Many people start their own company to earn big bucks, but Josh Ross wondered how he could give back. Along with his best mate, Josh co-founded Humanitix, a ticketing platform that uses profits from booking fees to support projects that help disadvantaged children access education.

“We got fixed on the idea that we could use business to improve the world instead of just making money,” says Josh. “Our mission is that every child should be given the opportunity to thrive and give back to their community.”

Through Humanitix, Josh is connecting Indigenous kids around Australia with good quality education, scholarships and other programs. Humanitix is also partnering with Room to Read to work on literacy and life skills programs for young girls in developing countries.

Josh studied applied finance and accounting at Macquarie University and spent more than seven years working as an investment analyst at Watermark Funds Management where Josh Ross is using his background in finance to help those in need access education he managed investments in areas such as healthcare, gaming and retail. His financial know-how proved a handy skill when getting his startup off the ground and it helped him decide on a workable idea.

“Part of the process is figuring out whether your idea makes economic sense at scale,” says Josh. “If you financially model an idea and it doesn’t make sense, you can kill it before wasting money on it.”

Josh’s advice for maths wizards with an entrepreneurial flair is to study software development. “It’s really powerful and relevant to businesses of all shapes and sizes,” he says. “If you are a software developer and naturally commercial, you can go into any type of business.” – Gemma Conroy

Josh’s study and career pathway