Today I decided to tell you the stories of billionaires who did not give up and found their place in life: billionaires without education, the youngest billionaires, billionaires after 40
We all want to succeed, but many of us need those who, with their experience and example, can infect with the desire to reach the same heights. Sometimes at moments when hands give up, when it seems that nothing will work out and everything is lost, when patience and determination run out, it is enough to look at those who were in the same situation, but did not give up and still managed to realize their dream and find your place in life. In this review, you will learn about the life of billionaires who were able to reach their goal without getting an education, who were able to earn capital only after 40 years, about the youngest billionaires and philanthropists.
Everyone dreams of becoming successful and finding their place in life, but not everyone succeeds. Someone underestimates the risks and loses money, someone lacks patience, someone chooses the wrong path. There are many reasons for failure, but there is one interesting fact: many people tend to blame circumstances and others for their failures, but not themselves. But it is the analysis own mistakes and is the key to success. Examples of those who were able to achieve success are clear proof of this.
ten billionaires without higher education;
the ten youngest entrepreneurial investors who made a billion on their own;
"It's never too late to start" - investors who became billionaires after 40 years;
the most generous philanthropist investors.
Each of them deserves special attention and each of them is unique in its own way.
Part I - Ten Non-Collegiate Billionaires
Each of the participants in this rating has its own special unique destiny. Someone thought that studying is boring and dreamed of creating their own business. Someone had a difficult moneyless childhood and had to forget about education in principle. Someone left the university in the middle of the way, and someone did not even finish school (not to mention higher education). According to statistics, about 37% of billionaires did not graduate from a university, about 24% do not have any educational documents at all. However, this did not prevent them from realizing their dream and breaking into the TOP of the richest people in the world. Agree good example to emulate.
1. Joe Lewis (born 1937) ($5 billion)
Can you call Lewis lazy? Interest Ask. After all, at the age of 15 he left school, preferring the family business. At that time, his father was engaged in catering and Lewis began to help him. When the business completely passed into his hands, it no longer made sense to get an education - he already had a very good practical entrepreneurial experience. He would later sell the business and move into foreign exchange and investing. And he will even be forced to flee from tax prosecution in the Bahamas. Today he owns more than 120 restaurants and the Tottenham Hotspur football club. The billionaire is also known for being a partner with George Soros in an attack on the Bank of England.
2. Richard Branson (born 1950) ($5.1 billion)
Until the age of 8, the most famous billionaire in the UK could neither read nor write, suffering from dyslexia. Already in childhood, Branson showed with all his actions that he was not eager to learn. Almost finished his studies, at the age of 16 he leaves school. The director of the school then looked into the water: "You will either become a rich man, or you will go to prison." After dropping out of school, he founds his first business, Student magazine. To interest readers, he began publishing free articles by John Lennon, Mick Jagger and other stars. He then opened a record company, calling it Virgin. Today, Virgin is a brand that brings together about 400 companies of various profiles, ranging from air travel and telecommunications to space tourism and the creation of video games.
By the way, here it would be worth mentioning another rich resident of the UK, Roman Abramovich, with a fortune of about 9 billion pounds. He also does not have a higher education due to a lack of desire to study. But he owes his fortune more to connections with Russian oligarchs and politicians, as well as gray business schemes.
3. Paul Allen (b. 1953) (net worth $20.1 billion)
Allen was born into a family of a teacher and a military man, and since elementary school became interested in technology and electronics. He began to study programming from the 6th grade and later this will become a decisive factor - after studying for 2 years at the University of Washington, he leaves the university and becomes one of the co-founders of Microsoft.
He began to show his first entrepreneurial abilities at the age of 12. Working during the holidays at the post office, he realized that new residents of the area were more willing to subscribe to newspapers, after which he created a kind of network of informers - friends who informed him about new arrivals. After entering the University of Texas, he planned to become a doctor, but left it and founded a small computer assembly company. Today, the Dell corporation he created is one of the largest in the world in this segment.
5. Li Ka-shing (born 1928) ($33 billion)
In March 2018, the 89-year-old billionaire, one of the richest people in Asia, announced that he was leaving the business, sort of ending his career. And he has much to be proud of. Born into a poor teacher's family, he lost his father at the age of 14 due to tuberculosis and was forced to drop out of school. Working at a factory for the production of plastic flowers, in 7 years he was able to save money, which was enough to open a similar small production. Success was brought to him by transactions with real estate that fell in price against the backdrop of political instability in Hong Kong. Today, the billionaire's two main companies account for about 15% of Hong Kong's stock market capitalization. Kashin also invests in logistics, retail, biotechnology, engineering, and telecommunications.
6. Francois Pinault (born 1936) ($33.8 billion)
All that the French billionaire has from his education documents is a driver's license. He did not like studying since childhood, besides, he was forced to endure the bullying of classmates because of his low birth. His father was a timber merchant, an idea that Pino took over. At the age of 27, successfully married, he founds his first company (although the marriage did not last long). Then he met Jacques Chirac, who would later help him. In addition to wood and paper production, Pino was involved in the supply of cars and medicines to Africa. Today he also owns auction house Christie's and Rennes Football Club.
7. Larry Ellison (born 1944) ($57.4 billion)
Allison tried twice to get higher education both times unsuccessfully. First, he was forced to drop out of the University of Illinois after 2 years of study. Then he studied for a semester at the University of Chicago. Both times he was forced to leave the university by circumstances. However, this did not stop him from founding a software and database development company, which today we know as Oracle.
8. Mark Zuckerberg (born 1984) ($77.6 billion)
After the advent of the Internet era in the early 2000s, hundreds of technology startups began to appear. True, apart from a beautiful cover, they could not offer anything, and in 2000 most of them ceased to exist after the collapse of dot-com. Zuckerberg didn't stop. The idea of creating a social network has become a kind of dream of a future billionaire. And even if for the sake of its implementation I had to quit Harvard University, after 2 years the network became available to every Internet user.
