Sharndré Kushor

Sharndré Kushor is a New Zealand entrepreneur and co-founder of Crimson Education, one of the country’s most valuable technology companies, which she helped build from a part-time tutoring job into a global education business.

Born in South Africa the year Nelson Mandela became president, her parents called her their “freedom baby”, Kushor moved to New Zealand as a child. In 2013, at the age of 18 and while studying at the University of Auckland, she co-founded Crimson Education alongside Jamie Beaton and Fangzhou Jiang. The idea was bold: democratise access to the world’s best universities by providing personalised admissions support, mentoring and strategy at scale.

Crimson grew into a global education platform operating across multiple countries, valued at more than a billion dollars, making it one of New Zealand’s newest unicorns. Kushor served as chief operating officer through nearly a decade of growth before stepping down from the executive role, continuing to serve on the board.

She has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and received Woman of the Year honours in business and innovation. As one of New Zealand’s youngest female multi-millionaires, she has turned her attention to investing, planning to launch her own investment fund aimed at helping reverse the country’s brain drain. She also founded The One Billion, a charitable foundation launched with an inaugural partnership with UNICEF New Zealand to advance equity and inclusion in education.

Kushor’s profile is noteworthy because she co-founded a billion-dollar company as a teenager, helped shape how students around the world think about university access and is now channelling that experience into philanthropy and investment. Her story shows what happens when ambition meets opportunity early and when the founder decides to stay connected to New Zealand.

Sources: NZ Herald · NBR · Channel