South Australia’s top business people aged under 40 revealed
From AI to apps, sports to style ... these are the young South Aussie disruptors. See who we named as the state’s brightest business sparks.
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You can be hardworking, smart and creative, but to succeed in the world of business you’ll need something extra – a business brain.
Such brains, which are mysterious to those who don’t own them, can be found inside surprisingly young people.
These are 40 of South Australia’s brightest business minds under 40 – and many have shared nuggets of wisdom demystifying their paths to success.
Amelie Parker and Fiona Goodsite
Age: Amelie is 21; Fiona is 24
Role and company: Owners and founders at Tutbob
Two University of Adelaide students had a solid idea for their uni project – an AI lecture assistant and tutoring tool, named Tutbob, which helped students with real-time transcription, note-taking and quizzes.
Now graduates, Amelie Parker and Fiona Goodsite built the tool and turned it into a business, recently updating the Google Chrome plug-in tool’s core AI base and planning to develop features for students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD.
Ms Goodsite said her best business advice, which she and her co-founder give to young people they mentor, was to lean into your strengths.
She said as innovation and entrepreneurship students, she and Ms Parker were strong with business, but for the technology side they “leaned a lot” on colleagues with tech expertise who they recruited when first developing Tutbob.
Paul Chaina
Age: 36
Role and company: Director at ABA Plumbing and Gas
Paul Chaina has been plumbing for 19 years. Six years in, he started ABA Plumbing and Gas based at Stepney, which has grown from one van to 24 vans and 24 tradespeople.
Mr Chaina is now expanding the business, adding more trades including airconditioning, roofing and electrical, with plans to go national.
He said his best business advice was: “One step at a time. It’s good to dream big, but it’s the small actions that get you there.”
Sean McCullum
Age: 25
Role and company: Director at Vitalise and co-founder at Allied AU
Sean McCullum started his own digital marketing consultancy, Vitalise Marketing, at just 23 years old, and last year co-founded Allied AU, a digital platform that connects patients with allied health practitioners.
He is also the event manager for the Hahndorf Immersed Festival, and the media and marketing manager for Hahndorf – that’s right, for the whole town.
He would give this career advice to his 18-year-old self: “Take every opportunity. I’ve lived by this for the past four years and has got me to where I am today.”
Hinney Lo
Age: 35
Role and company: Founder and chief executive, PixelForce
Behold Adelaide’s app king, commanding a team of 60 people from the Kent offices of PixelForce.
Hinney Lo moved from Hong Kong to Australia at 15 and later found his calling as a design student at University of Adelaide, where he began PixelForce in 2013 as his final-year project.
It has grown into the design force behind app success stories such as SWEAT, the world’s #1 female fitness app, and Traininpink, Italy’s #1 female fitness platform. In 2018 he co-founded the globally expanding EzLicence, Australia’s top driving lesson marketplace.
Ashleigh Greaves
Age: 31
Role and company: Founder and chief executive at simplefy.ai
Ashleigh Greaves describes her business simplefy.ai, freshly launched this week, as a boutique AI consultancy that helps organisations “cut through the noise and apply AI in ways that boost”.
She also leads investor relations at Tribe Global Ventures, a B2B venture capital firm investing in Australian founders.
Ms Greaves said her best business advice was: “Who you choose to have around you, in every aspect of your life, can decide your level of success and is also a direct reflection of you as a person, business leader and founder.”
Brandon Reynolds
Age: 30
Role and company: Chief operating officer at The Yoghurt Shop
Before The Yoghurt Shop became a leading national brand, it was started by Simon Reynolds in 2003 as a stall at the Adelaide Central Market.
In recent weeks Simon’s son, Brandon Reynolds, has been travelling in Asia as the business eyes ramping up its global exports, which presently make up about 10 per cent of its annual production, shipping to 13 countries across the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.
Brandon is a key player in the company’s massive growth push, as it looks to quadruple its production capacity. Last year the company had a net value of more than $150m a year and employed 71 people, with plans to add another 40 full-time equivalent staff.
Anna Hurley
Age: 35
Role and company: Project manager at Hurley Hotel Group
She’s a scion of the Hurley family, whose Hurley Hotel Group owns several South Australian hotels and employs more than 700 staff – and Anna Hurley is proving a capable pair of hands driving the empire’s continued growth.
