Here are 7 Influential Entrepreneurs from past and present who changed the world and whose stories of struggle and success will inspire you to achieve your dreams.
1. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey, in my opinion, is one of the most incredible modern rags-to-riches tales of all time. As you might know, Oprah Winfrey is the wealthiest African American of the twenty-first century, and with a net worth of over $3 billion, she is perhaps the most powerful woman on the planet. With her difficult childhood and her struggles, her amazing performance is all the more remarkable. Oprah grew up in rural poverty as the daughter of an unmarried teen who served as a housemaid. Oprah’s family’s economic condition was so bad that she was mocked at school as a child for wearing dresses made of potato sacks. She is also a survivor of sexual assault by family members, as she revealed in an interview.
2. Walt Disney
Walt Disney began his career as a farm boy who enjoyed making cartoons of his neighbors’ horses. Walt attempted unsuccessfully to find work as a newspaper cartoonist when he got older, and only ended up working in an illustration gallery, doing advertisements for newspapers and magazines. He gradually progressed to commercial work, developed an interest in animation, and eventually established his own animation studio. Disney is unquestionably an entrepreneur who is the most powerful film moguls of all time, with an unwavering heart and loyalty for his vision. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was Disney’s first original character, but it was legally owned by Universal Pictures.
3. J.K. Rowling
For the lovers of the beloved Harry Potter book series, J.K. Rowling is a household name, but she wasn’t always gifted by magic. J.K. Rowling was at her wits’ end when her misfit group of witches and wizards came to her rescue. J.K. Rowling was struggling to make ends meet as a single mother before her best-selling novel caught the eye of the people. Her current net worth is projected to be $1 billion. Do you know that some people think J.K. Rowling sold her soul to the devil in return for the inspiration for Harry Potter? Well, we all know that’s not true.
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4. Steve Jobs
You can’t complete the list of “famous entrepreneurs” without including Steve Jobs. Jobs dropped out of college because his family couldn’t afford to support him financially. To make ends meet, he managed to audit classes unofficially, surviving on free meals from the nearby Hare Krishna temple and returning Coke bottles for change. Jobs attributed his inspiration for Mac’s innovative typefaces and font construction to a calligraphy class he attended. Jobs, dubbed “The Grandfather of the Digital Revolution,” and changed the consumer electronics world forever. His net worth was over $8.3 billion at the time of his death.
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5. Benjamin Franklin
The lightning bolt, bifocals, and the Franklin stove are all attributed to Benjamin Franklin (yeah, that last one might have been a bit of a flop). Franklin, like many other successful pioneers before and after him, wore a thousand caps. His many talents included those of a scientist, printer, politician, inventor, poet, diplomat, and astute businessman.
6. Bill Gates
Bill Gates is one of the most well-known businessmen of our days. Gates is one of the wealthiest men on the planet, with a net worth of over $79 billion. For 16 good years, he has kept the title of “world’s wealthiest man” for himself. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, the world’s largest PC software corporation, was a pivotal figure in the personal computer movement. Gates was interested in computer engineering since he was a kid, spending much of his spare time on a teletype terminal computer that his school had donated. Gates went on to find Microsoft and build the Windows operating system, which is widely used today.
7. Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen is another excellent example because of his fierce persistence and self-starter attitude. Andersen grew up poor, but at the age of 14, he set out on his own to Copenhagen after a fortuneteller assured him that, although he would struggle at first, he would soon become famous. Andersen started publishing his writing after he graduated from high school. His fairy tales were extremely famous, bringing him the glory he had been promised as a boy. Hans Christian Andersen is also well-known today for his rich fairy tales, many of which have been adapted into Disney animation classics (which, it should be noted, have much happier endings than the original tales).
