Since childhood, everyone is familiar with the statement that higher education is a kind of “road to prosperity” and one of the conditions for future success. If you are planning to get a good job, be so kind as to get a diploma. But is he really that important in his own business? Famous American speaker and business coach Jim Rohn said: “Formal education will help you survive. Self-education will lead you to success." Many famous people around the world are guided by this principle. Here is a list of 5 successful Russian entrepreneurs who achieved everything without the coveted crusts.
Alexander Gafin: keeping up with art and finance
It’s hard to believe, but such an influential person, awarded in 2004 by decree of the President of Russia with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree, a member of many creative and charitable associations and unions, a banker, public figure, philanthropist, author of books and plays, does not have a diploma about higher education. It so happened that after graduating from the 9th grade of the boarding school of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Gafin moved to another educational institution with an evening uniform. After receiving secondary education, he began working at the Research Institute of Inorganic Materials as a laborer.
At the age of 20, the enterprising guy was destined to take two paths at the same time: on the one hand, he began to write his first books and scripts, and on the other, to engage in the underground trade in antiques and conduct foreign exchange transactions. At the end of the 80s, Alexander Gafin became a member of the Moscow Youth Center and held a lot of photo and journalistic exhibitions. Later, he began to engage in charity work, organizing tours of famous foreign stars (Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Sting and many others) in Moscow.
Gafin worked at Alfa Bank for 15 years, first as head of the PR department, later as vice president and member of the board of directors. Today he is an influential person, without whom not a single reputable exhibition, party or presentation can take place. Alexander Gafin is a member of the board of trustees of the Latvian bank Rietumu and is promoting this brand on the Russian market. He created the successful Spear’s Russia magazine in 2006 and was editor-in-chief there until 2014. A lover of good watches, Gafin is the head of the Russian project WATCH Russia, a continuation of the European magazine Gentlemen’s Watch. Perhaps, if his life had turned out differently in his youth, he would not have achieved such impressive results.
Zarakh Iliev: king of Moscow real estate
Sometimes labor education can contribute to the development of an entrepreneurial spirit. This is what happened in the life of Zarakh Iliev: he grew up in the family of a shoemaker and, together with 4 brothers, perfectly mastered the art of working with leather. The first business was born in my childhood, when hand-sewn “aerodrome caps” were selling like hot cakes in Azerbaijani markets. At the age of 17, when his peers were entering universities, Zarakh went to Moscow to visit his relatives - it was there that his new life began, still associated with real estate.
Having collected some start-up capital from the sale of flowers and the supply of cognac, Zarakh Iliev bought several trading containers at the Izmailovsky market and began renting them out to entrepreneurs. In 1993, he registered the company “Iliev” and began managing 15 hectares of the Cherkizovsky market. After 7 years, this company bought out 57% of the shares of ORTC Moscow JSC. At the same time, another company was created - Safra Instruments, which bought out FSUE Eleron. Later it turned into the Moscow car hypermarket.
Today, most of Zarakh Iliev’s capital comes from owning 50% of the Kyiv Ploshchad group, whose rental income in 2015 amounted to $1.1 billion. With his fellow countryman and partner Gon Nesanov, Iliev bought out many large companies and areas and is engaged in the construction of new facilities. They own the Lotto City shopping complex with an area of 1.5 million square meters. m, oceanarium "Moskvarium". An impressive complex of 350 thousand square meters is being built in Moscow City. m with a hotel, restaurants, offices, large parking.
The Radisson-Ukraine hotel in Moscow became part of the entrepreneur’s fortune. He holds six patents, the most famous of which is a rotating advertising structure with suspended cars.
Andrey Parabellum (Kosyrin): trainer by nature
Can a person without a completed higher education become one of the most expensive consultants and business trainers in Russia? Yes, if we are talking about Andrei Parabellum, author of more than 130 books, founder of the BizCon association, organizer of conferences and master classes. This man is considered to be the father of the information business in Russia, who has many followers and admirers. He made repeated attempts to obtain the coveted diploma. He tried to learn Japanese, wanted to master the specialization “translator-referent”. In 1990, Andrei entered MGSU, but left from there in the 4th year because he received permission to enter Canada. So he ended up in Toronto, which is still one of his home cities.
Ignorance of the language and an unfinished Computer Science course did not prevent the 20-year-old from working with computers for 1.5 years at Hummingbird. Practice and experience, which Andrei Parabellum prefers in his trainings and books, gave him a lot - in 1996, Xpress Software Inc. was opened in Canada. Today it brings information businessmen income from the production and sale of biometric time and attendance systems. Another source of income for Parabellum is a consulting project in Moscow infobusiness2.ru.
Thanks to the training organized in 2012, for which more than 98 thousand people registered, and 12,012 people listened online from start to finish, Andrei Parabellum and his co-host Nikolai Mrochkovsky were included in the Guinness Book of Records. A year later, he and three co-authors received the Runet Book Award in the “Business Book of the Year” category. Bestseller of the year on Ozon.ru.” The year 2013 for Andrey was marked by personal gratitude received from RosFin Monitoring for his contribution to the development of legal business in Russia. Andrey Parabellum believes that a diploma is needed for those who want to get a good job, but if you have the determination and skills to create your own business, you shouldn’t waste time.
Oleg Tinkov: from children's speculation to adult production
Born into the family of a miner and a seamstress, world-famous entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov knew how to buy and sell profitably from his school days. At first, he speculated in scarce Central Asian goods, then, during a short period of study at the Leningrad Mining Institute (he studied there for 3 years), in jeans, cosmetics, perfumes, vodka, and black caviar. Later, equipment, consumables, gas cartridges, and pistols were added to the “hot” products.
