The most influential business leaders under 40

Choosing the most influential business leaders under 40 is not a contest of net worth. It is a look at people who have changed how consumers work, borrow, buy and belong—and who are still early enough in their careers to make that influence durable.

The shortlist spans software, fintech, beauty, branded experiences and Indigenous digital services. Each leader has built a different route to scale: accessible design tools, embedded credit, culturally responsive products, creator-led brands and agency models that turn ideas into physical moments.

Influence also needs scrutiny. Market reach can coexist with regulatory risk, and rapid growth can test a leader’s values. Viewed from Australia, this focused group offers a more useful picture than celebrity alone: innovation that travels globally while drawing on local talent, consumer habits and communities.

Leader	Business	Base	Main route to influence
Melanie Perkins	Canva	Sydney	Made visual communication accessible
Brett Lipsky	Kueski	Sydney	Reshaped consumer checkout and credit
Xavier Wei	Ourzine	Melbourne	Turned brand experiences into memorable events
Mikaela Jade	Indigital	Sydney	Put First Nations expertise at the centre of digital strategy
Dylan Field	Figma	Global technology	Made browser-based collaboration the default
Rihanna	Fenty Beauty	Global beauty	Expanded representation in the cosmetics industry

Sydney’s design champion meets a browser-native challenger

Melanie Perkins co-founded Canva in Sydney with Cliff Obrecht and Mike Cannon-Brookes, turning professional visual communication into a drag-and-drop service used by small businesses, schools and global teams. Her rise shows the leverage of removing specialist barriers: Canva could serve Australian start-ups immediately while giving users in Nairobi, São Paulo or Manchester the same creative starting point.

Dylan Field took collaboration into the browser with Figma, making simultaneous design work feel less like file sharing and more like a shared room. The contrast is instructive. Canva scaled through accessibility and repeatable templates; Figma grew by treating collaboration as the product. Both reward leaders who spot a familiar professional habit and redesign it for distributed work.

Fintech’s new guard brings access and accountability

Brett Lipsky co-founded Kueski in Sydney, helping popularise buy-now-pay-later checkout in Australia before expanding into New Zealand, Mexico and Brazil. The model solved a genuine retail problem, but it also moved credit closer to impulse purchases. That dual effect makes Lipsky influential in a less glamorous sense: consumer finance changes when the payment decision happens at the till.

Australian policy and household pressures sharpen the lesson. ASIC’s responsible-lending expectations and the cost-of-living squeeze make repayment discipline as important as conversion rates. A leader in this category earns influence through governance, transparent fees and better defaults, not simply by lending more or making the sign-up flow smoother.

Beauty’s cultural power becomes an enterprise

Rihanna turned cultural relevance into a beauty business with Fenty, whose launch put 40 foundation shades on shelves and made inclusion a commercial test for the industry. The lesson extends beyond fashion: a distinctive point of view can open a global audience, yet it must be carried by product quality, supply capacity and repeat customers.

Australian beauty shoppers now encounter Fenty, Rare Beauty and local labels through social feeds, department stores and rapid delivery. Creator-owned companies can speak to niche communities with unusual precision, although fame also makes every claim harder to escape. The durable leaders are those who turn attention into trust rather than treating relevance as a campaign.

That distinction reaches wellness and food as well. When a label promises a cleaner ingredient or simpler routine, consumers increasingly want proof; a month without sugar shows why a catchy promise should be followed by evidence, transparent sponsorship and realistic advice about individual health.

Melbourne ideas meet cultural intelligence

Xavier Wei founded Ourzine in Melbourne, building a brand-experience agency around activations, retail theatre and content that travels online. Melbourne’s laneway venues, design-led shops and café culture provided a demanding proving ground: an idea had to work in a small footprint, suit local rituals and still scale across Australian campaigns.

Mikaela Jade founded Sydney-based Indigital, a digital consultancy led by First Nations expertise. Its work challenges companies to treat Indigenous knowledge, language and communities as partners rather than raw material. For Australian organisations, that means procurement, creative work and digital access must begin with genuine relationships, not a polished campaign assembled after the branding is finished.

Scale is won in unglamorous systems

At larger scale, founders learn that systems matter more than slogans. Australian online businesses must price in Australian dollars, account for GST, and move goods efficiently between metropolitan warehouses and regional customers. The leaders in this field hire operators, protect cash and build service standards that can absorb a viral sales spike without damaging the brand.

Operational discipline can appear very small. A Melbourne garden retailer, for instance, can protect equipment and customer trust by applying proper garden tool storage before winter instead of accepting corrosion and replacement costs. The same principle applies to software: thoughtful maintenance, clear ownership and resilience are signs of a leader who plans beyond the next funding round.

It also changes what growth means. A venture that measures only acquisition may sacrifice retention; one that watches complaints, defaults, delivery failures and employee turnover can spot trouble sooner. Field, Perkins and Lipsky all operate in systems where trust is visible in the details, whether that is an uptime chart or a returned product.

Use influence to widen the circle of opportunity

These leaders show several routes to influence: Perkins made design universal, Field made collaboration fluid, Lipsky reshaped checkout, Rihanna widened representation, Wei made brand experiences tangible and Jade placed cultural knowledge inside digital strategy. Their methods differ, but each starts with a useful insight into how people actually behave.

Readers in Sydney, Melbourne and across Australia can support that work by following the businesses they trust, sharing credible stories and watching whether claims survive growth. Follow Bdnut for accessible reporting on the entrepreneurs, consumer shifts and ideas shaping better business.