Pulled: Everledger’s Kemp ‘cancelled’ as Summit speaker

July 19, 2023

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Pulled: Everledger’s Kemp ‘cancelled’ as Summit speaker

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Following the $AU19 million collapse and liquidation of diamond tracing company Everledger Australia, the bad news has continued for founder Leanne Kemp.

On 11 July, Kemp – who previously served as Queensland’s government-appointed Chief Entrepreneur – began promoting herself as a speaker at the ‘Founder and CEO Summit’ hosted by the UK-based Women’s Business Club.

The event is scheduled to take place in London in November. The timing of her announcement was curious, as just 24 hours later a resolution was passed for her Brisbane-based company to be wound up.

Kemp has taken to social media to promote the event, saying in a Twitter post that she would be “sharing [her] journey and insights to inspire women in business worldwide.”

Intriguingly, Kemp did not appear on the website’s speakers page even though she had announced that she would be presenting at the ‘empowering’ event.

Jeweller contacted Women’s Business Club CEO Angela De Souza after observing an oddity on the event’s website – a missing photograph.

The guest speakers were displayed in three rows of four; however, the top row featured just three speakers and a blank space where an image had previously been published.

An advanced search of the website reveals that a description of ‘Leanne Kemp – CEO of Everledger’ remains cached by Google, suggesting that her profile had been recently removed.

When contacted, De Souza was forthright with her response: “Ms Kemp has been pulled from the lineup and won’t be speaking”.

De Souza opted not to expand on the reasons behind Kemp being dumped, nor did she detail the circumstances for her initial appointment as a speaker.

Curiously, the Club’s website displays an image stating, ‘speakers apply here’.

While Jeweller was unable to confirm the nature of Kemp’s selection as a speaker, the website and an accompanying ‘Speaker Application Form’ suggest that she may have applied to speak at the event herself, rather than being invited by organisers.

The Speaker Application Form asks potential presenters to detail areas of expertise, examples of previous talks and videos, and a 300-word biography.

While all the positives in a speaker’s application will undoubtedly be highlighted, the Club cannot vet or indeed know of any negative factors unless they undertake a thorough investigation of the applicant’s claims and credibility themselves.

This may explain how Kemp was initially approved to speak at the event before being dumped.

Kemp’s track record

Questions have previously been raised about Kemp’s business history, both in terms of practices and the accuracy of what’s publicly available.

These issues include:

Following these recent reports on the companies with which Kemp has been associated – as director and/or shareholder – various industry sources have come forward with further information.

Jeweller has been provided with documents which include screenshots of Kemp’s Linkedin account which reveal that she had previously detailed her experience at Phenix Jewellery as part of her extensive profile – information which at the time of publication, is now absent.

Phenix Jewellery specialises in insurance claims and is based in Queensland with operations in WA, NSW, and Victoria. ASIC records show that Blue Nile, the US online jewellery retailer which has annual revenue in excess of $US400 million, is a shareholder of Phenix Jewellery.

The first document is from July 2010. Kemp’s profile states: “Phenix (formed in 2002) brought together a group of very talented jewellers and designers to provide jewellery to the Insurance Industry.”

The second document is from July 2016 and seems to conduce with the launch of Everledger. Kemp’s description of her role at Phenix Jewellery had been updated – focusing more on her personal attributes than the business itself – however, remains very much present.

Everledger was launched in 2016 and while the company’s scope had since expanded beyond diamond tracing, the jewellery industry has remained a focus of her work and resume throughout.

It would therefore seem curious that the information about nine-year ownership of Phenix Jewellery – which is highly relevant to the jewellery industry – would be removed.

Kemp’s apparent decision to omit this lengthy industry-relevant experience in her exhaustive Linkedin profile is particularly glaring given the very nature of Everledger’s services – traceability, trust, and transparency.

This recent news about the liquidation of Everledger Australia on 12 July and its UK parent, Foreverhold Limited in May could have played a part in the decision by De Souza and the Women’s Business Club to suddenly ‘pull’ Kemp from the speakers list and delete her photograph and biography from the website.

Notwithstanding this, Kemp’s Twitter account continues to promote her speaking engagement at the London event for, and about, successful women; while the Club has now added seven more speakers since cancelling Kemp.

While she remains vocal on social media, addressing a range of industry issues in recent weeks, including matters of trust, and transparency in the jewellery industry – Kemp is still yet to publicly record the $AU$19 million collapse of her two companies, despite having the backing of the Tencent, $US400 billion Chinese tech giant and owner of WeChat.

She has also been unresponsive about the details of two other companies that were placed under administration and eventually deregistered.

Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Everledger, Kemp is also scheduled to be a guest speaker at an upcoming Jewellery Industry Network ‘summit’ in Sydney (26-28 August).

I’ll be speaking at the Founder & CEO Summit, sharing my journey & insights to inspire women in business worldwide. Join me for this empowering virtual event at https://t.co/0ooZ6FPuq8 #WomenInBusiness pic.twitter.com/hwjjvUqAV3

— Leanne Kemp??? (@leanne_kemp) July 11, 2023