The last time we checked, inheriting a billion dollars was the easiest way to find your way to the list of the world’s wealthiest, and it still it. Fortunately for everybody whose isnt born into a family of billionaires, almost two-thirds of the world’s billionaires made their fortune from scratch, relying on determination and good luck, and not in “good genes”.

These people should remind you that through determination, grit and a bit of luck, anyone can overcome circumstances and achieve extraordinary success.


1. Oprah Winfrey

Net worth: $2.9 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Born into poverty, Oprah Winfrey became the first African American TV correspondent in Nashville.

Oprah Winfrey, made their fortunes against far greater odds. She spent her early years living in poverty on her grandmother’s farm. Wanting a way out, she moved to be with her mother, but was sexually molested by her male relatives.

At age 14, she reportedly gave birth to a premature baby who died. Only after moving to Nashville to be with her father did her luck finally start to turn.

At age 19, she won a scholarship to the University and became the first African American TV correspondent in the state.


2. Ralph Lauren

Net worth: $7.7 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Ralph Lauren (a college dropout) was once a clerk at Brooks Brothers dreaming of men’s ties.

He was born and raised in the Bronx where he shared a bedroom with two of his brothers. By age 12, worked after school to help pay for his fancy taste in clothes.

Lauren graduated high school but later dropped out of college to join the Army. It was while working as a clerk at Brooks Brothers that Lauren questioned whether men were ready for wider and brighter designs in ties.

While working at Brook Brothers he decided to design a wider, brighter necktie style for men. His idea was rejected, and he began his own tiny company in the Empire State Building, turning remnants into ties. With a $50,000 loan, Lauren launched Polo

Lauren now owns a pretty fancy line of bling cars including a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO and a Bugatti Veyron, to name a few.



3. Jim Koum (CEO of WhatssApp)

Net worth: $7.7 billion (according to Forbes)

Jan Koum, the CEO and cofounder of WhatsApp, once lived on food stamps before Facebook made him a billionaire.

Koum, 37, came to the US from Ukraine when he was 16 years old. His family, struggling to make ends meet, lived on food stamps that they picked up a couple blocks away from Koum’s future WhatsApp offices in Mountain View, California.

In 2009, he and cofounder Brian Acton launched the real-time messaging app with an aim to connect people around the world.

WhatsApp, which now has over 600 million global users, agreed to a $19 billion buyout from Facebook earlier this year.

The deal made Koum a multibillionaire.



4. J.K Rowling (Author of Harry Porter)

Net Worth: $ 1 Billion

The world’s wealthiest novelist, J.K. Rowling, was on welfare raising her little girl when her agent called to tell her that Bloomsbury would publish her book about an adolescent wizard named Harry Potter.



5. Roman Abramovich (Owner Chealsea FC)

Net worth: $9.5 billion

Roman Abramovich was orphaned as a child, dropped out of college to take part in controversial Russian oil-export deals.

Now the Russian tycoon owns the Chelsea football club.

Abramovich was born in 1966 in Saratov, Russia. His mother died when he was 18 months old. His father died when he was four.

Orphaned, he was taken in by his uncle in Moscow and his grandparents in the northern province of Komi.

He went to Russia’s Industrial Institute for college and then started trading oil products in western Siberia.

The Guardian reports that his “big break” came in 1992 when he caught the favor of Boris Berezovsky, one of Russia’s premier tycoons as the country moved into capitalism.

Today, Abramovich is one of Russia’s richest people, and he has toys like the world’s largest yacht, a Boeing 767, and the Chelsea Football Club.

Abrahovich has many other toys, including jets, yachts and a home that reportedly cost $100 million.



6. Jack Ma (Founder Alibaba.com)

Net worth: $20.2 billion

Jack Ma taught English before founding Alibaba in 1999.

Born in China, Ma grew up in poverty. He couldn’t get a job at the local KFC. He failed the national college entrance exams — twice — before finally graduating and starting his career as an English teacher.

Then, in 1995, he had his first visit to the US. He saw the internet for the first time.

Recognizing that there was little in the way of Chinese content online, he started China Pages, a directory that was arguably the very first Chinese web startup. It promptly failed.

