Do you know any famous entrepreneurs in the world? Well, you probably named several of them. Do you know the NO 1 most successful entrepreneur in the world such as John Roberts – CEO of Tribal Loans. A successful entrepreneur is known to have ever-changing, wealth and status, life-altering solutions, and pioneering creativity. But what else do you know about successful business owners? Read along to know some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs today, the exciting stories behind their success, what inspired them to become entrepreneurs, and some fun facts about them.

Top 10 Famous Male Entrepreneurs

1. Bill Gates

When people talk about the famous entrepreneur Bill Gates, they usually say things like wealthy, elegant, ‘competitive,’ or ‘smart.’ Among all of these traits, being completive has paved his way forward and brought him the most success in his entrepreneurial ventures. As a business owner, Bill Gates not only won the battles of Operating Systems and Internet Browsers, but he also saved the profits from his victories to fund his future venture – Microsoft. His current net worth is $127.3 billion, making him one of the most famous and wealthiest entrepreneurs in the current era.

Gates began to show interest in computer programming at a very young age. He spent most of his free time creating programs on one of the computers at his school. As an aspiring entrepreneur, he wrote his first software program at the age of 13 and founded a Traf-O-Data company that sold traffic counting systems to the government. He was later enrolled at Harvard University and began developing software for microcomputers with his friend, Paul G. Allen. Gates left Harvard while he was in junior year and began to work independently on his Microsoft project.

Bill Gates made a fortune mainly on the success of Microsoft and became a billionaire in 1986. He is a philanthropist who has been known for donating handsome amounts to charities and organizations. He established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he still works to reduce poverty, improve education, and provide access to technology worldwide.

2. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of the biggest social media platform- Facebook. He is a former Harvard student and became the world’s youngest billionaire in 2008 at age 24. Zuckerberg began programming computers when he was in middle school. As a young entrepreneur at the age of 13, he created a computer network, ZuckNet, for his family that allowed him to communicate via Ping. As a tech entrepreneur, he developed various computer games, such as Monopoly.

During his time at Harvard University, he wrote a Course Match program that allowed users to select their classes and form study groups. He also invented FaceMatch, a program that discovered who was the most attractive person on campus. It was a huge success all across campus, but it was also offensive to many students, especially women. Zuckerberg eventually ended the project and was put on probation by the university.

3. Elon Musk

Elon Musk is a South American-born entrepreneur who founded Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Musk developed an interest in computers at the age of 10 and taught himself how to program. He sold his first software at the age of 12, a game called Blaster; Musk was enrolled at Stanford University to pursue his Ph.D. in energy physics. He, however, dropped out just two days after to be a part of the internet boom. He later launched Zip2 Corporation – his very first company with his brother Kimbal Musk. In 1999, after selling Zip2, Elon used the money to launch PayPal, which eBay later acquired for $1.5 billion.

In 2002, Elon founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, also known as SpaceX. It was launched to build spacecraft for space travel. A couple of years later, NASA signed a contract with the company to handle cargo transport to the International Space Station. In 2019, SpaceX received permission to launch a fleet of satellites in low orbit to connect to rural areas. The company launched the first batch of satellites in May 2019 and later in November 2019.

The fourth company, Tesla Motors, was founded in 2003. Its primary purpose is to provide affordable solar roofs, batter products, and electric cars to the market. Musk personally oversees the design, product development, and engineering behind all products to ensure optimal quality.

4. Thomas Edison

As a young child, Thomas Edison did not get much exposure to formal education, and he spent only a few months in school. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother. Despite that, Edison was a curious child and continued to teach himself on his own throughout his life.

Henry’s career as an automobile manufacturer started in 1893 when he constructed a one-cylinder gasoline model. The first Ford engine paved the way for better and more advanced engines that powered the first automobile, which was merely a four bicycle wheel car – the quadricycle.

