There are a few billionaires who built multi-billion dollar empires from absolutely nothing and non-wealthy beginnings. These wealthy entrepreneurs and leaders, through their success stories, have given hope to thousands of smart and determined young individuals willing to put in the effort to someday reach the self-made billionaire dollar status.
While not everyone can someday be labeled a billionaire, some eventually will, and many others will become millionaires and multi-millionaires.
The short stories of these 5 successful leading individuals will drive a sense of purpose to many who read this, and perhaps, set you up better motivated to strive for even greater achievements.
Folorunsho Alakija
Mrs. Alakija is the wealthiest Nigerian woman, and also the second wealthiest African woman with a personal net worth of about $1.61 billion U.S dollars, according to the Forbes billionaire list 2017. She has investments in fashion, oil, and the printing industries.
Alakija was born in 1951 to Chief L.A Ogbara in Lagos State, Nigeria. At the age of seven, she relocated to the United Kingdom to engage in a four-year primary school education program. After returning to Nigeria, she traveled yet again to London to study fashion.
When she was finally done with her fashion education, she returned to Nigeria and started working as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises. She later moved on to another company and worked for some years before establishing a tailoring company called Supreme Stitches. Her tailoring business got popular over the years, and subsequently, its in-house brand, Rose of Sharon House of Fashion, became a household name among the Nigerian elites.
In 1993, she applied for an oil prospecting license from the Nigerian government. The license was granted to her company, Famfa Oil, which is situated on a 617,000 acre block, now referred to as OPL 216.
Alakija’s success-story shows one who always takes advantages of opportunities at the right time. From the success of her fashion line, she was able to venture into the oil business, and is today one of the most powerful women in the world.
Tyler Perry
Perry had a rough childhood. He was physically and sexually abused growing up, got kicked out of high school, and tried to commit suicide twice—once as a preteen and again at 22. At 23 he moved to Atlanta and took up odd jobs as he started working on his stage career.
In 1992 he wrote, produced, and starred in his first theater production, I Know I’ve Been Changed, somewhat informed by his difficult upbringing. Perry put all his savings into the show and it failed miserably; the run lasted just one weekend and only 30 people came to watch. He kept up with the production, working more odd jobs and often slept in his car to get by. Six years later, Perry finally broke through when, on its seventh run, the show became a success. He’s since gone on to have an extremely successful career as a director, writer, and actor. In fact, Perry was named Forbes’ highest paid man in entertainment in 2011.
Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Motsepe is a South African mining magnate. Born on the 28th of January, 1962, to a school teacher turn businessman, Augustine Motsepe, Patrice grew up learning a lot of his basic entrepreneurial knowledge from his father.
After earning a bachelor of arts from the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the University of Witswatersrand, he became the first black person to rise to the position of partner in the law firm Bowman Gilfillan, in 1994.
At that time, his area of focus was in mining and business law, where he saw an opportunity, and so founded a mining services business to clean gold dust from inside mine shafts.
In 1997, with the price of gold low at the time, he purchased marginal gold mines at a favourable cost, and subsequently started a string of purchases by buying operating mines, which eventually led to his optimal wealth.
As of 2017, according to the Forbes billionaire list, Patrice’s net worth is estimated to be placed at about $1.81 billion U.S dollars.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah’s dealt with a lot throughout her public life—criticism about her weight, racism, intrusive questions about her sexuality, just to name a few—but she never let it get in the way of her ambition and drive. When you look at her childhood, her personal triumphs are cast in an even more remarkable light.
Growing up, Oprah was reportedly a victim of sexual abuse and was repeatedly molested by her cousin, an uncle, and a family friend. Later, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child at age 14, who passed away just two weeks later. But Oprah persevered, going on to finish high school as an honors student, earning a full scholarship to college, and working her way up through the ranks of television, from a local network anchor in Nashville to an international superstar and creator of her OWN network.
Mike Adenuga
This Nigerian billionaire is stipulated by the Forbes billionaire list 2017, to be worth about $6.1 billion U.S dollars. He’s the second wealthiest Nigerian, after Aliko Dangote, and also owns the second largest telecoms operator in Nigeria, with locations in Ghana, and the Benin Republic.
Born on the 29th of April 1953 to Michael Agbolade Adenuga, a school teacher, he received his secondary education in Ibadan, Nigeria. Upon proceeding to the University, he worked as a taxi driver to help fund his education, and eventually graduated from the Northwestern Oklahoma University and the Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration.
When Adenuga returned from America to Nigeria, he took over his mother’s small business and sold laces, coca-cola products, and other commodities. As he grew the business to sustainable heights, his revenues rose, till the venture became a larger enterprise.
In 1990, he got an oil drilling license from the Nigerian government and realized he had struck gold, when in 1991, his company discovered oil in the shallow waters of south western Ondo state, in Nigeria.
Today, the rest is history, as he has investments in Telecommunications, Banking, Oil & Gas, and several other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Conclusively these successful leaders found one way or the other to break the opportunity ice to eventually start and grow successful businesses.
Tenacity of purpose will always win.
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