Entrepreneurs
Industrial Pioneer
Dhirubhai Ambani
Born in 1932 in a Gujarat village to a schoolteacher father, Dhirubhai Ambani worked as a migrant la
Henry Ford
Born on a Michigan farm in 1863, Henry Ford founded Ford Motor and introduced the Model T and assemb
John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) founded Standard Oil in 1870 and controlled 90% of U.S. refining at
Shibusawa Eiichi
Born in 1840, Eiichi Shibusawa became "Father of Japanese Capitalism," founding 500+ firms yet refus
Benjamin Franklin
Born in Boston in 1706, the fifteenth child of a candle maker. Benjamin Franklin was apprenticed to
Ratan Tata
Born in 1937 in Mumbai, India, into the distinguished Parsi (Zoroastrian) Tata family. Ratan Tata se
Andrew Carnegie
Born in 1835 to a Scottish weaver, Andrew Carnegie emigrated at twelve, dominated U.S. steel through
Tech
Elon Musk
Born in South Africa in 1971, Elon Musk built the electronic-payments foundation with PayPal, then c
Masaru Ibuka
Born in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, in 1908, Masaru Ibuka co-founded Sony with Akio Morita and
Jack Dorsey
Born in Missouri in 1976, Jack Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006, bringing 140-character microbloggi
Mark Zuckerberg
Born in New York State in 1984, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory in 2004
Bill Gates
Born in 1955, Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft and drove the PC revolution. He topped Forbes' list 18
Sergey Brin
Born in 1973 in Moscow, Sergey Brin emigrated to the United States at age six. At Stanford he met La
Larry Page
Born in 1973 in Michigan, Larry Page met Sergey Brin at Stanford graduate school and developed the P
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs (1955-2011) co-founded Apple, was fired, built NeXT and Pixar, then returned to launch iM
Akio Morita
Born in 1921 into a Nagoya sake-brewing family, Akio Morita co-founded Sony with Masaru Ibuka. From
Travis Kalanick
Born in 1976 in Los Angeles, Travis Kalanick co-founded the P2P file-sharing service Scour and the c
Jensen Huang
Born in Taiwan in 1963, Jensen Huang is a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur who co-founded NVIDIA in 1
Jeff Bezos
Born in New Mexico in 1964, Jeff Bezos left Wall Street to found Amazon as an online bookstore in 19
Reed Hastings
Born in 1960 in Massachusetts, Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997 after serving in the Peace C
Jack Ma
Born in Hangzhou in 1964, Jack Ma failed the gaokao twice, taught English, then co-founded Alibaba i
Manufacturing
Robert Bosch
Born in 1861 in Wuerttemberg, Germany, Robert Bosch founded a small precision-mechanics workshop in
Werner von Siemens
Born in 1816 in Germany, Werner von Siemens was an electrical engineer and industrialist who establi
Sōichirō Honda
Born in 1906, Soichiro Honda rose from repair apprentice to found Honda Motor in 1948. He conquered
Kōnosuke Matsushita
Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989), Japan's God of Management, left school at nine and built Panasonic
Kiichirō Toyoda
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1894, Kiichiro Toyoda was the eldest son of Sakichi Toyoda, t
Akio Toyoda
Born in Nagoya in 1956, Akio Toyoda is the grandson of Toyota Motor Corporation founder Kiichiro Toy
Kazuo Inamori
Born in Kagoshima in 1932, Kazuo Inamori founded Kyocera and KDDI, each a trillion-yen enterprise. A
Sakichi Toyoda
Self-taught inventor born in 1867, Sakichi Toyoda created the automatic loom and jidoka. His patent
Consumer
Mary Kay Ash
Born in 1918 in Texas, Mary Kay Ash drew on twenty-five years of direct-sales experience before foun
Anita Roddick
Born in England in 1942 to an Italian immigrant family, Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976
Coco Chanel
Born in 1883 in a French poorhouse, Coco Chanel freed women from corsets, popularized jersey and the
Milton S. Hershey
Born in 1857 in Pennsylvania, Milton Hershey overcame three business failures before building a cara
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Estée Lauder
Born in 1908 in New York as the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Estee Lauder started by selling sk
Levi Strauss
Born in 1829 in Bavaria, Germany, into a Jewish family, Levi Strauss emigrated to the United States
Sara Blakely
Born in 1971 in Florida, Sara Blakely worked as a fax-machine saleswoman and at Disney World before
Madam C. J. Walker
Born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 on a cotton plantation in Delta, Louisiana, to formerly enslaved parent
Phil Knight
Born in 1938 in Oregon, Phil Knight conceived the idea of importing Japanese athletic shoes in his S
Retail
Ingvar Kamprad
Born in 1926 in Smaland, Sweden, Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA at 17 and revolutionized the furniture
Tadashi Yanai
Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, in 1949, Tadashi Yanai took over his father's small menswear sh
Ray Kroc
Born in 1902 in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. At 52, Ray Kroc encountered the McDonald brothers' ha
Sam Walton
Born in 1918 in Missouri, Sam Walton built the world's largest retailer from a small Arkansas town.
Howard Schultz
Born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, Howard Schultz grew up in public housing and attended college on
Entertainment
Richard Branson
Born in 1950 in England, Richard Branson launched a student magazine at 16 and has never stopped sta
Walt Disney
Born in Chicago in 1901, Walt Disney overcame repeated failures to build an animation empire, create
Herb Kelleher
Born in 1931 in New Jersey, Herb Kelleher was a lawyer-turned-aviation-executive who co-founded Sout
