Andrew Carnegie grew up poor in a one-room cottage but became a steel tycoon, donating millions to educational causes. Samuel Walton milked cows and delivered newspapers as a boy but founded Walmart, becoming the richest man in the US. Oprah Winfrey experienced hardship and abuse as a child but became the richest African American of the 20th century and wealthiest self-made woman in America. These stories profile seven entrepreneurs who rose from humble beginnings to achieve great success.

1. 7 INSPIRING RAGS TO RICHES
STORIES OF ENTREPRENEURS
BY- KISHAN PANCHAL

2. ENTREPRENEURS
• Andrew Carnegie
• Samuel Walton
• Oprah Winfrey
• Larry Ellison
• Li Ka-shing
• Jan Koum
• Dhirubhai Ambani

3. The steel tycoon who
grew up in a one-room
weaver’s cottage:
Andrew Carnegie
His first job was at age 13 as a bobbin boy,
changing spools of thread in a cotton mill 12
hours a day, 6 days a week in a Pittsburgh
cotton factory.

5. • By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest of its kind in the
world.
• He donated millions to the New York Public Library, established the
Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, which is now known as
Carnegie-Mellon University, created the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, and formed the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.

6. The retail giant who had to milk
cows, deliver newspapers:
Samuel Walton
• He milked the family cow, bottled
the surplus, and drove it to
customers. Afterwards, he would
deliver Columbia Daily Tribune
newspapers on a paper route.
• In addition, he also sold magazine
subscriptions.

7. • Forbes ranked Sam Walton as
the richest person in the United
States from 1982 to 1988.
• At the time of his death in
1992, he had 1,960 Wal-Mart
stores, employed 380,000
people and clocked annual
sales of about $50 billion.

8. The Queen of all media who was raped at age 9: Oprah Winfrey
• Oprah Winfrey is dubbed
as the ‘Queen of all media’
and ranked as the richest
African-American of the
20th century.
• She has often spoken
about the hardships she
experienced during
childhood, saying she
was raped at age 9 and
at 13, after suffering
years of abuse, she ran
away from home.

9. • While in high school,
she landed a job in
radio and began co-
anchoring the local
evening news at the
age of 19.
• As of 2014, she has a
net worth in excess of
2.9 billion dollars and
has overtaken former
eBay CEO Meg
Whitman as the richest
self-made woman in
America.

10. The CEO of Oracle who was born to an unwed
Jewish mom: Larry Ellison
• According to Wikipedia,
Ellison contracted pneumonia
when he was nine months old
and his mother gave him to
her aunt and uncle for
adoption.
• He left the University of
Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign after his second
year without taking his final
exams because his adoptive
mother had just died.

11. • In 1977, he founded
Software
Development
Laboratories (SDL)
with two partners
and an investment
of $2,000.

12. The richest man
in Asia who had
to quit school at
15: Li Ka-shing
• He was born in Guangdong province, China. After his father’s death, he was
forced to leave school to support his family before he turned 15.
• Today, Li’s businesses cover almost every facet of life in Hong Kong, from
electricity to telecommunications, from real estate to retail, from shipping to the
Internet. The Cheung Kong Group operates in 55 countries and employs over
260,000 staff worldwide.

13. • In 1977, he founded
Software Development
Laboratories (SDL)
with two partners and
an investment of $2,000.
• In September 2011,
Ellison was listed on the
Forbes List of
Billionaires as the fifth
richest man in the world.
Ellison is still the third
richest American, with a
net worth of about $36.5
billion.

14. The poor Ukrainian immigrant
who became a Silicon Valley
mogul: Jan Koum
• He immigrated to California with his
mother when he was 16.
• He used to sweep the floor of a grocery
store and stood in line to collect food
stamps. By 18, he was an expert computer
hacker.

15. • In January 2009, Koum
bought an iPhone and
realized that it would
spawn a whole new
industry of apps.
• On his birthday,
February 24, 2009, he
incorporated WhatsApp
Inc. in California.

16. The polyester prince who
sold bhajia at village
fairs: Dhirubhai Ambani
• An anecdote from his
childhood is that he once
bought a tin of groundnut
oil on credit from a local
wholesaler and sold the oil
in retail on the roadside.
• He earned a few rupees as
profit from this transaction.
Apparently, during
weekends when his school
was closed, he used to set
up bhajia stalls at village
fairs to make ends meet at
home.

17. • His detractors accused him of illegal or unethical
transactions and acts but an investigation by the
RBI did not find any evidence of it.
• By 2007, the combined fortune of the Ambani family
stood at $60 billion, making Ambani’s the second
richest family in the world.

18. Bibliography
• http://yourstory.com/2014/05/rags-to-riches/
• https://www.google.co.in/webhp?sourceid=ch
rome-
instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-
8#q=dhirubhai%20ambani

19. THANK YOU…!!