In 1999, he founded Alibaba. Today, the online retailer handles double the merchandise of Amazon. With September’s IPO, Ma became China’s richest person. .



7. Shahid Khann

Net worth: $3.8 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

At one time, businessman Shahid Khan washed dishes for N192 an hour.

He’s now one of the richest people in the world, but when Khan came to the U.S. from Pakistan, he worked as a dishwasher while attending the University of Illinois. Khan now owns Premier League Soccer club Fulham, Flex-N-Gate, one of the largest private companies in the U.S., and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.




8. Kenny Troutt

Net worth: $1.7 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Kenny Troutt is the founder of Excel Communications, Troutt paid his way through college by selling life insurance.

Troutt grew up with a bartender dad who told him he would never make it. This made Kenny determined to prove his dad wrong

Kenny paid for his own university tuition by selling life insurance. He made most of his money from phone company Excel Communications, which he founded at the age of 40, and took public in 1996. Two years later, Troutt merged his company with Teleglobe in a $3.5 billion deal.

He is now retired, living in a mansion in Dallas with his wife and three kids.




9. Howard Schultz

Net worth: $2 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Starbucks’ Howard Schultz grew up in a housing complex for the poor.

In an interview with British tabloid Mirror, Schultz says: “Growing up I always felt like I was living on the other side of the tracks. I knew the people on the other side had more resources, more money, happier families. And for some reason, I don’t know why or how, I wanted to climb over that fence and achieve something beyond what people were saying was possible. I may have a suit and tie on now but I know where I’m from and I know what it’s like.”

Schultz ended up winning a football scholarship to the University.

Some years after graduation, he took over a coffee shop called Starbucks, which at the time had only 60 shops.

Schultz became the company’s CEO in 1987 and grew the coffee chain to more than 16,000 outlets worldwide.




10.Ken Langone

Net worth: $2.1 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Investor Ken Langone’s parents worked as a plumber and cafeteria worker.

His father was a plumber, his mother a cafeteria worker, and they had to mortgage their home. When he studied at the University, Langone worked low-wage jobs including as a golf caddy, ditch digger, and assistant to a butcher.

In 1968, Langone worked with Ross Perot to take Electronic Data Systems (HP) public, which they took public.

Langone has donated more than $150 million to charities.




11.Kirk Kerkorian

Net worth: $3.9 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Mega-resort owner Kirk Kerkorian dropped out of school in the eighth grhade to become a boxer.

To financially help his Armenian-immigrant family. Kerkorian’s family struggled so much that he dropped out of school in eighth grade to become a professional boxer. Nicknamed “Right Rifle Kerkorian,” he won the Pacific amateur welterweight championship

During World War II, Kerkorian worked for Britain’s Royal Air Force.

He bought Trans International Airlines, a small charter plane service that shuttled gamblers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and sold the company for $104 million. In the 1960s, Caesars Palace hotel was built on land on the Vegas strip that Kerkorian rented out.

In 1969 he opened the MGM Grand, and has had major investments in other prominent resorts and casinos on the strip.




12.John Paul DeJoria

Net worth: $4 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

John Paul DeJoria, the man behind a hair-care empire and Patron Tequila, once lived in a foster home and his car.

Before the age of 10, DeJoria, a first generation American, sold Christmas cards and newspapers to help support his family. He was eventually sent to live in a foster home and even spent some time in a gang before joining the military.

With a $700 dollar loan, DeJoria created John Paul Mitchell Systems and sold the shampoo door-to-door while living in his car. He later started Patron Tequila, and now invests in other industries




13.Do Won Chang

Net worth: $5 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Forever 21 founder Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop (all at once) when he first moved to America.

The husband-and-wife team — Do Won Chang and Jin Sook —didn’t always have it so easy. After moving to America from Korea in 1981, Do Won had to work three jobs at the same time to make ends meet. They opened their first clothing store in 1984.

His company, Forever 21 is now an international, 480-store empire that rakes in around $3 billion in sales a year.