9. Amancio Ortega (born 1936) ($96.4 billion)
The childhood of the future billionaire was not easy. Father worked for railway, the mother was a servant and the family was sorely lacking money. At the age of 13, Ortega was forced to say goodbye to school and look for work. Having settled down as a messenger in a shirt shop, he gradually began to adopt the experience of tailoring and selling clothes. Later, he opens a factory for sewing bathrobes and lingerie, but almost goes bankrupt after a large customer refuses a batch of goods. Then Ortega decided to sell clothes in his own chain of stores, creating what we know today as the Zara brand. Today, Amancio also invests in real estate.
10. Bill Gates (born 1955) ($93.3 billion)
Like Paul Allen, Bill chose to forego his studies at Harvard University in order to devote himself full-time to Microsoft. Some subjects were definitely not given to him, and after 2 years he was expelled from the university. And as it turned out, it was only for the best.
Also, the billionaire from the United States of Armenian origin Kirk Kerkonian (1917-2015) should be added to this list. Born into an immigrant family, after the 8th grade he was forced to drop out of school and become an auto mechanic. During the war, he ferried bombers from Canada to the British Isles, earning start-up capital. First big business was the trade in aircraft and the opening of charter flights, which at that time were rare.
Part II - It's Never Too Late to Start - Billionaire Investors After 40
We continue our motivational rating with a list of people who have earned their first billion after 40 years. Not everything is given at once, often it is patience, perseverance and determination that bring the very result, which turns out to be almost the meaning of life. Someone from today's rating only by the age of 40 found his place in life, catching a wave of success. And someone persistently built a business empire for more than half of his life, systematically bringing ideas to life. The example of these people shows that it is never too late to find yourself and start doing what you love.
1. Ray Kroc (1902-1984).
The father of the future billionaire died early enough, according to one version, without experiencing a nervous shock after bankruptcy during the Great Depression. And Ray himself hardly thought that he would become famous. By the age of 50, he had diabetes and arthritis, partially removed the thyroid gland and gallbladder, and the work of a traveling salesman (selling paper cups and mixers) did not bode well. In 1952, he met two brothers who ran a fast food restaurant and got the idea to develop this direction. In 1955, he opens the first McDonald's restaurant, in 1961 he fully buys the rights to it and creates a whole network.
2. Henry Ford (1863-1947).
The company of the same name founded by him at the dawn of the automotive industry produced the cheapest cars. Ford was one of the first to launch an assembly line at his plant in 1913, becoming an innovator in this industry. But it all started hard. In 1879, Ford proposed a design for a car that was never built. In 1903, a copyright infringement lawsuit was initiated against Ford, which lasted 8 years, but ended in Ford's victory. Only in 1908 with the release of the Ford T model did success come to the company.
3. Michael Bloomberg (b. 1942).
At 24, the future billionaire and mayor of New York gets a job at Solomon Brothers, where he worked as a trader for 15 years. After the company acquired a new owner, it was reduced, but did not give up. In 1981, he created the Bloomberg news agency, which analyzed the state of affairs online. financial markets. The "chip" of the agency was in the use of computer technology, which few people heard about at that time, which made it possible to occupy a niche in this sector.
4. Sam Walton (1918-1982).
It is unlikely that Walton suspected that he would be engaged in entrepreneurship. Until 1942, he worked in small positions: selling magazine mailings, raising rabbits for sale, working as a manager. In 1942, he enters the US Army and after the end of the war he realizes that he needs to live somehow, and the system of the world has already fundamentally changed. He tries himself in retail renting a shop in a small town. Here he begins to apply his own sales technologies: wholesale direct (without intermediaries) purchase of goods, promotional discounts, work on weekends. Walton opened his first store in 1962 at the age of 44. In 1979, there were already more than 220 stores, and today this network is known to us as Wal-Mart.
5. Reid Hoffman (b. 1967).
He dreamed of the Internet for a long time and even at its first appearance he created SicialNet.com at the age of 30 - an analogue, a prototype of social networks, a dating site. The project turned out to be unprofitable and in 1999 Hoffman left it. But he didn't stop. Until 2002, he worked at PayPal, being a director before the takeover of eBay. Only in 2002, he was able to realize his idea of a social network, literally 2 years ahead of Mark Zuckerberg, but later becoming one of Facebook's investors in its early stages of development. Today we know this project as one of the first business social networks LinkedIn.
6. George Soros (b. 1930).
You can criticize this person for as long as you like, but this does not detract from the fact that he was able to achieve a lot. And in what way (remember the same attack on the Bank of England) is the second question. George got into the sphere of investment relatively late - at the age of 26, but even then he was able to offer interesting idea earnings on international arbitration. Only at the age of 39 did Soros become the manager of the fund, and only in 1973 did he create own fund Quantum Fund. Today he is one of the richest people in the world.
7. "Colonel" Garland Sanders (1890-1980).
As a child, this man had everything, but he chose to become a volunteer in the army. Until the age of 40, Sanders worked in many areas: a fireman on the railroad, a farmer, a miner. It wasn't until he was 40 that he started making chicken dishes, which he sold to those who stopped at his local gas station. A unique recipe that allows you to cook chicken faster than in a frying pan becomes Sanders' passport to the big financial world. In 1950, he begins to form the famous image: Aristocratic white suit, signature mustache and goatee. This image will become the face of his company KFC, which was waiting for serious tests and which it passed with honor.
