List of the Most Famous Entrepreneurs | 2022 Updated

Famous and popular entrepreneurs are the one who changed the way the world think about stuff. These popular and famous inspirational business leaders are from different domains and always topped the list of their game and are great role models. All of these world famous and great entrepreneurs are the most successful business people in the world. They have a unique similarity in them i.e. they believed in themselves mostly since an early age and worked towards that goal for success and fame. Hard work and dedication towards work are the things what makes a good entrepreneur. You can learn a lot from the life story of these famous entrepreneurs in the world.

List of the World Famous Successful Entrepreneurs:

Wold Famous & Most Successful Entrepreneurs’ lessons

Elon Musk

Elon Musk | Most Successful Entreprenuers

Valued at $282 Billion, Elon Reeve Musk, is one of the most famous entrepreneurs and the richest person in the world. He is professionally known as Elon Musk. Elon Musk owns SpaceX the largest aerospace manufacturer, a clean energy and electric vehicle company, Tesla Inc., and The boring Company, a tunnel construction company. Elon Musk also co-founded Neuralink Corporation, a neurotechnology company, and owns an AI-based research laboratory, Open AI.

Elon Musk has a diversified interest in business fields. He has founded high-tech companies like The Boring Company, SpaceX, and Neuralink Corporation. He owns the largest aerospace manufacturing company and the world’s biggest infrastructure company providing tunnel construction services. Elon Musk is a business tycoon, successful investor, industrial designer, and engineer. Musk also co-founded X.com which was merged with online bank Confinity.

“Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.” – Elon Musk

Books recommended by Elon Musk –

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel – Buy Now
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – Buy Now
• Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom – Buy Now

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos | Successful Entrepreneurs in the World

Jeff Bezos, the ecommerce tycoon, was born on 12 January, 1964 in Mexico. The 55 year old man is the founder and CEO of Amazon, the largest ecommerce company. His biological father is Ted Jorgensen but his mother, Jacklyn Gise divorced Ted and married another man, Mike Bezos. Jeff was graduated from Princeton University with degrees in Electrical engineering and Computer Science. He worked at Fintel to build their system for international trade.

He later changed career to banking industry in 1988. But after 5 years, he decided to start his own company. In 1994, Jeff Bezos started Cadabra, an online bookstore. The name was later changed to Amazon as it starts with an “A”, beginner of alphabet. Jeff got the initial capital of 300,000 from his parents to start the company. The company later transitioned into an ecommerce platform for all the product. Bezos has seen many ups and downs in his career. In fact, his company was almost bankrupted in 2002 due to over spending of funding. However, Jeff Bezos took Amazon out of that storm. As of 2021, Jeff Bezos is the second richest person in the world with a net worth of over $202 Billion.

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” – Jeff Bezos

Books recommended by Jeff Bezos –

• Built to Last by Jim Collins – Buy Now
• Creation by Steve Grand – Buy Now
• Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – Buy Now

Sanjiv Bajaj

Sanjiv Bajaj

Born on November 2, 1969, Sanjiv Bajaj is among one of the most successful Indian businessmen, investors, and philanthropists. He is the Chairman of Bajaj Finance Limited and the Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv Limited, the holding group company for all the financial services business of the Bajaj Group. The Bajaj Group is one of the oldest and largest conglomerates in India. Bajaj Finserv consisting of lending and insurance companies, has an annual revenue of over $ 9.18 billion for FY22.

Under his leadership, Bajaj Finserv has emerged as one of India’s leading diversified financial services companies with solutions across lending, insurance, and wealth advisory category. With a consumer-first, digital approach and a culture focused on excellence through innovative disruption, Sanjiv is known for pioneering digital consumer financing in India, which helped transform the entire landscape of the financial services space.

“We have always focussed on building long-term businesses  built on excellence, sustainable profit.”

William Henry “Bill” Gates III

Bill Gates | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on October 28th, 1955, William Henry “Bill” Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. In 1975, Gates with Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft with a vision to be a successful and famous Entrepreneur of all time. They never knew their fortune and their hard work would enlist them in the world’s largest Personal Computer software company. In recent years Bill Gates has devoted more time to philanthropic activities.

