Once a male-only territory, Australian entrepreneurship now attracts many women capable of fiercely competing with their male rivals. But male entrepreneurs in Australia still outnumber women. The latest stats show that Australian women entrepreneurs are still lesser than 35%. But more women are entering this male-dominated field, launching businesses and making them very successful.

These are hundreds of Australian businesswomen who deserve a mention, but we have focused on just a few of them in this article.

Melanie Perkins

Declared to be the third richest woman in Australia in 2020, Melanie Perkins is among the youngest women CEOs of a technology start-up worth more than AU$ 1 billion. She is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Canva, a platform that helps people create designs online in seconds.

Noticing the difficulties students face in mastering the techniques of design, she saw in it a business opportunity. She decided to make it easy for people to create designs. Taking things a step further, she aimed to create a design platform that requires no technical expertise. She even dropped out of university to pursue the idea.

In 2020, Perkins featured in Forbes list of top under-30 of the decade. She also featured in the 2020 rich list of Australian Financial Review because of her net worth of AU$3.43 billion.

Kayla Itsines

Starting as a personal trainer at an Adelaide gym, Kayla Itsines went on to become one of the top woman entrepreneurs in Australia. By the time she turned 29, she had achieved one of the most difficult things in the world—building a successful business. She is the creator of the Sweat with Kayla app, one of the most successful fitness apps in the world.

Kayla’s net worth is $64 million. She features in the Times 2016 list of 30 most influential people on the Internet. This is because, by October 2016, she had 12.5 million followers on Instagram and 8 million on Facebook.

The entrepreneur says that she is successful on social media because she focuses on her followers and their fitness journeys, not on herself and her fitness goals. She hardly posts her photos on social media, focusing instead on photos of how fitness transforms the human body.

She has also created a fitness eBook series titled "Bikini Body Guides," but it was her fitness, workout, and meal-planning app that took her to the heights of success.

Janine Allis

Australia has more Boost Juice bars than kangaroos, and that is because of the efforts of Janine Allis, who started a home-based juice business in 2000. After a couple of decades, Janine had established 550 Boost Juice bars all over the world.

Janine taught the world about leadership through example, demonstrating it by starting her business in her kitchen and then shifting it to Chapel Street in Prahran before transforming it into a global phenomenon.  She also co-owns Retail Zoo, the parent company of Boost Juice, Cibo Espresso, and Salsa's Fresh Mex Grill.

In her book titled "The Accidental Entrepreneur - The Juicy Bits," she talks about the importance of resilience for success.

Maxine Horne

A woman who had to face failure before tasting success, Maxine Horne is the founder of Vita Group, which currently employs 1700+ people and reports steady yearly revenue growth of 30%. Her Vita Group generates $450 million in revenue every year and she receives AU$1,468,210 as its CEO.

The fact that she has bagged awards and titles such as the QBR Businesswoman of the Year (2006), EY Entrepreneur of the Year (2014), and Courier Mail Businessperson of the Year (2019) is indicative of her success.

Her business, which started with one Gold Coast location, has expanded to 123 locations all over Australia.

Naomi Milgrom

Born in a family that has been into business for generations, Naomi grew with a keen sense of entrepreneurship. At the start of the information technology (IT) era, she began with a company that published computer books. In 1980, she co-founded a game studio in Melbourne. Later, she started working on Sussan Group.

Today, Naomi Milgrom is the CEO of the Sussan Group of ARJ Holdings, which comprises Suzanne Grae, Sportsgirl, and Sussan. She also loves giving to worthy causes, especially those that promote cultural innovation and mental health. Her Naomi Milgrom Foundation is the champion of design, architecture, and art, which improves the lives of Australian residents.

Noami’s net worth is $795 million. She has won awards such as the Officer of the Order of Australia and Companion of the Order of Australia in 2020.

Sarina Russo

Although her roots go deep into Australia, Sarina Russo has expanded her business all over the world. With a net worth of $103 million, her Sarina Russo Group has expanded into countries such as Vietnam, India, China, and the UK.

Russo was just a kid when her family moved to Australia. She got fired from eight jobs before starting a training and recruitment business that helped more than 65,000 people get jobs in just 30 years.

Yenda Lee

Having taken over the family business, which her husband had established, Yenda Lee made it all the more successful. The business, Bing Lee, has been around for over sixty years. It is a chain of electronic stores that enjoy great popularity in Australia.

Lee also donates heavily to charitable causes. She gives regularly to the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

When she needs a break from running her business, she spends quality time with her grandchildren.

Kylie Lewis

Kin was a small project when Kylie Lewis launched it in 2013, but today it has developed into a huge company with Kylie as its coach and leadership facilitator. Also, she is one of the top figures in social media marketing and content promotion.

She also has a huge list of impressive degrees which include being a graduate of Dr. Judith Glazer’s Conversational Intelligence, getting a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology, passing Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Facilitator Training and having a Master’s in Communication and eBusiness.

Kylie Lewis has written two books and also hosts a podcast.

Andrea Gardiner

Along with her husband Ian Gardiner, Andrea manages Jelix Ventures, an Australian ventures capital firm. This makes her the second woman to become the founder CEO of such a company.

Although it is a young company, it has already attracted attention for leading 12 investments into nine start-up companies with great returns. She says that her husband spots the start-ups, but she is the one who structures terms to balance investor protection. She calls it an exciting business model and says that she enjoys her work.