8. Momofuku Ando (1910-2007).
According to one version, a survey was conducted in Japan in 2000: respondents were asked to name the main Japanese invention of the 20th century. Strange as it may seem, but the 1st place in the poll was taken by... Instant noodles! And it was Ando, at the age of 48, who was able to offer the technology for its production.
9. Amancio Ortega (b. 1936).
The billionaire already participating in the previous rating earned the first big capital only after 40 years. His childhood was difficult, because it was not easy to find start-up capital. Being engaged in the production of knitwear, Amancio had no competitive advantages and therefore could not increase production. His first factory appeared when he was 37 years old (in 1972). And only in 1975 did he succeed with the creation of his own sales network, which at that time was an innovation.
10. Mary Katherine Wagner (Ash) (1918-2001).
One of the few female entrepreneurs who was able to build an entire business empire. In 1939 she became a sales manager ( sales representative), seeking to increase sales of household goods through presentations. At the age of 45, tired of wage labor, she starts her own business by buying a recipe for skin care lotions. Her customer-centric business philosophy, sampler idea, and interesting marketing gimmicks allow the business to grow into an entire corporation. Today Mary Kay has more than 200 cosmetic products and more than 1,200 people at the company's headquarters alone.
Part III - The 10 youngest self-made billionaire entrepreneurs
Many billionaires have become so thanks to their parents, who left them money by will or gave them a share in the business. These people basically continue the business started by their parents with rare exceptions (for example, Tom Persson, who chose the career of an actor, or DJ Julio Mario Santo Domingo III). But there are also those who managed to earn their first billion on their own before the age of 40. And their experience deserves respect.
Back in 2015, Theranos was valued at $4.5 billion. USA. Elizabeth Holmes was 31 at the time. Mastermind, she was involved in the development medicines. It is not known how long her company would have continued to exist if it were not for an unfortunate incident, as a result of which it turned out that most of the test results were lies. The SEC immediately removed Holmes from management, and Theranos is now virtually on the verge of bankruptcy. The rest of the participants in our rating are more successful.
1. John Collison (age 28, $1.1 billion)
"Irish genius" - this is the name of Collison, who at the age of 17 earned $ 5 million. USA on the sale of Auctomatic, which develops tools for eBay. In 2010, with the support of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, he founded Stripe, a company developing solutions for receiving and processing electronic transactions. In 2016, Collison was recognized as the youngest billionaire in the world to earn a billion dollars. USA myself.
2. Bobby Murphy (age 30, $3 billion)
Another young billionaire who has taken the path of a technological breakthrough. Having gained experience while studying at a university in relation to the creation small projects, he, together with Evan Spiegel (net worth about 2.1 billion US dollars), creates the Snapchat messenger. It is intended for the exchange of photo and video information, but its trick is that the information is available to the recipient for a short time, after which it is deleted automatically. The idea quickly caught on.
3. Drew Houston (age 35, $3.2 billion)
And again, a person becomes a billionaire who, at the peak of the popularity of platforms, services and applications, creates a unique product that instantly becomes in demand. In 2007, Houston developed Dropbox, a workspace for storing and processing data that allows you to organize your work and quickly find the files you need.
4. Nathan Blecharczyk (33), Joe Gebbia (36) and Brian Chesky (36) - $3.8 billion USA for everyone.
But these guys can be safely called the exception of this rating. In 2008, they offered the world a platform to connect tenants and landlords around the world with Airbnb. The idea was immediately appreciated by travelers and those who are forced to urgently look for housing in other cities and countries. For 10 years, billionaires have attracted about 3.4 billion dollars. USA investments, during the same time the site was visited by about 150 million people, about 30 million used its services, there are about 1.5 million offers of houses, apartments for both long-term and short-term rent in the database.
5. Jack Dorsey (41, $4.8 billion).
The idea of creating Twitter came to him while studying at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Working as a programmer in the dispatch service, he realized the need for instant messaging. In 2000, Dorsey created a platform for sending couriers and taxis over the Internet. And in 2008, his main service, Twitter, was launched. It is noteworthy that initially Dorsey dreamed of launching his line of jeans and in his youth was considered an irresponsible and frivolous person.
6. Robert Pera (age 40, $5.1 billion).
Comparing Apple to his ambitions, Pera said that Apple is an outstanding company, but he would like to do better faster. His corporate experience allowed him to quickly grasp the promise of wireless technology. In 2009, the sale of his model of autonomous systems for organizing wireless communications begins. Today, his company Ubiquiti is one of the leaders in the production of wireless equipment, which is distinguished by its approach to organizing the process of selling goods. Robert's goal is to be as successful as Cisco and Huawei.
7. Travis Kalanick (41, $6.3 billion).
Having sacrificed his studies, in 1998 Kalanick created the Scour file hosting service. In 2000, under pressure from lawsuits regarding copyright infringement, he declares the project bankrupt. In 2001, he makes a second attempt to create a peer-to-peer file-sharing network, which he successfully sells in 2007. In 2009, he creates the third serious project - Uber, which brings him fame. True, due to a series of internal conflicts in 2017, Kalanick is forced to leave the post of head, but the task has already been completed: he is a billionaire.
8. Jan Koum (42, $7.5 billion).
The future billionaire was born in Kyiv and emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1992. He never graduated from university, preferring to work at Yahoo, where he worked from 2000 to 2007. In 2009, he creates one of the most popular instant messengers WhatsApp, which for $ 19 billion. US buys Facebook in 2014. Until April 2018, Jan Kum continued to develop the messenger, but after that he was forced to leave due to disagreements with the management.
9. Dustin Moskowitz (age 34, $15.6 billion).
His fortune brought him participation in the development of social Facebook networks, where until 2008 he played the role of the second person. The desire to create his own working project prompted him to leave Facebook (albeit retaining a small share of the shares) and create Asana, a company operating in the technology and innovation market (creating applications for project management in small companies).