In 1899, he resigned from the Edison Illuminating Company and created his organization, the Detroit Automobile Company, which later went into bankruptcy. Henry Ford later invented several racing cars and defeated Alexander Winton on track in one of his cars. He later discovered his second automobile business called the Henry Ford Company. Henry established world records in the automobile industry and became a business magnate and a chief developer of the assembly line technique.

6. Walt Disney

Walt Disney was a co-founder of the Walt Disney Company, media magnate, and film producer. He was an iconic figure in the entertainment industry and helped to produce many films for kids. He created several famous cartoon characters, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. There have been several Disney Theme Parks created under his name, and he has won 22 Academy Awards out of 59 nominations in his lifetime. Walt worked in many different employment areas until he finally found the job that he had always wanted – in the film industry. He worked in the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he got the opportunity to work in animation.

His success and ambition enabled him to establish his studio by the name of Laugh-O-Gram. However, he soon went bankrupt and left for Hollywood in search of a new venture in the film industry. He set up another company with the help of his brother, Roy.

Later on, Walt created the character Mickey Mouse. Ub Iwerks drew the cartoon, and the voice was given to him by Walt. The Mickey Mouse cartoon became widely popular and grew the strength and reputation of Disney Productions. The reason behind his success was that he gave believable real-life characteristics to his cartoons that cleverly depicted the imagination of his target audience – little children. In 1933, he created the most famous cartoon of all time, the three little pigs, his most ambitious project. He also made Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that was thought to be a failure among many. Disney had the quality to understand and know what the audience wants to see and had the skill to create and present it.

7. John Paul DeJoria

John Paul DeJoria is an American entrepreneur and billionaire who founded the Patron Spirits Company and co-founded the Paul Mitchell hair products line. John has seen his fair share of struggles, but he rose to become a self-made billionaire despite all of the hurdles. At one point, he was homeless and lived in his car while selling shampoos and encyclopedias from door-to-door to make ends meet.

John finally saw success when he formed a team with Paul Mitchell and transformed an investment of $700 into John Paul Mitchell Systems – a range of styling and hair care products – which now returns at least $1 billion in revenue. The business was a huge success and gained popularity far too quickly. However, Mitchell eventually died of cancer, and John had to take over the company’s operations. Later on, he founded many other companies, such as DeJoria Diamonds and House of Blues. John’s current net worth is $2.7 billion.

John is also a philanthropist and works for numerous causes and charities throughout the world. He works hard and gives back to society as much as he can. He believes that real success comes from helping others.

8. Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet is a well-known business investor. Warren displayed an aptitude for both business and money at a very young age. Some of his acquaintances have stated that Warren used to calculate columns of numbers in his head and solve complex problems. At one point, when he was just six years old, he purchased six-packs of coca-cola from a grocery store for about 25 cents and resold each of the packs for a nickel, making a 5-cent profit. While others used to play games like hopscotch, Warren was busy making money.

At the age of 11, Warren purchased three shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38 per share for himself and his older sister. The share value went down to about $27, but Warren kept his cool and did not give up. He kept his shares until the price went back up to $40, after which he immediately sold the stakes – a mistake that he regretted later. The share value of Cities Service later went up to $200, and this was an introductory lesson that Warren learned from his first setback: patience is indeed a virtue.

Warren Buffet was born with business in his blood. He was later enrolled at the Columbia Business School for a graduate degree, where he studied under Benjamin Graham – who became a close friend – and David Dodd. He learned the basic concepts of value investing and his time at this school completely changed his life. It set him on the right path, the path he had always wanted to pursue.

9. Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg is an American businessman, author, philanthropist, and politician. He studied at Harvard University and graduated with an MBA degree in 1964. Upon graduation, he took an entry-level position at an investment bank with Salmon Brothers. He led the firm’s block trading operations; however, when Salmon Brothers were acquired by another firm in 1981, he was left without a job. Nonetheless, Bloomberg had a partnership in the firm and received $10 million (equivalent to some of the most expensive watches in the world) after the buyout, which provided him enough funding to establish Innovative Market Systems – a financial data service. Twenty years later, the organization had become a global leader in financial data solutions and was renamed Bloomberg LP. Other significant holdings of the company included the Bloomberg television, news radio station, and Bloomberg Business News wire services.

