Tania Austin loves the word “amazing”. “I often ask the team, ‘is it amazing yet?’” The word is embedded into Austin’s privately owned business, Decjuba; a neon sign greets staff at head office that reads: Make it amazing. But there’s a distinct lack of amazing at the March meeting for the Decjuba Foundation, the charitable arm of Austin’s $750 million business. The agenda item up for discussion is how many of the foundation’s cotton tote bags, RRP $3, have sold since they hit shelves in February.

The answer – a number she does not want disclosed – isn’t bad but it’s not great. It’s certainly not amazing. So Tania Austin politely, firmly tells the board that something needs to be done. How to convince more customers to add that extra three bucks to their bill? Through her foundation, Austin has her sights set on having an impact on 25 million lives by 2025. By current estimates, she is about halfway there. So she needs to sell quite a few more tote bags.