10. Mark Zuckerberg (age 34, $77.6 billion).
This person has already been briefly discussed in a previous article. By betting on the development of social networks and sacrificing his studies for this, Zuckerberg did not lose. Although Facebook is in a fever in 2018 and competitors are on the heels, Mark remains a billionaire.
Part IV - The Most Generous Philanthropist Investors
What does a person who has everything he wants need? What does a person who already has billions, real estate, yachts, islands and even free time need? For people managing their billion-dollar fortune, it makes no fundamental difference whether they have 5 billion more or less, they need fame, recognition and respect. Every person wants people to remember his good deeds, every person wants to be useful to society.
1. Gordon and Betty Moore(289 million US dollars).
The co-founder of Intel and his wife have been supporting various areas of science for several years, investing approximately the same amount annually (adjusted for inflation) for more than 15 years. According to the total amount of donations, the Moore couple is in the TOP-10 of the most generous investors in the world. Most of the money is allocated to science, protection environment, training. Also, at their expense, the largest telescope in the world is being built.
2. James Simons(293 million US dollars).
Mathematician, academic, trader who made his money managing hedge funds - in his 80s he continues to invest in educational and medical projects different countries. He rarely gets into the TOP, giving preference to individual interesting projects.
3. Paul Allen(341 million US dollars).
The co-founder of Microsoft has been a top philanthropist in the world since 2011. Priority direction of financing - Scientific research and especially neuroscience. He created an institute for the study of the brain, where he invested about 500 million dollars. USA only at the time of creation.
4. Walton family(454 million US dollars).
The Wal-Mart founder family opted for a narrow funding profile. In 2011, thanks to them, the Museum of American Art appeared, where about 1.3 billion dollars were invested at the start alone. USA.
5. Charles (Chuck) Feeney(482 million US dollars).
“A billionaire without a billion” is the name of the founder of Duty Free Shoppers, one of the few who gave money to charity during his lifetime. He keeps getting passive income, but immediately gives it away. According to him, he only needs as much money as he can spend. He travels all over the world to select charitable objects, getting personally acquainted with each project that requires a grant.
6. George Soros(531 million US dollars).
His foundation open society The Foundation is mainly engaged in supporting education by giving grants to scientists, students, and researchers. Another direction of the fund is the financing of organizations that defend the rights of people. Soros is often criticized for supporting the media under the guise of protecting free speech and transparency, but in fact buying them.
7. Michael Bloomberg(600 million US dollars).
The former New York City mayor and news agency owner has donated money to more than 850 organizations, with a focus on health and environmental projects.
8. Bill and Melinda Gates(2.142 billion US dollars).
In 1999, thanks to Gates, a charitable foundation appeared, which at an early stage supported various kinds of technological developments (platforms, startups). Later, the fund will finance medical developments, help third world countries cope with hunger (humanitarian aid), etc. In 2010, together with Buffett, he created a kind of “Giving Pledge” club, whose members undertake to give at least 50% of their money to charity.
9. Warren Buffett(2.861 billion US dollars).
Has friendships and partnerships with the Gates family, supporting their foundation. Already transferred in the amount of more than 30 billion dollars. United States and wrote a will in which he promised to give charitable foundations 99% of his fortune.
Interesting fact. Not all billionaires and millionaires are eager to join the “Giving Oath”, not everyone wants to part with their money. Mark Zuckerberg, Carlos Slim also periodically got into the rating of the most generous philanthropists, but almost every year the list of the most generous billionaires does not change.
In conclusion, I want to say a well-known truth: Millionaires and billionaires are not born - they are made. So keep it up :)
Although it will not be easy to break through to the top of Olympus without an entrepreneurial streak, determination, flexibility and the ability to establish contacts remain decisive factors. It happens that it takes more than a dozen years to find your place in life. But what one person started, his children can continue. Family business over time grows into huge corporations, but there is another way. It is enough to be a few steps ahead: to see promising directions, not be afraid to take risks within reasonable limits and be able to find something that will be interesting to people. I sincerely wish you to find your place in life, find your favorite occupation that would bring you profit. And if you've already achieved some success, share your experience in the comments!
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The driving force of the modern economy, as well as the reason for improving the welfare of society, are entrepreneurs who, playing with competition among themselves, trying to earn more money unwittingly have a positive impact on society. Successful entrepreneurs are also role models for many individuals, as they thanks to your incredible efforts, daily work, some of them become owners of large sums of money. We have compiled a rating of 9 famous US entrepreneurs (because this country is the source market economy and competition), which can be called a model of success.
On the first place is undoubtedly Bill Gates, one of the founders of the famous company Microsoft. Since early age Bill tried to win in various contests and promotions. At a young age, Bill Gates began writing his first programs for amateur computers. Through hard work and a lot of luck, Bill Gates created the Windows operating system that the whole world uses today. Thanks to the constant demand for his product, Bill Gates has become one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world (he has more wealth than many countries). Due to the fact that Bill Gates was able to become the richest entrepreneur from a simple Harvard student, he is at the top of the ranking.
Second the place is occupied by the well-known Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. He can be called a truly great US entrepreneur, because. thanks to his company, the first user computers appeared. Throughout his career, Steve Jobs was haunted by failures, difficulties before which he did not lose heart. Thanks to their determination, tablets and smartphones of Steve Jobs are the most popular and in demand today. Even after his death, devices created by Apple do not lose their popularity.
John Rockefeller ranks in our ranking third place. An American entrepreneur who lived in the 19th century built his business on oil. Using the time of the American Civil War, when both sides were happy to buy oil from John, he rose to prominence, owning more than 3 percent of the entire US GDP during the oil rush.