In addition to his keen sense of efficient business operations, he was also a very generous philanthropist and donated $100 million to John Hopkins University. Bloomberg also entered the race for mayor of New York and funded most of his campaign on his own, spending around $68 million from his gains. His themes focused on significant issues, including improving transit, traffic, education, and housing. He eventually won the race and started working on development projects immediately. For instance, he revitalized tourism and also eliminated the financial deficit. Bloomberg was also nominated for the presidency of the United States in the year 2020. His current net worth is $59 billion. To this day, he is considered one of the most influential people globally and is famous for his accomplishments. He is among the richest entrepreneurs.

10. Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American philanthropist and one of the wealthiest businessmen in the 19th century. He initially worked at a series of railroad jobs, and by 1889, he was the owner of Carnegie Steel Corporation, which was the largest organization of its kind in the world.

Through his railroad telegraph business experience, he learned about the railroad industry and business in general. He was later promoted to superintendent and began making investments. Carnegie was a wise man and soon realized that his oil market investments brought him substantial profits. Carnegie’s entrepreneurship skills saw him build plants around the country while using effective methods and new technology that made steel manufacturing more productive, easier, and faster. As a serial entrepreneur, he owned all of the needed materials, such as railroads to transport goods, ships, coal fields to fuel the steel furnace, and raw materials.

Carnegie credits his entrepreneurial success to the start-to-finish strategy, which made him the richest person and dominant in the steel industry. He was known as ‘America’s Builder’ as he helped shape the nation and fuel the economy to turn things around.

At the age of 65, Carnegie devoted his life to helping others and became a philanthropist. He sold his business and began building libraries, making generous donations to various charities and causes, and created the Carnegie Foundation to promote teaching and education. He was a popular figure in his time and enjoyed traveling and meeting many other prominent figures belonging to different industries.

Top 10 Famous Female Entrepreneurs

1. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most famous and influential African American women in the world. She is well-known for exceeding the most-watched daytime television show – the Oprah Winfrey Show. The show brought her worldwide popularity and led to the production of her own company, Harpo.

Folorunsho Alakija decided to expand her operations and established a company called Famfa Limited without relying on a venture capitalist. She was also granted an Oil Prospecting License (OPL). She later entered into a partnership with Star Deep Water Petroleum, where she earned significant profits that still contribute to her vast wealth. Aside from her several business ventures, Alakija is a philanthropist who donated to Sharon Foundation that supports widows and orphans by providing financial support and assistance in creating a better life for themselves. She was also appointed as the vice-chairman of the Heritage Council and Endowment for arts to aspiring young entrepreneurs in Africa.

3. Gina Rinehart

Gina Rinehart is a political activist, a business magnate, and the richest person in Australia. She is the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a mineral exploration, and extraction company that was founded by her father. She addressed issues, such as taxation and government issues that contributed to her wealth and fame. After her father’s death, Gina took ownership of the company Hancock Prospecting and became the chief executive. The business, however, had a significant amount of debt that needed to be paid. Despite the challenges, As a serial entrepreneur, Gina rose above and diversified her holdings outside mining like purchasing media companies’ shares, such as Ten Network Holdings.

Even though Gina was the kind of person who stayed low profile and rarely spoke to the media, she did speak up about specific issues, such as taxation and other government policies. In February 2011, other than being among the richest entrepreneurs in the world, Gina was recognized as the wealthiest woman in Australia, which was the first time a woman ever held that position in the continent.