Ms Hurley is overseeing the 62-room Marion Hotel while managing the development of the $30m five-storey Hotel Panorama at Panorama in Adelaide’s south.
She said her best piece of business advice came from a University of Adelaide lecturer, who said to “focus on people over ‘task’, as people are the most important resource you have”.
Amy Slade
Age: 32
Role and company: Director at OT Kidz and The Pilates Venue
After about five years of working as an occupational therapist, in 2021 Amy Slade took the plunge and started not one but two businesses at McLaren Vale – OT Kidz and The Pilates Venue.
The companies were so successful that in 2023 she moved them to a larger venue at
McLaren Vale Central Shopping Centre.
As the companies continue to thrive, Ms Slade is opening a second OT Kidz site at Seaford.
Scott Meek
Age: 38
Role and company: Founding director at SMFA
Scott Meek is a founding leader of a growing, award-winning architecture firm based at Norwood that employs more than 40 people.
The firm, SMFA, is behind impressive projects such as the $200m Buckingham Arms site development, a major upgrade to Our Lady of the Visitation Catholic School and the Adelaide Myer building facade upgrade.
Mr Meek said his best piece of business advice came from a prominent former lawyer, who told him: “There are only two types of consultants – good ones and bad ones.”
The comment caught him off guard and he often reflects on it as a reminder to “always be a good consultant, and always add value to anything your are involved with”.
Christian Canala
Age: 35
Role and company: Chief executive at Secco and Vinify
Christian Canala is the man at the helm of popular high-end food wholesaler Secco Fine Foods and wine distributor Vinify, both based at Newton.
Renew Adelaide chief executive Gianna Murphy said Mr Canala had “an incredible knack for leadership, growing his two businesses and building a strong team of young individuals in the local food and beverage industry”.
He previously started company 13 Wine, worked at La Cantina and even dabbled in show business, starring alongside friends in his own comedic YouTube series about wine named ‘Wine Gusy’.
Andrew White
Age: 38
Role and company: Executive manager of Rundle Mall at Adelaide Economic Development Agency
Andrew White is the behind-the-scenes king of SA’s busiest mall.
Under his stewardship, Rundle Mall’s visitation has grown to 54 million people a year – more than South Australia’s three Westfield shopping centres combined – which is up by almost 10 million from the 2018/19 financial year.
Mr White is implementing of a new strategy for the mall, transforming it into an arts, culture, entertainment and food destination with events such as MallFest during festival season and Urban Kitchen during the Tasting Australia festival.
Georgie Boyd
Age: 34
Role and company: Co-owner at CoreBrew Lagree and founder at GR Planning Services
Georgie Boyd this year co-founded CoreBrew Lagree, a lagree studio that also serves coffee in Adelaide’s CBD. Lagree is an exercise method similar to pilates and favoured by Hollywood celebrities.
Ms Boyd has also operated her own events management company, GR Planning Serves, for the past six years, while boasting a formidable and varied resumé that includes senior account management roles from stints in New York and London.
She said the best piece of business advice she has received came from her father, Crown UK chief executive Tony Boyd, who told her: “Do the groundwork. Write a thorough business plan. Know your competitors. Understand your finances and never put all your eggs in one basket.”
Maree Hopgood
Age: 39
Role and company: Founder at GAT Agency
Maree Hopgood was once a wide-eyed intern in New York City, freshly graduated from UniSA and thrown into the public relations world in the lead-up to New York Fashion Week.
Fast-forward 16 years and she’s at the top of Adelaide’s PR game, running GAT Agency – formerly named Girl About Town – which has led national campaigns for major brands including David Jones and Adelaide Fashion Week.
The spin-master said her best business advice was: “Success in business isn’t about knowing everything – it’s about knowing where to turn when you don’t.”
Mark Kamleh
Age: 36
Role and company: Co-owner at Old Bush Inn Willunga and Silver Sands Beach Club
He’s the DJ-ing businessman, spinning vinyl by night while working as a restaurant owner and a booking agent for DJs and hospitality workers by day.
Mark Kamleh co-founded the beachside Silver Sands Beach Club restaurant at Aldinga in 2022 and co-acquired the historic Old Bush Inn pub at Willunga last year.
He said the best business advice he had received was: “Always say yes. Make it work.”
