7 Billionaire Entrepreneurs who were dirt poor
Many billionaires made their wealth thanks to being born in a rich family.
But there’s a fierce and mighty race of self-made billionaires who stand out from the rest. They are the ones who started at the rock bottom and found a way to propel themselves beyond their wildest dreams, through their wits and sheer determination.
Even though they had no money and no connections, they rose to become self-made billionaires.
Here are 7 inspiring stories of billionaire Entrepreneurs who were born very poor and went on to become billionaires.
1. Craigslist - Craig Newmark
Craig Newmark’s father Lee worked as a salesman who peddled everything from food to insurance. Life was a little tough for the family with limited money.
Craig’s father died of lung cancer shortly after his 13th birthday. His mother Joyce had to move her two sons, Craig and Jeff into a less expensive apartment.
Craig used to frequent the junkyard close to his home and grew up in poverty.
He later completed his studies and got a job. Later on he started Craigslist almost by accident and became a billionaire.
2. IKEA - Ingvar Kamprad
Ingvar Kamprad was born on a small farm in Sweden in 1926.
At this time, Sweden was agrarian and poor and life was harsh . Hard work and frugality were the main characteristics in that community.
At the age of five Ingvar Kamprad started selling matches to his nearby neighbors.
He slowly started selling more and more items and eventually opened IKEA. He later became a billionaire.
3. Whatsapp - Jan Koum
Jan Koum was born in a small village outside of Kiev, Ukraine. He was the only child of a housewife and a construction manager. His house had no hot water, and his parents rarely talked on the phone in case it was tapped by the police.
His school was in a bad shape. It was so run-down, that it didn’t even have an inside bathroom.
little kids had to stroll across the parking lot to use the bathroom in the extreme cold weather. “Society was extremely closed off” Jan says.
He initially started an app, but it didn’t take off. He changed it and WhatsApp was born,
It took off and later he sold it to Facebook and became a billionaire.
4. Forever21 - Do Won Chang
Do Won Chang and his wife Jin Sook, immigrated from South Korea.
The husband-and-wife duo, both landed in California penniless, speaking broken English and without college degrees. Their journey started with a new life in Los Angeles and it all began with gruelling work days.
Do Won immediately found a job in a local coffee shop. Since money was not enough he started working in a gas station. Yet he could not make ends meet, So, a little later he started working on a third job, his own office-cleaning business, where he worked during nights.
While pumping gas at this gas station job, he kept looking at the people who drove the nicest cars and was curious to know how they made their money.
He started noticing a pattern. The men who drove these cars he liked the best, were in the garment industry and were selling clothes.
That is when he dreamt of opening a clothing store. Even though he didn’t have any experience, he learnt it and started a small clothing store.
It slowly grew and it now has more than 500 stores worldwide.
Do won became a billionaire.
5. Huffington Post - Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington’s mother Elli was from Russia. She and her family were refugees who moved to Greece.
When Arianna was 11 years old, she lost her father.
Her mother started to support her two kids. They lived in a one bedroom apartment in Athens, Greece. She always encouraged her kids that no matter their circumstances, they can achieve what they want.
Now and then, Arianna used to borrowed money from her brothers to meet her expenses.
Arianna’s mother sold almost all her belongings to educate Arianna and her sister.
Arianna through her sheer determination studied hard and later on moved to the united states and started Huffington Post.
It grew wildly and she later on became a multi-millionaire.
6.Patagonia - Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard was born in rural Maine to French-Canadian parents in 1938.
His father, a third-grade dropout, was a laborer,
Yvon Chouinard grew up poor and was not sure what to do with his life.
He tried various things and accidentally discovered his passion–surfing and mountain climbing. He saw problems with the pitons during his climbing and decided to make them and sell them from the back of his car.
Even though he was a high-school dropout and did not know anything about business,
He started Patagonia. It grew phenomenally and Yvon became a billionaire.
7. Minecraft - Markus Persson
Markus Persson grew up in Edsbyn, a provincial town near Sweden’s eastern coast.
Markus’s father was a railroad worker.
His mother was a nurse who worked the graveyard shift at a local hospital.
He learnt programming and worked in several gaming companies.
He later started the Minecraft game as a side project while working on his day job.
He had personal tragedies during this time. Yet he kept developing the game. He intended to sell a few games, but the results were astonishing.
Later, he sold it to Microsoft for 2+billion.
