"I remember thinking, 'Oh yeah, that's a good idea.' So I did it. The idea focused on reality – something needed to be done for street-sleeping homeless who have no shelter and suffer needlessly from the outdoor elements," says Clark, who runs the Melbourne-based charity, Swags for Homeless.

"Humans are fragile in the outdoors," Clark  says.

Without adequate protection, you can die from hypothermia in just three hours. For bedding, the homeless need more than just newspapers full of political rhetoric,  the 2014 Westpac Community Leader says.

"They need dignity, warmth and protection from the severity of the weather." The beds he co-designed shield them so well that they are now distributed by  more than 300 partner welfare agencies  in seven countries.

On the topic of what skills are required to run his burgeoning charity, he says you need stupidity not to quit. You need determination and motivation, too, he says, also citing empathy, understanding and grit.

"I didn't do a university degree on how to set up an international charity. You just have to have the tenacity and to realise that nobody really has this information, so you can either spend a lot of money or do the research yourself,  and set it up and do it," he says, adding that hard work reaps dividends.

The toughest challenge he faces is lack of resources, he says.

"So much to do, so few to do it." His lean core team consists of just three staff, one contractor and 40-plus pro-bono corporate volunteers. He works up to 70 hours a week. The impact of his charity's work is a powerful motivator, unlike his earnings, which are well below other charity chief executives', he says.

The biggest myth surrounding his field is that homelessness boils down to one kind of person: the drunk old man.  A minority fits the stereotype, he says, but many once worked  and dereliction is never deliberate.

"Nobody wanted to be homeless. Nobody thought, Hey, when I grow up I'm going to be homeless," he says.  Every vagrant once had a mother and father – a different set of circumstances – and fell on hard times, he says. For example, you may lose your job and, unable to pay rent, move into a car.

"Things spiral out of control."

The son of a pastor and a beauty-industry business owner,  Clark was born in Mount Isa. After completing his primary education in Townsville, he moved to Melbourne with his family when he was 12. His original ambition was to own a video shop, but his career took a technical slant. He  got a degree in computing and information systems from Monash University, Melbourne.

In 1996, he founded the high-tech learning firm AVRA (Advanced Visual Realities Australasia), which has provided mass-training solutions for global and Australian stock exchange companies. In 2011,  after the success of Swags, he founded his second, international charity, Global Relief Aid, that supplies a range of high-quality kits to homeless projects.

What drives him is meeting someone who cries in his arms or says they are going to jump on a train track.

Then he gives them a backpack and hope kicks in: the head rises up; the shoulders go back.