Frankie Marafioti
Age: 35
Role and company: Cafe owner and high-performance coach at Sweat & Courage
This former pro soccer player is dividing his time between owning three cafes, motivational speaking under a business named Just Be Frank and working as a high-performance life coach at Sweat & Courage.
Frankie Marafioti has built an impressive portfolio of hospitality venues, including Reno’s in Adelaide’s CBD, Bluprint in the CBD and Burnie’s at the new Burnside Village.
He would give this advice to his 18-year-old self: “I would say to remember that the journey will test you, and that the most important part to get through is to remember to listen to yourself above all else.”
Eli Moulton
Age: 33
Role and company: Founder at Plus One Dress Hire
Eli Moulton founded Unley-based business Plus One Dress Hire in 2021 while on maternity leave with her son Teddy.
It offers an extensive selection of dresses for women of all shapes, sizes and life stages, especially pregnancy and post-natal.
Ms Moulton said her best piece of business advice was: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Ben Tripodi
Age: 31
Role and company: Founder and chief executive at Lumin Sports
Former triathlete Ben Tripodi in 2018 joined forces with Ryan Brereton and James Begley to develop Lumin Sports, a sports software company now used by teams in sports leagues across the world, from AFL to US touch football.
The company has created an athlete management system as a one-stop platform for teams to manage its athletic data, team operations and medical records.
In 2023, Mr Tripodi told The Advertiser: “My advice to a young entrepreneur would be to be really passionate about something that lights you up – passion is what draws people to you and makes people want to help you out and follow your journey.”
Olivia Moore
Age: 36
Role and company: Owner at LOC Bottle Bar and co-owner at Thelma Piccadilly
Starting as a fashion student in England, Olivia Moore soon forayed into the world of wine marketing, which in 2017 brought her to South Australia where she worked for d’Arenberg as a marketing manager.
She had planned the move as a sabbatical but has never left, starting Adelaide CBD restaurant and wine bar LOC Bottle Bar in 2021 and last year co-founding Thelma, an Adelaide Hills restaurant that won a 2025 Chef Hat Award.
Ms Moore said the best piece of business advice she had received was to hone in on your skills and amplify them, adding: “You can’t expect yourself to be the jack of all trades and exceed in every aspect of business … but collaboration can set you in the right direction.”
Abby Potter
Age: 32
Role and company: Founder at House of Campbell
When couture visionary Abby Potter attended school at Mary MacKillop College at Kensington, she knew she wanted to study fashion.
She started her advanced diploma in applied fashion design at TAFE in year 12 and started luxury label House of Campbell in 2019.
Based at Unley, the label boasts stockists in Paris and New York, and last year won a DHL Australian Fashion Next Gen award.
Charlton Gunn
Age: 24
Role and company: Owner at Host Solutions and Charlton Vehicle Rentals
University of Adelaide law graduate Charlton Gunn started car rental business Charlton Vehicle Rentals in 2021, Airbnb management business Host Solutions in 2023, and he plans to keep growing that list by building a holding company for buying and operating small businesses.
The wealth-generating “gun” also invests in stocks and cryptocurrency while dabbling in sports betting, which he said was a profitable non-traditional investment for him.
Mr Gunn said his best business advice was to “invest like a billionaire – make sure all your money is doing something for you”.
Davie Fogarty
Age: 30
Role and company: Founder at Oodie
Davie Fogarty was reported in 2024 to have amassed a net worth of $500m since starting Oodie, a hugely popular wearable blanket company.
He has starred as a judge on Shark Tank Australia and in 2023 purchased a $4.35m home in Adelaide Hills.
Last year Mr Fogarty took to Instagram to share an itemised breakdown of his weekly budget, which included $1000 on a performance coach, spirituality coach or hypnotist and $300 on an at-home masseuse.
Elliot Brown
Age: 23
Role and company: Founder at Hey Juj and MASE Events
Elliot Brown was just 21 when he started McLaren Vale cafe and wine bar Hey Juj in 2023, which has brought a younger crowd to the area’s Main Rd with its popular Disco Nights.
His latest venture is MASE Events, an event management service which has already completed more than 3000 events.
Mr Brown suffered some setbacks after needing to close down two cafes, Hey Zozo at Henley Beach and Hey MooMoo at Aberfoyle Park, but he shows no sign of slowing down.
