If you think you need to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth in order to become a successful entrepreneur, you’re wrong. While it certainly doesn’t hurt to be born wealthy, here’s a list of successful self-made entrepreneurs who have changed the world with their innovations.
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Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg built the Facebook site while he was still a student at Harvard, and even had it taken down by the moderators after it became so popular it overwhelmed their servers!
Thankfully for Mark, that didn’t let him down. He believed in his idea to the extent that he sacrificed finishing his degree to focus on the site – and he’s now worth $63 billion!
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Dhirubhai Ambani
The founder of Reliance Industries once bought a tin of groundnut oil on credit from a local wholesaler and sold the oil in retail on the roadside when he was a child. When school was closed over the weekends, he would set up bhajia stalls at village fairs to make ends meet at home. When he was 17, he moved to Yemen where he managed the company’s oil-filling station while dreaming of setting up his own refinery. He returned to India and started his first textile mill in Ahmednagar. By 2007, the combined fortune of the Ambani family stood at $60 billion, making Ambani’s the second richest family in the world.
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Ralph Lauren
Known across the world for his iconic polo shirts and high-end ties, there was a time when fashion mogul, Ralph Lauren, couldn’t even afford his own clothes.
As a kid, when he’d get his brothers’ hand-me-downs, there was an energy in him that made him say, ‘I want to get my own things, to make my own statement.’
Somewhere along the line, that energy — coupled with exposure, through movies and a world he hadn’t known — turned into something.
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J.K. Rowling
20 years before the Harry Potter series turned her into the world’s highest-paid author, J.K. Rowling struggled through her days as a single parent, not eating so that her daughter could eat.
However, those days are long past, and the celebrated author now enjoys giving back to charitable organisations.
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Oprah Winfrey
Having been born into an abusive household in rural Mississippi, Winfrey went from being a young girl clothed in potato sacks to the richest and most powerful female media personality in the world.
Winfrey has come a long way from moving away from disruptive upbringings to graduating with honours and getting her big break as a newscaster in Nashville soon after finishing college.
Their humble beginnings didn’t stop them from reaching the pinnacle of success — and it shouldn’t stop you, either.
If this article has ignited a spark of inspiration within you and makes you want to get that big idea off the ground, hit the link to know more about how we can get you started on your journey to being an entrepreneur.