Whispir’s Jeromy Wells Likes a Challenge

New Zealander Jeromy Wells, the chief executive and founder of listed cloud communication platform and workflow software company Whispir, denies COVID-19 is the best thing that has ever happened to him, Patrick Durkin reports for The Australian Financial Review.

Once the market came to grips with the potential of his company’s services amid the changed world of work, the share price shot the lights out, rising to A$2.28 at close of markets two weeks ago – a rise of 230 per cent in just two months.

Despite the share price rise, the former architect says his fortune has been 20 years in the making, after he created the start-up in Melbourne in 2001.

“I would really categorise COVID-19 as an unanticipated but welcome tailwind,” Wells tells The Australian Financial Review. “If anything, COVID-19 has shone a light on how valuable our services are.”

Whispir’s customers include BHP, Rio Tinto, Telstra, Foxtel, Australia Post and Qantas as well as global players, but since the crisis it has been asked to help many government agencies get up and running within 24 hours to respond to COVID-19.

Original article by Patrick Durkin, The Australian Financial Review, May 25, 2020.