During his career journey at Microsoft, Bill Gates held the positions of chairman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Software Architect (CSA). Uptill May 2014 he had the highest individual shareholder. He has authored and co-authored several books. However, Bill Gates has been always ranked in the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people since 1987, and he was the wealthiest entrepreneur from 1995 to 2007, then again in 2009, and then from 2014 to 2017. Bill Gates is the most famous entrepreneur and holds the Guinness World record for inventing “World’s First Microcomputer” in 1980.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”- Bill Gates

Books recommended by Bill Gates –

• Business Adventures by John Brooks – Buy Now
• Tap Dancing to Work by Carol Loomis – Buy Now
• Life is What You Make It by Peter Buffett – Buy Now

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg

Born on May 14th, 1984, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is one of the famous businessman in the world. He is the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and co-founder of Facebook, now rebranded as Meta. Since his adulthood Mark was keen to take up his future as a smart, influential and famous entrepreneur. As of 2017, his net worth is estimated to be the US $128 billion, ranking him as the 5th richest person in the world.

Facebook was launched by Zuckerberg from Harvard’s dormitory rooms on February 4, 2004. He was aided by his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes. The group then introduced Facebook to other college campuses. Mark is among the most famous entrepreneurs in the world. Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world as a part of its Person of the Year distinction since 2010.

“Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.” – Mark Zuckerberg

Books recommended by Mark Zuckerberg –

• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull – Buy Now
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind By Yuval Noah Harari – Buy Now
• The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley – Buy Now

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy

Narayana Murthy | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on the 20th, August 1946, Nagavara Ramarao is commonly referred to as Narayana Murthy and is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation providing business consulting, engineering, technology, and outsourcing services. His varied distinctive knowledge has led him to be a famous entrepreneur with showering success on his way. He is one of the famous Indian businessmen.

He started Infosys in 1981 and served as its CEO from 1981 till 2002 and as its chairman from 2002 to 2011. Fortune magazine has listed Murthy as one of the greatest and top Indian entrepreneurs of all time. Time magazine has described him as the Father of the Indian IT sector due to his contribution to outsourcing in India.

“It’s very important to learn quick lessons from your failures, very important to recognize symptoms of failure pretty early, and it is very, very important to not to be attached too much to the idea – you have to know when to give up an idea.” -Narayan Murthy

Books recommended by Narayana Murthy –

• Winners Never Cheat Even in Difficult Times by Jon M Huntsman – Buy Now
• What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel – Buy now
• The Republic by Plato – Buy Now

Lawrence Joseph “Larry” Ellison

Larry Ellison | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on August 17th, 1944, Lawrence Joseph Ellison, commonly known as Larry Ellison is an world famous and most successful American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has co-founded Oracle Corporation and thrives to become a famous entrepreneur by creating the best possible value of his software services to the most valued customer. Larry Ellison was the CEO of Oracle from its foundation until September 2014. At present he is the executive chairman and chief technology officer. Forbes magazine listed him as the seventh-wealthiest in the world and as the fifth-wealthiest person in America, with a fortune of $51.9 billion as of February 2017.

“When I do something, it is all about self-discovery. I want to learn and discover my own limits.” – Larry Ellison

Books recommended by Larry Ellison –

• The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists by Mathew Josephson – Buy Now
• The Age of Napoleon by Susan Conner – Buy Now
• The Fountainhead by Any Rand – Buy Now

Michael Saul Dell

Michael Saul Dell | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on February 23rd, 1965, Michael Saul Dell is an American business magnate, investor, author, and philanthropist. Michael Dell is the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world’s leading providers of information technology and infrastructure solutions. Michael wasn’t the only famous entrepreneur to ride the computer boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s from rags to riches.

Like Rod Canion of Compaq and Steve Jobs of Apple, Dell turned a fledgling start-up into a multibillion-dollar computer empire. But unlike the ill-fated Canion and Jobs, who lost control of their creations as they grew, Dell has managed to hold on to the reins of his maverick venture and achieve the unique distinction of being the computer industry’s longest-tenured CEO. As of February 2017, he is ranked the 37th richest person in the world by Forbes, with a net worth of US$20.8 billion.