Rinehart became the first woman to head the Business Review Weekly’s Rich 2000 list and became the world’s wealthiest woman by 2012 with $18 billion. She worked towards improving Australia’s economy. As a leader, she was concerned about the high amount of taxes and restrictions on foreign investments that harmed the economy. Rinehart argued that Australia needs people to invest and grow businesses to create more opportunities and better prospects for everyone. Gina continues to work for the nation’s betterment, and her estimated net worth is $23.5 billion.

4. Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart is a serial entrepreneur businesswoman who is prominent for the books she wrote on decorating, entertaining, and cooking. She is a retail businesswoman and a television personality who gained success by pursuing various business ventures in different fields, such as publications, merchandising, and broadcasting. She expanded her business and got into television and magazines, and became the CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha controls about 96% of the voting shares of her company and has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.

However, Stewart was charged for insider trading and sentenced to five months in prison. She was under investigation for selling out shares of ImClone Systems before the FDA refused to approve a cancer drug.

The stock’s value dropped sharply, and Stewart resigned from the New York Stock Exchange board four months after joining. Despite that, she received a lot of support from her fans and returned to daytime television and was later appointed the media, content, and editorial chief of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She continued to serve as the chief creative officer even after the company was acquired by Sequential Brands and remained visible and active on TV.

Stewart’s ventures, comprehensive knowledge, and perfectionism, along with her capacity to work endlessly, did not inspire many people as it displayed an impossible struggle for working mothers. It also reflected severely on some women as they felt that Martha was influencing women to take a step backward due to her home-centric reputation and approach. But her fans and some critics were swept away by her appeal that made the company a success and Martha Stewart famous for who she is.

5. J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is a British author, screenwriter, television producer, philanthropist, and film producer best known for Harry Potter’s creator – the seven books. The books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide and turned into the biggest blockbuster movies.

She started working on the first of the Harry Potter series while traveling with her daughter from Manchester to London in 1990. Rowling faced many rejections until she finally sold her first book, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for $4,000. The book was about the chronicles revolving around the life of a young wizard named Harry.

Rowling is also a philanthropist and donated most of her earnings and royalties to the Children’s High-Level Groups – a charity organization that she co-founded to support the children in Europe. She also published a guide on self-improvement to help an aspiring entrepreneur on how one should embrace and accept failure and learn to succeed by using the power of imagination.

Jo had always wanted to become a writer, and she wrote her very first book at the age of six. It was a story about a rabbit, called The Rabbit. At the young age of 11, she wrote her first novel about seven diamonds cursed and owned by people.

In 2012, Pottermore was launched, Rowling’s digital company. It later became the digital wizarding world and continues to be the publisher of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, and Wizarding World. She also published her first novel for adults in 2012, which was translated into various languages and sold many copies.

6. Madam CJ Walker

Madam CJ Walker was an African American philanthropist, political and social activist, and entrepreneur. She was one of America’s first women to become a millionaire in a short period. She was the founder of hair care products for African hair after suffering from a scalp disease that caused her hair to fall out or break. Her entrepreneurial success saw her travel around the world to give demonstrations to various people and later even developed her laboratories that manufactured various cosmetics and other beauty products.

She also carried out several philanthropic endeavors, such as donating to the construction of Indianapolis in 1913. Her life was also portrayed in a 2020 TV show called Self-Made. She lost both of her parents at the age of seven and had to live with her sister and brother-in-law. After a couple of years, Walker started working as a washerwoman and earned enough to support herself and her young daughter.

Walker’s husband helped her create advertisements for the hair care products that she was working on. Her successful business allowed her to travel with her husband around the South and the Southeast to promote her development and give demonstrations.

Her products were a success and immediately became popular among people. She also made generous educational scholarship donations for children and made donations to the homes of the elderly to improve the lives of many African Americans. Walker is still remembered and admired for her work, and her legacy lives on.

7. Angela Merkel

One of the successful people you need to know about is Angela Markel. She is a German politician who served as a leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005. She was also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. Markel is the first female chancellor of Germany and is also known for being one of the architects of the European Union. Following the 2005 national elections, Markel became a prominent figure in the European Union.

