Everledger's blocklain diamond pursuer will roll the Advance Award

Leanne Kemp may have always been interested in emerging technologies, but problem solving is her thing.

Kemp recalls seeing the thriller Leonardo DiCaprio of 2006 Blood Diamond and thinking, "Wow, what supply chain, what problem should be solved."

With the help of blockchain, he did just that. In 2016, Kemp founded Everledger, which manufactures tools to verify the diamond trade .

This idea won the Kemp 2018 Advance Award for technological innovation.

The Advance Awards, in their seventh year, recognize the global leadership of some of Australia's most talented people in their chosen field. Over the past year, over 100 applications have been received in various categories, including education, life sciences, art, mining and resources, food and agriculture.

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Advance represents a network of global-minded Australians, many of whom live and work offshore. Its annual awards are decided by a group of high-profile judges, including chef and author Maggie Beer, non-executive director Jillian Broadbent, billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Michael Hintze, former president and CEO of Dow Chemical Andrew Liveris and designer Carla Zampatti.

Everledger uses the blockchain to connect all suppliers and intermediaries in the industry so that diamonds can be traced as they are moved from point to point around the world. In the coming months, 25 diamond retailers around the world, some with thousands of stores, will begin to offer consumers a diamond certification so that buyers can be sure of where the stone originates.

Over the past three years, Everledger has tracked 2.2 million diamonds from the mine to the point of sale. By 2020, Everledger plans to monitor between 2 million and 4 million precious stones every year.

Kemp, who is originally from Brisbane and now splits his time between London and his hometown, has no intention of stopping at diamonds.

"Where we are in terms of the world for 2030 and 2050 and beyond, we need to rethink supply chains.We have to think about how to re-imagine the product on the market.We started with diamonds, but our vision is much greater than diamonds. "

The next batteries

The next supply chain that Kemp wants to deal with is the batteries. "For me, these are limited resources, the resources of Mother Earth. How can we first provide traceability? So, most importantly, if we think about where these metals and minerals are in the world, is there? a way to recycle and reuse components? "

As with diamonds, much of the cobalt and lithium used to make batteries is extracted from emerging countries.

"They face the same problems as diamonds," says Kemp. "So I can predict that, with an emphasis on the world's consumption of batteries, we will clearly have a certain kind of war that will break out in these countries along the supply chain."

Another Advance Award the winner, Geraldine Buckingham, spends a lot of time thinking about retirement, even if not hers. As the global manager of BlackRock's corporate strategy, the world's largest wealth manager, Buckingham is concerned with the prospect that many savers will survive their savings.

There are some factors to blame, including a failure to save enough and not invest enough in stocks that tend to produce higher returns over time than defensive investments like money and bonds.

His research means working with American employers to encourage them to offer incentives to their staff to save for retirement (there is no compulsory retirement system in the US), and with other governmental and corporate stakeholders to improve financial literacy.

"We see an ecosystem we want to participate in," says Buckingham, an experienced physician, a supporter of Collingwood and winner of the 2018 Financial Services Advance Award.

In addition to the problem of retirement, Buckingham cites the development of BlackRock's business in China and the interruptions and opportunities created by technology as its other major challenges.

Regarding the most difficult parts of his role, Buckingham says: "Technological changes, changes in geopolitics, economic changes and the need to adapt [and] anticipate in a certain way what could be the change in three, five Ten years there is a constant pressure on things like continuing to attract and maintain a very diverse range of talents, so there's always, to be sincere, a lot to do.Assign priorities and constantly adapt, be agile in so that we adapt, do we put our efforts, energy and resources in time? "

Pushing for change

Buckingham is clearly learning a great deal of BlackRock, where he worked for four years.

"I think it's really important to be a student of the world, [to] keeps pushing yourself," he says, adding that it's too easy to be distracted by the intensity of the day "against really stepping back and pushing for a big and bold change ".

Buckingham says, "I keep pushing me to be morally proactive, more outgoing, more focused on impact."

The CEO of Advance in Australia, Emma Rugge Price, says the awards they are an example of how Australians drive in their sectors across multiple sectors and exceed their weight.

"What I find extraordinary is gender equality in appointments and winners," says Rugge-Price.