Power 20 list: The top influential business leaders in South Australian ranked

They are the brains behind $100m ideas and the leaders backing critical South Australia projects with their own capital. See the 2024 business power rankings.

Three of South Australia's most powerful business people. Pictures: File

The South Australian economy has been humming along pretty well in the past couple of years, but there are growing pains that come along with such good fortune.

The business leaders who make a difference in the state are the ones willing to not only voice an opinion on the issues that matter, but often back them with their own capital, or get their hands dirty fixing the problem.

Business leaders such as Sam Shahin, Jamie McClurg, and Kevin Gallagher are not backward about sharing their views on the big issues, such as social justice, the housing crisis, human rights issues and the fraught path toward a sustainable energy sector.

And as for JP Drake, well, just try keeping him quiet.

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Tim Cooper. Picture: Supplied

Sam Shahin. Picture: Emma Brasier

Then there are the big-thinking entrepreneurs who dazzle with their ability to turn a thought into not only a product, but a thriving business.

Tammy Barton’s MyBudget, which has taken the nation by storm, is a great example, and then there’s David Fogarty’s Oodie phenomenon, which has won him a leading place in Australia’s e-commerce pantheon, and rightly so.

Warren Randall is the self-made, dominant force in the SA wine sector, and a whirlwind of energy to boot, while Dr Tim Cooper has been leading the nation’s largest independent brewer for decades now, with an equally jovial, but decidedly more low key style.

These are the “doers” who get the job done in South Australia, rather than sit around talking about it.

This list is the sixth instalment in the countdown to The Advertiser’s annual power rankings with SA’s 100 most influential people of 2024 to be revealed later this month.

In the lead up, The Advertiser will rank the state’s most powerful people across different industries including law, public service, entertainment and business.

See the top 20 business leader rankings and have your say below.