We have all heard how many industrialists turn philanthropists. Some turn to in their initial years while others do it have years of struggling and hard work. There have been many industrialists in India whose kind gesture has helped many in need.
Adding to the long list, Canva‘s co-founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins, and her husband and co-founder Cliff Obrecht, are garnering a lot of attention on social media due to her recent revelation.
The 34-year-old is reportedly going to give away her entire wealth after having made a fortune of A$16.5 billion.
In December, the couple signed up for Bill Gates’ the Giving Pledge, which aims at committing to giving away their fortune during their lifetimes. That could happen in several ways, including setting up their own charities.
‘We have this wildly optimistic belief that there is enough money, goodwill, and good intentions in the world to solve most of the world’s problems,’ their pledge letter read. The pledges’ mission is to eliminate extreme poverty.
Perkins studied commerce at uni and made money on the side tutoring fellow students in graphic design. That is where she met her husband, Obrecht.
She had the idea for a graphic design business in 2005 and started Canva’s forerunner, a school yearbook business called Fusion, from her mother’s lounge room.
Soon her then-boyfriend joined her business and they even took out a bank loan and a tax rebate of $5,000, which they used to advertise online and send sample yearbooks to school.
The couple started Canva in 2013 after buying the URL canva.com for $2,500. They then moved to Sydney in 2014 to grow the business.
The duo has since worked really hard to make the company a success. Canva is today worth more than $55billion, of which she and co-founder/husband Cliff Obrecht own 30 percent, which is over $16.4billion.