His wife is the head buyer, his daughter Esther is in charge of the visual display team, and daughter Linda is head of marketing. Chang has been sued more than 50 times for copyright infringement.




14.Francois Pinault

Net worth: $15 billion (as of March 2013)

Luxury goods mogul Francois Pinault quit high school in 1974 after being bullied for being poor.

Francois Pinault had to quit high school because he was teased so harshly for being poor. As a businessman, Pinault is known for his “predator” tactic, which includes buying smaller firms for a fraction of the cost when the market crashed.

He eventually started PPR, which owns high-end fashion houses including Gucci, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent.

He’s also the husband of actor Salma Hayek…not too shabby afterall!




15.Leonardo Del Vecchio

Net worth: $15.3 billion (as of March 2013)

Leonardo Del Vecchio grew up in an orphanage and later worked in a factory where he lost part of his finger.

Del Vecchio was one of five children who was eventually sent to an orphanage because his widow mother couldn’t care for him. He would later work in a factory making molds of auto parts and eyeglass frames.

At the age of 23, Del Vecchio opened his own molding shop, which expanded to become the world’s largest maker of sunglasses and prescription eyeware with brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley.




16.George Soros

Net worth: $20 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Legendary trader George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and arrived in London as an impoverished college student.

In his early teens, Soros posed as the godson of an employee of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture in order to stay safe from the Nazi occupation of Hungary. In 1947, Soros escaped the country to live with his relatives in London.

He put himself through the London School of Economics working as a waiter and railway porter.

After graduating, Soros worked at a souvenir shop before getting a job as a banker in New York City.

In 1992, his famous bet against the British pound made him a billion dollars.




17.Li Ka-shing

Net worth: $31 billion (as of March 2013)

After his father died, business magnate Li Ka-shing had to quit school to help support his family.

Ka-shing (Asia’s richest man) lost his father died when he was 15, leaving Ka-shing responsible for supporting his family. In 1950, he started his own company, Cheung Kong Industries, which manufactured plastics at first but would later expand into real estate.

Old Hong Kong joke said that for every dollar spent in Hong Kong, five cents went to Li. Dubbed ”Superman,” knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Despite enormous wealth, his secret wish is reportedly to be able to walk in the park without being recognized.




18.Larry Ellison

Net worth: $41 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Oracle’s Larry Ellison dropped out of college after his adoptive mother died and held odd jobs for eight years.

Born to a single mother, Ellison was raised by his aunt and uncle in Chicago. After his aunt died, Ellison dropped out of college and moved to California to work odd jobs for the next eight years.

He founded software development company Oracle in 1977, which is now one of the largest technology companies in the world.

Now he’s stepped away from his CEO responsibility — but continues to lead a fabulous life.




19.Elizabeth Holmes

Net worth: $4.5 billion

Elizabeth Holmes started her blood diagnostics company when she was 19. Now at 30, she’s a billionaire.

When Holmes was a 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford University back in 2003, she started Theranos, a blood diagnostics company that makes blood testing cheap.

The Palo Alto startup has 500 employees, areported $400 million in funding, and a $9 billion evaluation.



20.Ingvar Kamprad

Net worth: $3.9 billion

Ingvar Kamprad was raised on a farm in Sweden before founding IKEA.

When Kamprad was a 7-year-old boy growing up in rural 1920s Sweden, he sold matches to his neighbors.

He soon moved up to pencils, greeting cards, and Christmas ornaments. At 17, he founded a company called IKEA, short for Ingvar Kamprad from Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd, named for his hometown. At 21, he started selling furniture — and the IKEA empire had begun.

Today, the manufacturer has over 340 stores in 42 countries, $36 billion in annual sales, and the New Yorker has called the company the “invisible designer of domestic life.”

Yet Kamprad remains frugal — the 88 year old refuses to fly anything other than economy class.



21.Richard Desmond

Net worth: $1.3 billion

After parents divorced, went to live in a garage apartment with his mother. Quit school at age 14 to become a drummer and help pay the bills .

At age 16, he borrowed his older brother’s suit to get a sales job.

He’s been selling ever since, peddling music, and celebrity titles including OK! magazine.




