Once one of the country’s most prominent businesswomen, Annette Presley has stepped back from the limelight and now devotes much of her time to charitable causes.
Presley grew up in poverty in South Auckland and dropped out of the Auckland University of Technology. However, despite her inauspicious beginning, it’s been little but success since. Presley started her own business at the age of 24 in 1988, going on to co-found CallPlus in 1996. CallPlus grew to consist of CallPlus Business, Slingshot, Orcon, Flip and 2talk, and was eventually sold to Australian outfit M2 for $250 million in 2015.
Presley is a member of, among others, the New Zealand Hall of Fame for Women and the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame. For services to business and women, she was appointed as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2016.
She often hosts fundraisers at her Takapuna coastal mansion, which is valued somewhere in the region of $14 million. Charities she’s recently raised money for include Lifeline, her own Elicit Dream Academy for Girls and the Tania Dalton Foundation. Other charities she devotes her time to include Dress for Success, Kidz First Children’s Hospital and stepUP.
Presley credits her success to self-belief, integrity and tenacity. As she says on her website, “It’s a matter of being brave, courageous and hanging on in there when things get tough.”
2018: $100 million