the brains behind the Afterpay phenomenon. He had already established himself as an entrepreneur, selling jewellery online in a successful venture throughout University. He already had online retail experience before Afterpay was even a thought.
Afterpay changed the world of shopping as we knew it. Buy-now-pay-later makes many items more accessible to people, especially those with lower income who can only spend so much in a week.
Molnar is still active in Afterpay, but has stepped down as CEO of his company, fintech, in order to oversee Afterpay’s global expansion.
Leslie Gillespie
Leslie is one of the powers behind the wonderful machine that is Bakers Delight. Established in the 1980s by the Gillespie family, the company grew quickly due to the amiability and “love” that they baked into their work. Their aim was to delight people, and that ambition is what drove their business to such heights.
By starting small and doing what they knew, Leslie and her husband, Roger, created a baking empire that has since gone international. They have stuck to their original ethos of providing quality food made to be enjoyed by both the eyes and the palette.
Bakers Delight was also the birthplace of the Cheesymite scroll, which in itself is an entrepreneurial feat.
Why these 3?
What these three entrepreneurs have in common is that they noticed where something was missing and made an opportunity for themselves to fill it. They followed what they were passionate about, which is the key part of successful entrepreneurialism. Passion puts joy in the work!
At Hippo Business Services, we are fortunate enough to have four entrepreneurs overseeing and mentoring the team to success.
And segueing back to our disclaimer; success shouldn’t be measured by the volume of sales, but whether or not you have achieved what YOU sought out to achieve. The secret to being successful is being the best version of yourself, not of those around you. Do not judge someone solely on their portfolio, but by their goals and what they’ve done to further those goals.