On the fourth location is Mark Zuckerberg, a well-established popular social network on the Internet - Facebook.com. From early childhood, Mark was engaged in programming - he created the simplest games. As a student, Mark wrote a user taste recognition program for a music player (Microsoft offered $2 million for it). Also, at this time, Mark created a prototype of the social. networks - a site where students could upload their photos and vote for photos of friends. Today, the site Facebook.com is one of the leaders in terms of traffic.
Fifth the place is occupied by an entrepreneur from the USA Thomas Alva Edison, who improved telephones, telegraph, film equipment, under his leadership the first commercial incandescent lamp (sample) was developed. It was Thomas who first suggested using the word "Hello" when picking up the phone.
sixth takes place Solomon Price, founder trading companies"FED-MARCH" and "PRICE CLUB", was recognized as the father wholesale trade. Price was a talented leader - he was impatient, did not like idleness and bad job, tried to always go forward, which, of course, allowed him to get to the 6th line of our rating.
On the seventh location is Ted Turner- a well-known billionaire who built his fortune on entertainment stations: TBS, CNN, etc. Due to his determination, as well as incredible hard work, Ted Turner can be attributed to the list of the greatest US entrepreneurs.
eighth the place is in the hands Oprah Winfrey, which earned its capital with the help of TV shows. She went down in history as the first female billionaire. Thanks to the fact that Oprah was not afraid of difficulties, and decided to take risks in order not to become a simple TV presenter, her life is now described in entrepreneurship schools around the world.
Fred Smith, supervisor famous company"Fedex", takes 9 place. The company is the first of its kind to provide express delivery services. Fred has come a long way to his successful fortune, but in the end, we can call him one of the great entrepreneurs in the United States.
Every time a global crisis occurs, it hits the main areas of human life. As a rule, companies collapse with a crash, production facilities are closed with a bang. But in the general chaos there are entrepreneurs who not only do not pay attention to such shocks, but also benefit from them. And for some, such conditions become prerequisites for the development of their own multi-million dollar business.
Of course, if we talk about successful people from other countries, especially distant ones, the example looks uninspiring. After all, these great successful people developed in different conditions than ours. Therefore, we will not shake the air in vain, but we will talk about several entrepreneurs in Russia who today have millions of dollars of capital.
Domestic entrepreneurs
The most famous example throughout the country is Russian young entrepreneurs who created social network In contact with. Almost all the founders and ideologists today have sold their shares in the business. The reason for this, as one of the main founders Pavel Durov admitted, is the impossible conditions within Russia for the development of honest private business. He complained that the service is constantly trying to seize, divide, change, and then sell. After all, he has a huge impact on the public. But Durov did not fight the pressure, but simply emigrated abroad and travels around the world, not staying anywhere for a long time. And gradually develops a new project with his team.
But we are more interested in the very fact that, despite the complex economic period, it was possible to create such a powerful commercial project. For example, one of Durov's partners, Vyacheslav Mirilashvili, invested $30,000 in his business at the start of the business, and six years later became Russia's dollar billionaire, and the youngest at that.
But these are not the only well-known domestic entrepreneurs today who have reached amazing heights in business in difficult economic times. Let's talk about a few more below.
Maxim Nogotkov
Even during the crisis period, Nogotkov stated that the Russian market is favorable for the development of his business: there are many unfilled niches and a low level of competition. He did not throw words into the wind, and four years after such a statement, he was included in the rating of the 200 richest entrepreneurs in Russia thanks to the creation and management of the Svyaznoy group of companies.
Ilya Shershnev
Not all well-known businessmen in Russia started their business in their student years, but Ilya is one of those. As a student, he worked for the real estate company Penny Lane Realty. Having gained the necessary experience there, he founded his own Swiss Realty Group. By the beginning of the crisis, the company's annual turnover was $ 10 billion. But Shershnev had no experience in keeping his offspring afloat in difficult conditions, so it had to be closed. But the entrepreneur did not retire, remaining to work in this area as an expert, evaluating and managing the real estate of three shareholders.
Dmitry Salikhov
Before founding his business, Dmitry changed three various works. With the latter, he was fired due to a reduction in staff in connection with the impending crisis. But this did not disappoint him. Like many other entrepreneurs, he used this opportunity to start his own business.
It consisted in the provision of transfer transportation. He began with cooperation with several drivers in their cars, who, by agreement, met passengers at airports and delivered them to the specified addresses. When enough funds were raised to open his own office, Salikhov began to cooperate with the best taxi services. This gave I’way the status of an organization and led corporate clients. Now the company had two offices - one in each of the capitals of Russia.
But Dmitry did not stop there. Today, the services of his company can be used in 65 countries in 200 cities. At the same time, Salikov himself admits that he did not expect such a scale of business. His only desire was to occupy a free niche.
Andrey Guzairov
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Andrei worked in the West, where he spied on an idea for own business in Russia. After accumulating suitable start-up capital in three years, he opened CreditCardsOnline. The purpose of the project was to form a database of offers from all Russian banks to open credit cards. Today, 25% of the company's shares belong to the Finam Global fund, and the entrepreneur himself has a couple more Internet projects related to finance.
Andrey Romanenko
Before implementing successful idea, Andrey sold computer games, then made polyethylene
packages, and the start-up capital was earned on the manufacture plastic cards. It was quite a profitable business, but Romanenko felt that something more universal could be created. Thinking about options, he came up with the idea of creating Qiwi payment terminals. Initially, he did not make big bets on the project, but it turned out to be surprisingly successful. Already in 2013, it had more than 65 million users every month and a billion dollars of capitalization.
