Home » Forbes Australia Releases New Issue Featuring Philanthropist Carol Schwartz

14 August, 2023

Forbes Australia Releases New Issue Featuring Philanthropist Carol Schwartz

The sixth issue of Forbes Australia is released today and features Reserve Bank of Australia board member and influential investor Carol Schwartz.

Other noteworthy highlights include co-Founder of Big Red Group Naomi Simson, Flight Centre Travel Group CEO and founder Graham “Skroo” Turner, CEO of Warrikal Engineering and Founder of the Kirrikin Foundation Amanda Healy, Kogan CEO Ruslan Kogan, and the list of world’s top 50 best vineyards.

Leading the issue is Carol Schwartz, one of Australia’s most influential investors, who has poured millions of dollars into start-ups led by women. The Reserve Bank of Australia board member co-founded Scale Investors, a female-led start-up accelerator that has injected more than $20 million into 46 businesses now worth an estimated half a billion dollars. More recently, her focus has shifted to investing in female venture capitalists – a move she hopes will help flip the switch in gender equality globally. She talks to Forbes Australia about funding the funders to disrupt the status quo.

Forbes Australia editor-in-chief, Sarah O’Carroll, said: “In every issue we tell stories of people striving to change the world and striving for more diverse voices and representation in leadership. Carol Schwartz is an example of this. She is someone who is using her power and influence to shift the dial on funding for women-led businesses. Carol is featured alongside an amazing group of female venture capitalists, who we like to think of as ‘venture catalysts’. We also delve into the stories of established, successful business leaders such as Naomi Simson, Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner, Ruslan Kogan, and Amanda Healy.”

Highlights of the new issue include:

Naomi Simson is one of Australia’s best-known entrepreneurs. In 2017, she co-founded Big Red Group, the largest experience marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. It serves an experience every 18 seconds, the equivalent of 1.5 million a year. The former Shark Tank judge shares the habits and insights that underpin her success.

Travel industry juggernaut Flight Centre Group’s share price peaked at over $60 in 2018. By March 2020, it had crashed to just under $9. While the now $5 billion business has made ground since the pandemic, the good times are a way off, but Founder and CEO Graham “Skroo” Turner and his Flight Centre crew believe they can get there. “Skroo” talks with Forbes Australia about his reinvigorated business model and change in direction to help return to the good times.

Ruslan Kogan is best known as the Founder and CEO of Australia’s first successful online electronics retailer, Kogan. The Belarus-born entrepreneur has experienced the highs and lows of business over the past 17 years, but he believes the next phase of his company will be the most transformative.

Amanda Healy is the CEO of Warrikal Engineering and founder of the Kirrikin Foundation. With a business that employs 850 people, she’s also an indigenous woman looking at ways to bridge the generational wealth gap.

The level of venture capital funding allocated to women-founded and led businesses has halved since 2020 to just 3 per cent. But a growing number of female venture capital fund managers with connections to some of the country’s most influential, wealthiest families, are attempting to provide greater opportunities for women, investors and the economy.

Demand for luxury apartments in Australian cities is rising in tandem with the growth of Australia’s wealthiest age demographic – the over 65s. Forbes Australia looks at how the trend towards oversize luxury apartments could see the creation of more luxury towers in major cities.

Pushas co-Founders Justin Truong and Sandy Li launched a collectible sneaker marketplace in 2017. In 2020, they put a call-out on Twitter for some funding – and raised $200,000 in 24 hours from angel investors. A few months later, they launched the Pushas Sneaker Fund to invest in collectible sneakers.

The issue is also packed with Forbes Life content across travel, luxury, life, property and style.

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