Not every billionaire success story is written in a billionaire’s home. Throughout the centuries there have been people who have been fuelled by nothing but grit hard work and the burning desire to achieve. Sprinkle a little luck on this, and as a result, you’ll probably get yourself one of the world’s richest persons! Some of the billionaires you read about today started as broke as you, here is a story about a few of them. Perhaps, it will inspire you to get on the Forbes list.
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson is one of Britain’s most talked-about billionaire success story. For those of you who don’t know him, he owns a conglomerate of businesses under the “Virgin Brand”. Some of his most popular products & services go by the name of Virgin Media, Virgin Mobile and certainly Virgin Galactic.
But his humble beginnings make the journey look almost impossible. Starting off his own magazine at the age of 16, Branson showed the tendency to take risks and starting a business. He set-up a mail order record business in 1970 by the name of Virgin Records and by the 80s was expanding his empire with full pace. Spread on almost every continent, Branson’s companies are thriving day by day. Net worth $5.2 billion
Joseph Ellison.
Joseph Larry Ellison is the co-founder of the world-famous Oracle Corporation. The company is famous for its database that goes by the same name and is a global leader in the field.
Born in New York but brought up in Chicago, Larry grew up an orphan as his mother gave him away, not meeting her until he was 48! His adopted father lost all his fortune during the Great Depression. The string of difficulties continued to haunt Larry until he attended the University of Chicago and developed an interest in computing! Net worth $52 billion.
Mohed Altrad
Mohed Altrad is a Syrian-born Billionaire who moved to France with the goal to succeed and escape the primitive, nomadic lifestyle.
His mother died when Mohed was young and he was raised by his grandmother. Finding it difficult to adjust into such a closed-minded society, Mohed moved to France, famously living off only one meal a day. His fortunes turned however as he bought a failing scaffolding company, transforming it into the all-powerful Altrad Group. Net worth $2 billion.
Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey belongs to a poor family in Mississippi but had her fate turned upside down when she won a scholarship from the Tennessee State University.
At a time when racial tensions were running high, Oprah became the first African American TV correspondent, that too at age 19.
In 1983, she moved to Chicago and started hosting a talk-show, which would later on become “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.
Today, she’s an established host, author, producer and philanthropist. Net worth $3 billion.
Roman Abramovich.
Roman Abramovich was an orphan who grew up in Southern Russia in extreme poverty. Being raised by someone else and in a subarctic region, made him tough physically and mentally.
He started off with a small company producing plastic toys but eventually ventured into the oil business, and quickly made a name for himself. Today he enjoys watching Chelsea Football Club (acquired in 2003), has the world’s largest yacht and a lifestyle only Kings can imagine. Net worth $8.5 billion.
Li Ka-Shing
Famous for simply being Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing made his way to the top of China’s complex eco-system with sharpness, an opportunist attitude and devotion.
Li’s father died from Tuberculosis after he returned from the Sino-Japanese war. At age 12, Li had to quit school to work at a watch-strap company. By 14, he was fully immersed in plastics. The long-hours and unforgiving managers only helped motivate Li into achieving the extraordinary.
Soon he opened up his own plastic toys and from thereon started up an entire conglomerate. Today he employs more than 290,000 people and is one of the world’s richest persons. Net worth $31 billion.
Amacio Ortego
A conquistador no-less, Amacio Ortego rules the world’s fashion industry with textile brands like Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, etc. He started off with a meagre textile company with little marketing and caught the entire retail establishment off guard. Today he invests in all types of industries, specifically real-estate and regularly switches places with Bill Gates as the world’s richest man! Bet worth $70 billion