Vsevolod Starkh
Perhaps we lied, saying that Shershnev is one of the few who started a business while studying at a university. Vsevolod Fear surpassed him, starting entrepreneurial activity while being a high school senior. Even then, he was acutely aware of the need to earn his money, and the Internet provided the best opportunities for this. He started simply: he created his own website, bought a thousand USB cables in bulk and resold them online through his resource. When the enterprise began to develop successfully, he named the Sotmarket online store and began selling various accessories for mobile phones. Having accumulated enough funds, he further expanded his assortment with telephones themselves, then with small inexpensive equipment.
In 2012, he sold a controlling stake to the IQ One Holdings fund, and the online store grew in value to $ 100 million. The ideologue and founder himself continues to independently monitor the comments that customers leave on the resource. And there are up to 5 thousand buyers per day.
Dmitry Kibkalo
The formation of this entrepreneur is a confluence of various successful accidents. Although there is a whole category of people who believe that there are no accidents. And in a way they are right. And the case began with the fact that an employee of the production center Dmitry Kibkalo decided to give his father a board game "Jackal" for his birthday. The difficulty was that this pirated game was invented back in the 70s, and today it was not on sale.
Then Dmitry recreated it and turned to the manufacturers for a seal. It is strange why he did not apply to popular centers operational printing, where they do similar things from one copy and more. In any case, this difficulty played important role in the further viability of Dmitry. He found a company that agreed to print the minimum batch of such a game - 100 copies. He gave one to his father, as planned. The remaining 99 were gradually sold out via the Internet, literally returning the invested money in just a month. Dmitry liked it and he created the Mosigra company, which began to sell board games but in offline format. Today, the chain of stores unites 17 own points of sale and 71 franchising projects. And they work not only in Russia. In total, Dmitry receives about 450 million rubles from the project.
Gevorg Sargsyan
It is difficult to describe Sargsyan's success. He did a fairly simple thing - he removed the adaptation of foreign games to Russian realities from the status of "pirated" products. True, such a step only looks simple from the outside. Before him was the need to sign a contract with foreign game manufacturers. To achieve this, I had to include all available communication skills and embellish my abilities and achievements a little. However, the contracts were awarded, Innova was established and successful business today brings Gevork one and a half billion rubles. The company is engaged in game projects in the amount of more than ten pieces, the most famous of which are Planet Side II, Lineage II, Aion and others. (11 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
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Today, many seek to open their own business and thereby get financial independence. But the world of business is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Special laws reign here, according to which only the strongest survive. No wonder well-known entrepreneurs advise newcomers to always keep their eyes open, otherwise competitors will devour them in an instant.
But how to understand what's what in a world where big money rules? The answer is simple: study the experience of well-known businessmen and draw the necessary conclusions. But for this you need to know who they are - the most famous entrepreneurs in Russia and abroad.
Who is an entrepreneur
First you need to understand that, because despite the fact that this concept is very common, many still do not know its true meaning.
So, an entrepreneur is a person who is engaged in any kind of activity (production of things, provision of services or resale of goods) in order to obtain material benefits. At the same time, he is a leader who bears the burden of responsibility for the products, and also monitors all stages of production.
It is important to remember that an entrepreneur is a strong-willed person, because he always puts his money and reputation on the line.
The history of entrepreneurship
The first businessmen appeared long before the introduction of money into circulation, in those distant times when market relations based on mutually beneficial exchange. And those who were mothers and smarter always sought to sell their goods on more favorable terms.
Naturally, with the advent of money, entrepreneurship became even stronger, because now it was possible to calculate the benefits much more efficiently. Many have heard the saying “War is the engine of progress”, and so, the more conflicts there were, the faster the market developed. In circulation were weapons, overseas goods, as well as slaves, which for a long time were considered a universal currency in many states.
But the very word "entrepreneur" arose much later. It was introduced into the vocabulary by the French economist and philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say, and it happened in 1800.
Notable Entrepreneurs of the Past
We will not recall the businessmen of the Ancient World, since there is no reliable information about them, and there is no special benefit from their methods either. It is more reasonable to consider those who achieved fame not so long ago, opening the doors to a world of great opportunities, or rather, the great businessmen of the twentieth century.
The most famous entrepreneurs of the last century:
- Thomas Edison. The name of this man is familiar to many to this day. Thanks to his innovative ideas, electrical appliances became the norm. The telephone is one of his first creations, for which he received $100,000 from Western Union. Among his other merits, one can note the kinescope, as well as modernization. After Edison left General Electric, which became one of the leading manufacturers of electrical appliances in the world.
- Henry Ford. The founder of the great corporation Ford Motor Company, whose glory cannot be expressed in words. But not in the automobile business lies Henry's success, no. First of all, he was a great entrepreneur who always knew how to subdue competitors with his ideas for
- Bill Gates. It is difficult to find someone who does not know about Microsoft, because operating system Windows is now on almost every computer. Although in 1976, when Bill Gates first opened it, no one believed in the prospects of the new industry. The reason for this triumph was an unshakable belief in himself and in his dream, because when Gates had to choose between work and study, he chose the first without hesitation.
- Founder of McDonald's fast food chain. Ray was not a cook, moreover, he did not even come up with the menu in the first restaurant. The very idea belonged to the McDonald brothers, but the far-sighted Kroc, sensing the benefits, bought all the rights to the company in 1961. After much effort, his chain of branded eateries has spread all over the world.
- Steve Jobs. Another genius information technologies dropping out of college for his dream. Many know him as the founding father of such a giant as Apple. Also, thanks to his ideas, Jobs managed to make his brand the dream of millions, which significantly increased his sales revenue.
Famous Russian entrepreneurs
As for Soviet times, all plants and factories were under the leadership of the state, and entrepreneurs were equated with criminals. But with the collapse of the USSR, everything changed dramatically. Now everyone could compete for their piece of the pie, using their own tricks for this.
