If information is capital, and knowledge is power, then what does that make data? For the people who devote their lives to parsing it, it is nothing less than the raw material that creates understanding – making it the most valuable resource imaginable. And yet for so much of the world, data remains an obscure and remote thing: the currency of corporations and scientists; not everyday people. Duncan Clark has made it his mission to change that.

As a data journalist at The Guardian, it was Duncan Clark’s job to divine the stories hidden inside massive sets of data, and present them to the world in a manner that could be understood. The fundamental difficulty of that simple intention is what led him to create his first company, Flourish – a visual storytelling platform that made data presentable and understandable. That work caught the attention of the disruptive design suite Canva, who acquired Flourish in 2022, and have since named Duncan Clark their Head of Europe. Canva already reaches nearly 200 million users a month – and has achieved a valuation of 2.5 billion dollars.

But for Duncan Clark, this is about more than the growth of a company; it’s about democratising the raw power of data, and ensuring that everyone the world over has all of the “ingredients of understanding” at their fingertips. In this inspiring conversation, we see how Duncan Clark kept that mission at the forefront of his mind, as he made his incredible leap from journalism to entrepreneurship and beyond.

Rewire is a Cup & Nuzzle production for the GSMA

Series Producers: Abby Hollick & Frank Palmer

Producer: Louise Sinnerton

Executive Producers: Graham Hodge & Matt Everitt

Production Manager: Maxim Taylor

GSMA:

Head of Brand & Content Strategy: Julie Mahoney

Global Creative Director: Andy Robinson 

Project Manager: Osaze Obazuaye 

Senior Video Creative: Christopher Waggott