Jake Christopher Clifford Millar (8 August 1995 – 29 November 2021) was a New Zealand entrepreneur and businessman who founded the companies Oompher and Unfiltered.

Early life

Millar was born in Christchurch, New Zealand and was the son of Robyn and the late Rod Millar. He was raised in Greymouth. Rod Millar died in the

2010 Fox Glacier FU-24 crash On 4 September 2010, a modified Fletcher FU-24 aeroplane on a parachuting flight from Fox Glacier Aerodrome, New Zealand, crashed shortly after take-off, killing all nine people on board. The subsequent investigation concluded that the most ...

. Millar was ambitious about business from a very young age. During his primary school years Millar's Mother Robyn helped him create and sell fridge magnets outside of supermarkets. Also with the influence of his fathers Sky Diving Business growing up, Millar saw that business was something he wanted to get into as he got older.

Career

Millar's professional business career started early during his teenage years when he was attending Christchurch Boys' High School, where he was Head Boy in 2013. There he founded his first company, Oompher, a career advice platform. Still a teenager, he sold Oompher to the New Zealand Government, with the platform being taken up by Careers New Zealand only 10 months after beginning Oompher.

Unfiltered

Millar's next venture was Unfiltered which he founded in 2015, a platform that provides inspirational interviews and advice from high-profile individuals. A notable interview Millar did for Unfiltered was with British business magnate

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

. Despite the promise of the idea with nearly $5 million raised and a $12+ million valuation at its peak, the business failed as a result of the impact of COVID-19 and Unfiltered was subsequently sold in early 2021 to Crimson Education for a combination of cash and shares.

Personal life and death

Following the sale of his business, pressure from investors and New Zealand media led Millar to leave the country for Kenya. He had previously lived in Auckland and New York City. On 29 November 2021, at age 26, Millar died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in Karen, Kenya.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, Jake 1995 births 2021 deaths 21st-century New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand expatriates New Zealand expatriates in the United States Businesspeople from Christchurch Suicides by hanging Suicides in Kenya