The most famous entrepreneurs in Russia:
- One of his fortune is measured at 15 billion dollars. During his life, he tried many ways to earn money - from carpentry to oil trading. The latter brought him such a large capital.
- Roman Abramovich. This man was popularly called the "aluminum tycoon", which is directly related to his line of work. Rabinovich himself believes that his success lies in the fact that he works tirelessly until he reaches the intended goal.
- Back in the days Soviet power Mikhail earned by speculating on theater tickets. Over the years, his income increased significantly, which allowed him to penetrate into more prestigious areas of business. Many famous entrepreneurs speak of him as a shark that will tear apart everything in its path.
- Former leader"Gazprom", which has concluded many important contracts for the sale of gas.
- Elena Baturina. Well-known entrepreneurs of Russia are not only men, and Baturina - good to that example. This business lady owns several cement plants, as well as a network of the largest construction plants in Moscow.
The youngest entrepreneurs
AT recent times the younger generation is catching up with their mentors more and more rapidly. So, many well-known entrepreneurs of the world have barely crossed the threshold of 30 years, moreover, half of them are still teenagers.
First of all, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social network Facebook, should be noted. At the time of opening, he was only 20 years old, which did not become an obstacle on the way to world fame.
Tom Thurlow is a well-known English entrepreneur who, at the age of 19, opened his book sales network. It was he who released the famous Harry Potter series, which made him even richer.
Chad Hurley is the man who invented YouTube. At the age of 31, he sold his offspring Google for $1.65 billion, making him one of the richest people on the planet.
Women in tough business
There are many examples of women becoming successful entrepreneurs. Therefore, we consider only the most famous representatives of the fair sex.
- Coco Chanel. She changed the world of fashion and also stole the hearts of many men. All famous entrepreneurs spoke of her as a reformer and saw her as a worthy competitor.
- Oprah Winfrey. In addition to hosting one of the most famous talk shows in the US, Oprah is also a talented entrepreneur. Many are sure that she is able to turn into gold everything that her hands touched.
- Mary Kay Ash. She founded the Mary Kay Cosmetics cosmetics company, and was also the first to introduce a network sales system into it.
The most unusual ways to make a fortune
Well-known entrepreneurs are not only serious people, among them there are those who go through life with humor. It was partly due to this feature that they managed to earn their first millions.
The German Robert Pot for a long time headed a waste collection company in the city of Wuppertal, but this occupation did not bring a decent income. One day he had a wonderful idea to organize a museum, where the exhibits would be rubbish from the city. As practice has shown, such a business could bring him his first million.
Many well-known entrepreneurs are happy to share their experience, and some even publish books with invaluable advice. Do not miss the opportunity to read them, because such knowledge can change life for the better.
Summing up what they have read, many will agree that the main thing is not to give up and always follow your dream. After all, only in this way can success be achieved, regardless of the difficulties encountered on the path of life.
A small rating of well-known Russian and foreign entrepreneurs represents businessmen who have made a fortune from scratch. All of them are distinguished by their originality of thinking: one of them helped to get rich interesting project, others - "mortgage auctions".
Technomessia
This is how Elon Musk is often called for his ability to predict trends in the development of new technologies. He is one of today's most famous entrepreneurs, owns high-tech companies SpaceX and Tesla Motors, co-founder of SolarCity and PayPal. With a net worth of $20.9 billion, he is ranked 53rd on the 2018 list of the richest people in the world. And in the ranking of the most influential people on the planet - in 21st place. The main projects that Musk is currently engaged in are the creation artificial intelligence, transport system Hyperloop (high-speed train in a tube), design spaceships and the creation of a human colony on Mars.
He opened his first business while studying at the University of Pennsylvania, organizing an underground night club. In 1995, Elon and his brother opened the Zip2 yellow pages site. Four years later, they sold the business for $307 million, Musk earned $22 million, because he owned only 7% of the company. Of these, 12 - invested in the payment project electronic system PayPal. In 2002, the company was sold, and Elon earned $180 million.
In 2002, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, known worldwide as SpaceX. He himself invested $ 100 million, and also attracted investments from private investors and the US Department of Defense DARPA agency. In 2006, NASA signed a contract to ship 12 shipments worth $1.6 billion. In 2008, the first docking of the Falcon-1 spacecraft with the space station took place.
Chinese Ali Baba
Jack Ma is China's most famous entrepreneur, ranked 20th on the Forbes world list with a net worth of $43.1 billion. His family was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, so Jack struggled to get a higher education. For a long time he worked as a teacher and translator from English.
In 1999, Ma created the Alibaba Internet portal, which sold Chinese goods. In 2003, the auction resource Taobao was organized. With two platforms, the group controls up to 80% e-commerce China. In 2014, she held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, the Ali Baba Internet portal raised $ 25 billion, becoming the most successful in the world.
Best Japanese Investor
The richest Korean in the world and the richest man in Japan in 2017, Masayoshi Son, ranked 88th in the Forbes Entrepreneurship Index with $15 billion in assets.
He was born on the island of Kyushu into a poor Korean family of a moonshine fisherman. As a child, when they found out that he was Korean, according to Son, sometimes stones were thrown at him. Like all his relatives, he bore the surname Yasumoto, but upon obtaining citizenship in the 90s, he decided to return to his family name. Officials did not register him for a long time, citing the fact that there is no such surname in Japan. Then his wife, a Japanese citizen, changed her surname to Son, and he took advantage of this.
He earned his first serious money in 1979, when he studied at the University of Berkeley. Son suggested that a physics professor develop an electronic voice translator, which he then sold to Sharp for $423,000. He was the world's richest man for three days and also holds the record for instant bankruptcy - about $70 billion was lost in 2000 when dot-coms collapsed.