22.Sheldon Adelson

Net worth: $21.8 billion

The son of a Boston cabdriver borrowed $200 at age 12 to start selling newspapers; he later held stints as a mortgage broker, investment advisor and financial consultant.

The high school dropout and Broadway enthusiast studied voice in his teens, but it was another kind of stage that called him–trade shows, where he made his first fortune.

Adelson later gambled on casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore, and took his Las Vegas Sands public in December 2004. Says Adelson, ”I loved being the outsider.”



23.Lakshmi Mittal

Net worth: $28.7 billion

Lakshmi Mittal was born in India, and lived with more than 20 family members in very meager conditions.

His family’s home was made of bare concrete floors, each person slept on rope beds, and cooking was done over an open fire in a brick yard.

Today, he is CEO and founder of ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading integrated steel and mining company.

He is the richest man of Indian descent, and is continuously named one of Forbes’ most powerful people in the world.




24.David Murdock

Net worth: $3.3 billion

David Murdock didn’t finish high school after dropping out in ninth grade.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 during World War II.

After the war, he moved to Detroit and was homeless for a while until he received a $1,200 loan from a good Samaritan. He used it to buy and flip a diner, making a profit of $700 in 10 months.

From there, it’s been all good for Mrdock and he is one of the richest men in the world.




25.Thomas Peterffy

Net worth: $1.4 billion

Peterffy moved as a refugee to New York in 1965 to escape Communist Hungary.

Born in Budapest, he survived a Russian bombing raid and arrived speaking no English.

He taught himself computer programming and stirred up the room at the American Stock Exchange when he brought an early handheld computer there in 1977 after buying a seat.

Thomas would write computer code in his head during the day and head back to the office at night to apply computer models to trading.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comment section below

I would have been number 26 if not that I'm media shy!!

26. Godmother

Net worth: $300.9 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Biography
Coming soon!

* I just couldn't help but include my name ther biko

very soon the world will include our names on that list. very very soon. if you believe say amen.

This is what happens when you work hard.

More than 90% of these people Either left their country of birth for America or are Americans. America is indeed a land of opportunities if you know what you are doing.

It is good to know that Dangote(Richest black man) is richer than the richest Chinese man.

I must make billions of Dollars.

No negotiation.

Yungwizzzy:
I would have been number 26 if not that I'm media shy!!

Are you Seun Oluwa ?

I discovered most of these billionaires quitted or dropped out of college.

100Cents:


Are you Seun Oluwa ?

no

osewa

dellyjoe1000:
I discovered most of these billionaires quitted or dropped out of college.

Dropout from college and be a billionaire

Dreams N vision, determination, hard work ,persistence and clear objective are all u need to make it in life.
Some became millionaires/bbillionairs due to the condition they found themselves.

Linda ikeji wouldnt have been the biggest blogger in africa had she secured a banking job or cal center agent job immediately after graduation.

Seun would not av created the biggest forum in africa had he secure a job

Same us applicable to many others.
Use ur situation to change ur condition.
U may nt knw how big ur dream is untill u work on it.

I am motivated...wow!! Jack Ma is someone I admire a lot. His humility is classic!

Godmother:
26. Godmother

Net worth: $300.9 billion (as of Sept. 2013)

Biography
Coming soon!

* I just couldn't help but include my name ther biko

Hahaha...no worries dear. It would happen soon.

Dream,be consistent,and determination are the hallmark of success..

Success comes after hardwork,and grace

dellyjoe1000:
I discovered most of these billionaires quitted or dropped out of college.

Business/innovation gives the best opportunity to become a Billionaire but it is not an easy venture when you aint well prepared and passionate for such adventure ....... Business is difficult than school but whichever one you are passionate about is your key to success !!!

By Gods grace, the world shall hear my story, my name will appear among the best and the greatest men of all time, I shall dine and wine with power brokers. I am not lazy and I strongly blv that with God by my side, I'll get there. #OffToWork.

Yomieluv:
Dream,be consistent,and determination are the hallmark of success..

Success comes after hardwork,and grace

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which
difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air