Eloise Hall
Age: 26
Role and company: Founder at Taboo Period Products
When she was just 17, Eloise Hall co-founded social enterprise TABOO in 2015 with the dream of eradicating period poverty.
Since opening an online store in 2019, the business has used a “pad it forward” model to provide period products to Australians experiencing or at risk of period poverty.
Ms Hall was last year chair of the South Australian Social Enterprise Council and more recently joined the board at University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute.
Chris Wareham
Age: 36
Role and company: Finance manager at Drakes Supermarkets
When he was 18, Chris Wareham started at Drakes Supermarkets as a grocery and nightfill casual paying his way through university.
He has worked his way up the ladder to finance manager, one of the most senior roles at the South Australian supermarket chain, which employs more than 6000 staff.
After studying commerce at UniSA, he landed a role as an accounts clerk in August 2012 and has stayed loyal to the business, working his way up to the present role which he has held since 2022.
Luke and Amy Smith
Age: Luke is 38; Amy is 36
Role and company: Founder at Secure State (Luke); Co-founder at The Chapel (Amy)
Is this South Australia’s top under-40 business power couple? The Advertiser thinks so, especially given the previous undisputed holders of that title, Kayla and Tobi (see below), separated in 2020.
Husband Luke Smith started Tonsley-based cybersecurity consultancy Secure State in 2021, making waves in the tech industry and becoming the first company outside the US to secure official certification from the US Department of Defense.
Wife Amy Smith in 2021 co-founded luxe hairdressing salon The Chapel at Aldgate, operates her own freelance hairstyling business The Style Bar, and does it all while working as Secure State’s chief marketing officer.
Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce
Age: Kayla is 34; Tobi is 32
Role and company: Founders at Sweat
Few lists of South Australian businesspeople would be complete without Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce, a former couple who in 2015 launched the app for Sweat, which has become one of the world’s biggest digital fitness platforms.
After selling the company in 2021 for $200m to US fitness giant iFIT, the pair teamed up in 2023 to buy back the company for an undisclosed sum.
Ms Itsines was last year reported by the Australian Financial Review to have a net worth of $171m.
Jaimi Webster
Age: 37
Role and company: Environment business partner at Flinders Port Holdings
After a stint living in Queensland, Jaimi Webster moved back home to develop and implement a long-term environmental monitoring program at Flinders Port Holdings, one of South Australia’s biggest companies.
Flinders Port Holdings chief executive Stewart Lammin said Jaimi was a fantastic role model for women in the maritime industry, which has traditionally been male-dominated. “She’s vibrant, intelligent and leading the way at Flinders Ports across various environmental initiatives,” he said.
She studied environmental science at UniSA and in 2019 co-founded a hot yoga studio at Mooloolaba.
Anton Andreacchio
Age: 38
Role and company: Founder at Convergen Group
Started by Anton Andreacchio in 2008, Convergen is an animation company specialising in visualising infrastructure projects, having contributed to more than 2000 projects in sectors including construction, mining, transport and utilities.
The company has also contributed to art, film and VR training projects.
He said the best piece of business advice he has received was to recognise that no one really knows what they are doing.
“There are so many voices telling you what to do but for all the confidence, they don’t really know what they’re doing either,” Mr Andreacchio said. “Don’t be a conformist. And don’t be a contrarian. Just be you.”
Gemma Reeve
Age: 38
Role and company: Co-owner and sales director at Orbitel Technologies
Gemma Reeve plays a key role across the sales, marketing, finance and HR functions of Orbitel Technologies, a leading Marion-based IT company that helps customers integrate new technologies into their businesses.
She has come a long way since entering the workforce as an intern studying seahorse breeding at the Zoological Society of London. She ditched seahorses to work in UK’s property industry, where she quickly climbed up the ladder before migrating to Australia and taking up senior roles at MAB Corporation and Taplin Group.
She owns Orbitel with her husband Adam Reeve.
Luke Morton
Age: 38
Role and company: Co-founder and chief executive at iO Energy
After a ten-year military career, finishing as an innovation strategist for the Australian Army, Luke Morton brought his knack for innovation to the civilian world by co-founding iO Energy in 2019.
The company promises to save its customers money on clean energy through time-of-use pricing, using a proprietary software platform and data gathered from smart meters.
Mr Morton’s best business advice was: “Where there’s chaos, there’s opportunity. I believe when business environments are still, there’s often not much opportunity for change or for growth. But when a situation is in flux, there are often many opportunities.”