Son founded one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world - Softbank. He also invested in about 600 companies. The most successful and well-known of them are Alibaba, Yahoo, Japanese operator cellular communication SoftBank Mobile, US cell phone carrier Sprint Nextel. Son is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the information technology sector.
One of Softbank's latest investments was in the development of the world's first emotion-sensing robot PEPPER. These bots are now used in almost all developed countries of the world. In 2017, he bought leading dynamic robot developers Boston Dynamics and Schaft.
From Chukotka to Chelsea
Roman Abramovich is in 12th place on the Forbes list with a fortune of $9.1 billion. For 8 years he was the governor of Chukotka and made a good contribution to the economy of the region. He is now Russia's most famous entrepreneur thanks to the Chelsea football team, which he bought in 2003. At the end of May 2018, he received Israeli citizenship.
He lost his parents at the age of four, grew up in an uncle's family in Ukhta. In 1974 he moved to another uncle in Moscow. Since the 90s, he has been engaged in mediation and commercial activities. In 1993, Abramovich worked with Boris Berezovsky, becoming a trader for Noyabrskneftegaz. Due to their closeness to the Yeltsin family, in 1995 they established the Siberian Oil Company. In 2005, Roman Abramovich sold 73% of the company's shares to Gazprom for $13 billion and was the richest man in Russia for a whole year.
From beer to can
Many probably do not remember Tinkoff beer, but everyone knows the largest online bank of the same name. One of the most famous entrepreneurs in Russia, Oleg Tinkov, ranks 43rd in Russian ranking Forbes with a fortune of $2.2 billion.
He earned his first money by selling scarce goods bought from foreigners. From 1993 to 1997, his company "Technoshock" was engaged in the sale of electronics. Having sold the company for $7 million, he invested it in the production of dumplings under the brand name Daria. The business was sold for $14 billion in revenue. The businessman earned about 200 million from beer. Since 2005, his main project is Tinkoff Bank. This is the first and largest online bank specializing in remote banking. Net profit in 2017 reached 19 billion rubles, revenue growth was 73%.
Dear contact
The youngest successful entrepreneur in Russia, Pavel Durov, is ranked 56th in the Forbes rating in the section "200 richest businessmen in Russia." His fortune is 1.7 billion dollars.
During his studies, he led a forum for students. In 2006, using his own developments and taking Facebook as a model, he created the social network VKontakte. The brand is now valued at around $1.5 billion. By several tranches by 2014, the network was completely sold to Mail.Ru Group. Durov's only asset today is the Telegram messenger, whose monthly audience is 200 million people. In 2013, the businessman emigrated from Russia. Together with the development team, Pavel travels the world, working on Telegram and not staying more than 1-2 weeks in one country.
Russia's last oligarch
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was born in Moscow into a family of chemical engineers who worked all their lives at the Moscow Kalibr plant. This is probably why he also decided to enter the Moscow Chemical-Technological Institute named after D. I. Mendeleev. He graduated from the Institute with honors, worked there for some time.
In 1987, he earned his first money by organizing an entrepreneurial structure under the district committee of the Komsomol, which was engaged in the sale of computers and alcohol. The main business was the cashing of budget money. In 1989, Khodorkovsky and his partners created the Menatep bank. He, along with another top manager of the bank, Nevzlin, becomes an adviser to Russian Prime Minister Ivan Silaev. And he meets Chernomyrdin, who became the chairman of the Russian government in 1992.
In 1996, as a result of loans-for-shares auctions, Menatep acquired a 45% stake in Yukos, the second largest oil company and the first in terms of oil reserves. Competitors were not allowed to bid for formal reasons, the bank paid 159 million dollars, only 9 million more than the starting price. Further, another 33% of the shares were bought out at auction, an additional issue was carried out and the state block of shares was diluted. As a result, Menatep received a 90% stake in Yukos.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky optimized the management system of an oil company and put into practice numerous methods of "tax optimization": from direct understatement of the tax base, transfer prices to the sale of oil under the guise of "well fluid". Almost all of these methods were used by all Russian oil companies. However, only Yukos was punished for this.
As many experts believe, the reason for the criminal prosecution was political activity Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky financed the opposition parties of the State Duma - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Union of Right Forces, Yabloko. In 2014, in an interview with the Financial Times, he said that he negotiated with various factions to carry out constitutional reform. The powers of the president were to be reduced, and Khodorkovsky planned to become prime minister.
Second young
Alexander Romanenko has not yet been included in the Forbes lists - his greatest achievement is getting into the first places in the ratings of young Russian famous entrepreneurs. His fortune is estimated at 185 million dollars. Now he is engaged in venture investments, the founder of the ITech Capital and AddVenture II funds.
The first successful business was the sale of express payment cards for communication services. Having occupied 60-80% of the Moscow market, he earned the first few million dollars. In 2003, Alexander initiated a project - Qiwi terminal payment service. Currently, it is a company with a turnover of 10.6 billion rubles.
pharmaceutical king
Thundering all over the country in the 90s, one of the richest Russians of that time - Vladimir Alekseevich Bryntsalov, has long gone from shocking. The fortune, which in the best years was estimated at 2 billion dollars, by 2007 shrank to 100-250 million and continued to decrease. The last known business project is the reconstruction of the Caucasian Riviera complex for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
In 1987, he created the Pchelka cooperative, which was engaged in the production of honey. Together with the Moscow Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant named after Karpov, he began to produce medicines based on honey. He bought the initial 12% stake for 500 million rubles, paying in cash. After that, he bought shares from the workers, acquiring control of the largest pharmaceutical company in the country. On the basis of the plant, the Ferein company was created, which in those years produced up to 30% of medicines. After numerous scandals, the company was liquidated in 2008.
Vladimir Alekseevich Bryntsalov was a deputy State Duma two convocations, a candidate for the presidency of Russia in 1996.