Markel made headlines when she accused the US National Security Agency of tapping her phone calls and raised the issue during a summit for European leaders. Despite the many challenges she had to face throughout her career, she was still recognized as one of the most powerful women by Forbes. In December 2018, Markel announced that she would step aside as chair of the CDU and would not consider being reelected for chancellor in 2021. Markel continues to focus on the free-market economic agenda and has also worked on redesigning the German health care system and tax reforms.

8. Sofia Vergara

Sofia Vergara is a Columbian-American model, presenter, television producer, and actress. She has been one of the highest-paid actresses in America for seven consecutive years. She is a success story best known for her acting in a popular sitcom Modern Family as Gloria. In addition, she also starred in Meet the Browns, Happy Feet 2, and Hot Pursuit. She was also nominated for an Emmy for her role as Gloria in Modern Family.

Sophia started acting in films in 2000 and became a sensation and a hit television personality soon enough. She received the Hispanic woman of the year award and was recognized for her talents by many. The show Modern Family won five Emmy awards for outstanding comedy series, and Sofia Vergara received four consecutive Emmys and also got nominated for the Golden Globe Awards.

It was announced in 2020 that Vergara would be appearing in the upcoming She also appeared in America’s Got Talent as a judge. She planted her seeds for success long before she became a highly paid big-shot actress. She co-founded Latin World Entertainment in 1994 and launched her own K-Mart clothing line and jewelry collection which became a successful business. In 2019, she partnered with Wal-Mart to debut a denim brand.

In the year 2000, Sofia Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and since then, she has been on medication to control her health and metabolism. One of her philanthropic causes is a foundation she founded to help various families in Columbia cope with cancer.

9. Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is a Greek-American businesswoman, author, and syndicated columnist. She is the co-founder of the Huffington Post and the CEO of Thrive Global. She is best-known and famous for the Huffington Post, a popular website that offers news and commentary and allows users to interact.

Huffington started her political and journalistic career while she was a proponent of small government and limited welfare. She also writes content for a TV show called Politically Incorrect, hosted by Bill Maher. Later on, she began to actively support numerous causes and made efforts to fight global warming.

In 2005, Arianna Huffington co-founded the Huffington Post, where hundreds of guests would make contributions each week. It served as a platform for news updates and highlights of important events. Her entrepreneurship venture kicked off and The Huffington Post was acquired by AOL in March 2011, and Arianna Huffington became the editor in chief for the Huffington Post Media Group, a new business, which was ranked as the most powerful blog by the Observer. She left the company in 2016 to establish her independent venture for the health and wellness of people, known as Thrive Global.

Arianna Huffington is also an author and wrote several books on various topics, such as feminism, corporate America, and politics. She has been recognized in various magazines and media outlets. For example, she was included in the list of the most powerful and influential women by Forbes.

In one incident, Huffington fainted in her office due to exhaustion and excessive workload. Since then, she realized the importance of creating a work-life balance and started advocating the same to her followers.

10. Debbi Fields

Debbi Fields is the founder and spokeswoman of Fields Bakeries. She also bakes cookies and is known for writing several cookbooks. Since the age of 20, Debbi had dreamed of becoming a successful businesswoman by selling her cookies. She did, indeed, take a bold step by asking a venture capitalist to finance a business venture that had fewer prospects of being successful and was also considered impossible by many people. with her venture capital, she opened up a chocolate chip cookie and bakery in 1977. Now, Debbi looks after the product development, public relations, brand management, and advertising of more than 600 plus outlets throughout the United States.

She has earned the reputation of providing the best product quality and superior customer service. Fields Inc. was one of the first-ever companies that took advantage of the technological advancements that allowed her to streamline the operations of her system, maintain production schedules, and create state-of-the-art computer systems. She is the author of many famous cookbooks, such as Debbi Fields and I love chocolate cookbooks.