Thyra Wilton
Age: 34
Role and company: Director at Providence Wealth Advisory Group
Starting in the financial services industry when she was 18, Thyra Wilton has climbed the corporate ladder from back-office admin to sharing in the ownership and running of her own firm, Providence Wealth Advisory Group.
“If I could give any advice though it would be to stay open-minded, the possibilities truly are endless and the pathways to get there can come from somewhere you never thought possible,” she said.
“I never would have dreamt this is where my career would take me, but I couldn’t be more in love with what I do.”
Scott Babolka
Age: 33
Role and company: Marketing manager at MyVenue
Formerly the head of strategy at North Adelaide agency Marketing Sweet, Scott Babolka is now leading the marketing for global point-of-sale software business MyVenue.
MyVenue’s technology products are built for venues selling food and beverages, with customers across North America, the UK and the Asia-Pacific region, including major sports stadiums.
Mr Babolka’s business advice was: “You don’t need to do everything yourself. Accept help when it’s offered and get comfortable asking others for it; every conversation introduces a fresh perspective that might be useful now or in the future.”
Tyson Gundersen
Age: 36
Role and company: Chief executive at Bureau
With a knack for fun company names, Tyson Gundersen is director at Good Fun Corporation, a game developer behind titles such as Hunger, and executive director at MilkBar, an investment firm.
He is also the founder of Taskpod, which installs little pods in public spaces offering people a private workspace, and chief executive at the much less fun-sounding Bureau, an innovative global furniture business.
Originally from Byron Bay, the serial entrepreneur in 2023 told The Advertiser he chose Adelaide as a place to live and base his businesses because it had “great job opportunities, had a great quality of life, had affordability of housing so that we could take more risks in what we were doing and do more creative stuff”.
Laura Tolson
Age: 36
Role and company: Co-founder at Lateral Vision and Swyvl
Lateral Vision, one of the tenants at Adelaide CBD’s innovation hub Lot Fourteen, was co-founded by Laura Tolson in 2014.
The company creates user-friendly 3D imagery of physical spaces, and its spin-off product Swyvl, a platform that helps business teams create their own 360-degree site documentation, was launched as its own business in 2023.
Ms Tolson’s best business advice was: “Trust earns you access and access shows you the real problems worth solving.”
She added that getting behind-the-scenes access to her customers’ businesses was “gold”, allowing Lateral Vision to uncover new problems to solve.
Oliver Brown
Age: 34
Role and company: Co-founder and chief executive at Big Easy Group
Known as “OJ”, Oliver Brown is behind some of the biggest names in Adelaide’s hospitality scene, having co-founded Big Easy Group in 2015 with the launch of popular CBD bar and restaurant NOLA.
The company’s portfolio has kept expanding, starting well-known venues including the Adelaide Fringe’s Fringe Club, Anchovy Bandit, Bottega Bandito, House of George, The Stag Public House, Bowden Brewing, Masa Kitchen, Bandit Pizza & Wine, and La Louisiane.
Mr Brown said one of the best advice nuggets he had received in the past ten years was: “A person’s success can be determined by the number of uncomfortable conversations they’re willing to have.”
Ben Colley
Age: 37
Role and company: General manager at Stone & Chalk
Networker extraordinaire Ben Colley in April became the general manager at Stone & Chalk, an Adelaide CBD innovation start-up hub.
He has runs on the board as the former chief operating officer of technology outfit Teamgage, and the founder of GOOD Product, a “curated community” started in 2020 for Adelaide tech product workers.
Mr Colley would give this work and career advice to his 18-year-old self: “Default to ‘yes’, move faster, try more things and meet more people.”
Josh Hubbard
Age: 36
Role and company: Managing director at Elevate Management Consulting
After cutting his teeth as a public servant, Josh Hubbard jumped on to the other side of the fence and started a management consulting firm that now employs 10 staff and has delivered services for more than 20 organisations.
In 2018, he suffered a life-threatening stroke at the age of 29 and fought through a painful and challenging recovery to come back stronger than before.
If Mr Hubbard could give his 18-year-old self one piece of advice, it would be: “Always bring good energy, enthusiasm and be willing to take on the difficult tasks.”
This listing has no association with the 40 Under 40 Awards sponsored by InDaily / CityMag.
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