“There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.” – Michael Dell

Books recommended by Michael Dell –

• The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson – Buy Now
• Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin – Buy Now
• Abundance by Peter H. Diamandis & Steven Kotler – Buy Now

Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on January 28th, 1940, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world from 2010 through 2013. Carlos Slim is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He secured his fortune from his large holdings in a significant number of Mexican companies through his empire, Grupo Carso.

He was ranked #7 on Forbes list of billionaires since 31 July 2016, with a net worth that is estimated at more than $50 billion. His empire includes education, entertainment, energy, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, transportation, retail, real estate, media, hospitality, high-technology, sports, and financial services. However, his great effort and a constant hunger to be a famous entrepreneur have bought him a great tenure of success.

“Technology is going to transform people’s lives and society everywhere in the world. I spend most of my time studying new technologies. My main task is to understand what’s going on and try to see where we can fit in.” – Carlos Slim

Books recommended by Carlos Slim –

• The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G Hagstorm – Buy Now
• The Money Machine by Philip Coggan – Buy Now
• Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey Sachs – Buy Now

Sergey Brin

Sergey Brin | successful entrepreneurs in world

Sergey Brin is a computer scientist. Sergey Brin founded Google with Larry Page. The two became billionaires as Google developed into the world’s most popular search engine and a media giant. In 2006, Google purchased the most popular website for user-submitted streaming videos, YouTube, for $1.65 billion in stock. In November 2016, Brin was ranked No. 13 on Forbes’ “Billionaires” list, and No. 10 among U.S. billionaires who made the list. Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, parent company of Google, in December 2019 but remains a controller shareholder and a board member. As of 2021, Sergey Brin has net worth of $48.2 Billion.

Books recommended by Sergey Brin –

• “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” by Edward Hutchings – Buy Now
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson – Buy Now
• How to Read a Book by Dr. Mortimer Adler – Buy Now

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson | successful entrepreneurs in world

Born on 18th, July 1950, Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of the Virgin Group, which manages more than 400 companies. Richard Branson is very popular for his lifestyle and charity. His vision was well accomplished since he started his journey from an early age.

Richard started with a magazine called Student at the age of sixteen. Although it was his first business venture which curated a wonderful entrepreneurship journey which made him a famous entrepreneur. In 1972, he set up a mail-order record business and he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores respectively. Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he set up Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for “services to entrepreneurship” in March 2000. He became one of the most prominent figures in British culture for his work in retail, music, transport, taste for adventure, and for vast humanitarian work. Forbes listed Branson’s estimated net worth at $5.2 billion in July 2015.

“There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you.” – Richard Branson

Books recommended by Richard Branson –

• Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill by Matthieu Ricard – Buy Now
• Big World, Small Planet: Abundance within Planetary Boundaries by Johan Rockstrom, Mattias Klum – Buy Now
• One Hundred & One Reasons To Get Out of Bed by Natasha Milne – Buy Now

Conclusion

The above list contained examples of biggest foreign entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurs in India. These well-known popular entrepreneurs are an inspiration to us all and following their lives will provide you with ideas of success. All the most popular entrepreneur have gone through the worst and the best of their life. As of 2020, these international successful entrepreneurs are working hard for their companies and at the same time, inspiring the struggling entrepreneurs from their business ideas and business stories. Hope, this list of the greatest entrepreneur examples and their entrepreneurship examples helped you to know how to be a successful entrepreneur. This list of successful entrepreneurs and their stories teach you to struggle in life. Let us know if we left any inspiring and famous entrepreneurs.

FAQs

Who are the most successful entrepreneurs in the world?

The most successful and famous entrepreneurs in the world are:

• Jeff Bezos
• Elon Musk
• Sanjiv Bajaj
• Bill Gates
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson
• Sergey Brin
• Carlos Slim
• Michael Saul Dell
• Larry Ellison
• Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy

Which entrepreneurs are on the list of the rags to riches stories of Indian entrepreneurs?

Dhirubhai Ambani, Karsanbhai Patel, Kalpana Saroj, Patricia Narayan, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Narayan Murthy are some of the entrepreneurs who can easily be included on the list of the rags to riches stories of Indian entrepreneurs.