Interesting Facts About the Most Successful and Famous Entrepreneurs

You probably know all of the famous entrepreneurs for their success and the stories behind their struggles. But what else do you know? Let’s take a quick look at the interesting facts about some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs:

Bill Gates, Microsoft

Did you know that it is not worth it for Bill Gates to pick up a $1000 bill in case he accidentally drops it? Wondering why? It’s because he will already earn that much in the few seconds it would take for him to bend down and pick up the bill. That is how fast he earns.

Harland Sanders, KFC

Sander’s secret recipe to create the perfect fried chicken was rejected thousands of times by many restaurant owners until it was finally accepted by one and added to the menu.

Sergey Brin, Google

Working on the ways to improve Google is not the only thing Sergey has in mind. He is also obsessed with working out at the company gym every single day.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

After helping billions of people to find their best friends online, Mark ended up finding his best friend too – his beloved pup named Beast. He frequently posts his pictures on Facebook.

Soichiro Honda, Honda

Before founding his own company, Soichiro Honda applied for a job at Toyota Motors but was rejected. He remained unemployed for a long time until he built his organization.

Elon Musk, Entrepreneur

After becoming a millionaire at the age of 28, he continues to dwell on the problems in the world and find solutions.

Charlie Cheever, Quora

If you are looking for some tips on Spacecraft 2, Charlie is the guy to go to. He is an advanced competitor and often likes to connect with players online through his Quora account to share tips and strategies.

Dick Costolo, Twitter

Even though he is worth $8 billion, it does not mean that he can’t share some laughs with people. He usually brings his stand-up comedy routine to various local clubs to make everyone laugh.

R.H. Macy, Macy

The next time you think about quitting on something, think about Macy. Before the smashing success of Macy, the store, R.H. had to face several rejections, started seven businesses, and failed, and each of them failed. Yet, here we are.

Josh Tetrick, Hampton Creek Foods

John was studying at the university before he came up with his idea for a startup. Since then, the company has performed incredibly well and has received investment and funding from many prominent figures in the world, including Bill Gates. He wants to change the traditional world of the egg industry and create sustainable vegan alternatives.

Duncan Bannatyne, Entrepreneur

Duncan earned money for a new bike as a child by bringing new business to the local newspaper company. He would knock on doors to get people to sign up until he had 100 subscribers, following which the newspaper company hired him as a delivery man.

Aaron Levie, Box

Being the CEO of Box is not the only thing that Aaron Levie is good at. He is also a practicing magician who entertains groups of people with his amazing presentation skills and charm.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter

Jack Dorsey is known for having very nice manners, and he is quite strict about them too, especially when it comes to pushing in your chairs after you have gotten up.

Joe Fernandez, Klout

The irony here is uncanny. Joe himself co-founded Klout, a platform to measure the influence certain social network users have. Whereas Joe himself has a very poor Klout score.

David Ebersman, Facebook

Being in charge of managing Facebook’s finances is not an easy task, but David seems to have everything under control. He even has his rock band called Feed Bomb, in which he is the lead bass guitarist.

Karren Brady, Businesswomen

Karen is known for having a diverse set of skills. She is a novelist, a television broadcaster, and an English soccer executive. Not only this but she was also voted as one of the top 100 most beautiful women in the world.

Conclusion

The list of successful entrepreneurs is large, people like Steve Job, Sara Blakely, and many others continue to inspire others to be like them. Many of us often wonder how a successful entrepreneur achieves what he/she has. It is not always apparent how a person reaches from Point A to Point Z. Everyone loves to hear the stories behind their success, but most people often do not know about the struggles and hard times each business owner had to face throughout their lives.

Whether you are a young entrepreneur, a working professional, or an aspiring entrepreneur, these stories will surely inspire you to be the next richest man or woman and to remain consistent, persistent, and steadfast in your life to reach the top. Even though the average age of most entrepreneurs is 45. you can start early and be successful.

Famous Entrepreneurs | Top 10 Famous Male and Female Entrepreneurs From Each Category

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