Tech pioneer Leanne Kemp on escaping to the country

We chat to Queensland’s first female Chief Entrepreneur in the lead-up to International Women’s Day about tech, women in business and escaping to an old railway carriage at Samford.

Queensland's Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp. Picture: Mark Cranitch

WHEN Leanne Kemp moved to London in 2014, she had little more than a backpack, passion and a big idea.

Four years later, her groundbreaking start-up, called Everledger, was listed as one of the Word Economic Forum’s most promising technology pioneers.

And in October, Leanne was appointed Queensland’s first female Chief Entrepreneur — a role she plans to use to help other entrepreneurs make their mark on the world stage.

When she’s not in London or one of the four other countries in which her company operates, Leanne is living off-grid in an old railway carriage at Samford.

“I feel being out there I have a sense of solace and peace of mind,” she says.

“It’s amazing when you have time to think, and clear air, where your mind can take innovation to.”

She bought the property, which was the former Samford Grass Ski Park site, in 2007 and set about converting the railway carriage in to the “Train Mahal”.

It’s a welcome tonic to the hustle and bustle of busy cities, the perfect place to recharge and a stark contrast to the hi-tech world in which she has achieved business success.

Queensland's Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Leanne started Everledger in April 2015. It uses blockchain technology to track valuable commodities back to their source. It started with diamonds, which can be tracked from where they are mined to where they are cut and polished, and to the jeweller.

All of this information comes together on a digital platform of provenance.

While the tech world may be typically dominated by men, Leanne says gender inequality hasn’t held her back. “I haven’t allowed it to enter into my thinking or permeate my confidence,” she says.

The issue of quotas in business and in government can be divisive, but Leanne says they can be used as a measure to achieve a balanced society. “Quotas put these things on the map so in time they become a normal way of thinking,” she explains.

So, what advice does Leanne have for young women keen to make their mark on the international stage and in business? She says it’s important to innovate and build on the strength of an idea — shift your thought process to imagine a future that’s possible and use your base skills and talents to achieve it.

Now is an ideal time to be innovative, with the next generation of the internet being developed, she adds. It presents opportunities to solve problems in a way that we haven’t been able to do so before, that’s affordable.

“Flirt with curiosity, come up with new ideas and see where it takes you,” she says.

“Challenge the normal, the standard.”