New breed of billionaires do it their way

The nation’s youngest new billionaire, 32-year-old Melanie Perkins encapsulates the changing nature of business leadership in Australia.

Melanie Perkins, co-founder of software firm Canva, has called for the corporate world to change its way of doing business. Picture: Dean Mackenzie

Melanie Perkins encapsulates the changing nature of wealth and business leadership in Australia.

The nation’s youngest new billionaire, 32-year-old Ms Perkins, co-founder of software firm Canva, does not hide her ­ambition.

Or her calls for the corporate world to change its way of doing business.

“We have a simple, two-step plan. One, to build one of the world’s most valuable companies and, two, to do the best we can. I hope with the opportunity that has been afforded to us we can use it to bring a little more equality to the world,” she says in the 2020 edition of The List – Australia’s Richest 250.

Ms Perkins is worth $1.32bn along with co-founder Cliff ­Obrecht, with their private online graphic design platform valued at $4.7bn after a funding round in late 2019.

She has urged the public and corporations to change their habits and working practices, including making working from home mandatory where possible to try to stem the tide of the coronavirus.

“As business leaders, we have a social responsibility and moral ­obligation to work in cohesion with our government,” she wrote to staff and Canva customers in an open letter this week that was subsequently signed by other business leaders and technology company owners.

Her call was echoed by Atlassian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farqhuar, who made some of their collaborative software free for some groups of remote workers.

Ms Perkins and the Atlassian co-founders have been among many members of The List, ­published on Saturday, to have to quickly adapt to a changing world as the virus sweeps the globe. She has been working from home and Canva designed a series of templates with accurate information from the World Health Organisation.

“Abide by self-isolation regu­lations. Postpone events and ask employees to stop attending voluntary/social public events of ANY size,” Ms Perkins also wrote.

“Wherever possible, continue to support contractors and casual staff. A lot of people will be facing significant hardship; if your business has the financial capacity to continue to support your team, this is the time to do so. Every little bit counts.”

Ms Perkins also called on ­people to be nicer to each other: “Treat one another kindly in this stressful time, and stand up against any discriminatory behaviour.”

In an interview for The List, technology investor Daniel Petre, who has invested in Canva since 2015, noted Ms Perkins’s humility was “amazing” and that the Canva platform currently houses more than 25,000 not-for-profits that use Canva for fundraising: “She and Cliff are not hung up on the money side, the valuation.”

Ms Perkins has long shown an entrepreneurial streak, starting her first business at the age of 15 from her mother’s living room, creating handmade scarves that were sold at shops and markets in Perth. She later taught computer design at the University of Western Australia, where she hit difficulties navigating graphic design software, giving her the idea to form Canva.

The 2020 edition of The List is in The Weekend Australian today