At the age of 25, Oleg Tinkov opened his first wholesale company, Petrosib, in St. Petersburg, then several regional ones. After 2 years, retail stores, an office in San Francisco, and one of the most expensive Technoshock equipment stores appeared. Next in line were the Music Shock chain of music stores and their own record label. In 1998, Tinkov switched his attention to frozen semi-finished products and beer, opening workshops, breweries and restaurants.
Tinkoff Bank, which made the ambitious businessman famous and is his main project, began work in 2007. At first, the project was launched as a financial organization with remote services, where most of the tasks would be performed by a machine rather than a person, but later it turned into a general-purpose company. Even during the crisis of 2008, the bank's profit increased 50 times. In June 2016, it ranked 45th in terms of equity capital among Russian banks. A cyclist, father of three children, one of the richest people in Russia, his innate commercial spirit played a decisive role in the fate of the famous and successful entrepreneur.
Azat Valeev: millions from the network
In the period of development of Internet technologies and the sales market on virtual platforms, higher education seems to be an unnecessary option. But even 10 years ago, when the online sphere was practically undeveloped, there were those young and ambitious who were able to launch a number of successful projects. Among them is the young millionaire Azat Valeev, a native of Ufa, one of the founders of the “Academy of Your Business,” which conducts training on online earnings for thousands of clients.
Azat’s journey began at the age of 16, when a craving for computer games and the lack of good equipment for installing them made him think about looking for a job. Azat was rejected from the labor market, citing his youth. I had to look for a way out - an old phone with expensive Internet at that time became a bridge to the virtual world, where the future entrepreneur was looking for inspiration. He tried everything - from simple freelancing to financial pyramids. The point of successful start was the purchase of the book “Cyberelectronics” with the right to resell. Having bought one copy for $5, he began selling them en masse for the same price. After 2 months, Azat Valeev had $50 in his pocket. And at the age of 19 he earned his first million.
The second direction for development was one-page sites selling physical goods. An entrepreneur today has several offices, his own logistics department, a sales department, makes great money and travels a lot. Together with his friend and co-author of the “Academy of Your Business” project Nikita Fofanov, Azat Valeev began sharing his skills with participants in regular trainings and conferences. More than 5,000 people received the necessary knowledge from him, and more than 3,000 opened their own business and achieved success.
Most of those businessmen who took steps to the top, bypassing the student bench, do not regret their decision. They were able to create and promote their projects without the coveted “tower”, relying on experience and self-education. As many of the “dropouts” claim, a diploma is just a pass to a good position, and if you are your own boss, then there is no one to show your credentials to.
For a long time, Forbes magazine could not choose a cover heroine for an issue dedicated to the richest women who achieved success in business on their own. That's why the editors invited 9 heroines for the shoot, because each of them deserves to be known by sight!
These women, ages 32 to 69, range from MBAs to college dropouts, Silicon Valley CEOs and models-turned-tycoons. In total, they own $9.7 billion. So, meet all nine.
Sarah Blakely
Net worth: $1 billion
Sarah Blakely runs Spanx. She was previously among the top managers of Nike and it is to her credit that the brand has expanded to include not only sportswear, but also activewear, despite the fact that Blackley spent only two years in this position. However, having started out as a sales agent, Sarah decided to create her own shapewear company and, at age 29, she invested $5,000 in underwear that allows everyone to wear anything, including white slacks. She is the sole owner of the company, and since 2015, Blakely has become a co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball club.
Sofia Amoruso
Net worth: $280 million
The only member of the millennial billionaire generation who did not make it in the entertainment industry, Sophia Amoruso made her fortune in online trading. Her fashion company is called Nasty Gal, and Amoruso founded it when she was 22 years old. Back then she sold mostly vintage items to young fashionistas. Ten years later, Nasty Gal now competes with H&M and ASOS, with revenues of $300 million this year, up from barely $100 million in 2012. Amoruso has published an autobiographical book, #Girlboss, and is preparing to release an autobiographical comedy series on Netflix.
Diana Hendricks
Net worth: $4.9 billion
“We became the largest distributor in the country and delivered roofing materials to roofers large and small,” Diana Hendricks said in an interview about the company she founded in 1982 with her husband, Ken. When Ken died in 2007, Diana refused to sell the company. It dealt with the 2008 recession and even bought competitor Bradco Supply in 2010. The company's sales have more than doubled over the past 10 years.
Kathy Ireland
Net worth: $360 million
Supermodel Kathy Ireland has built a licensing empire, lending her name, taste and marketing skills to more than 17,000 products. And all this is sold so successfully that it gives the trading network a profit of $2.6 billion. Katie herself was opened by the Elite modeling agency when she was 16 years old. While working as a model, Katie continued to come up with side business projects. One of them fired - furniture. When entering the furniture market, Ireland decided that her brand needed to have some substance: The approach “Solutions for families, especially busy mothers” was now the company's motto. For example, carpets were treated with a special spill protection product that preserves colors and prolongs the life of carpets, and tables were designed with rounded corners so that running children would not be injured by sharp corners.
Meg Whitman
Net worth: $2.1 billion
Meg Whitman was well known as a successful CEO at Hewlett Packard, and since the company's split in 2015, she heads Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which sells servers and software. She has also held senior positions at Hasbro and Walt Disney, and is known as the head of eBay, raising its revenue from $5 million in 1998 to $8 billion in 2008, when she left that post.
Tony Ko
Net worth: $260 million
Toni Ko moved to the United States from Korea when she was 13 years old. After school, she helped her parents, who had a warehouse. In 1999, when she was 25, she noticed how large the price gap was between supermarket cosmetics and drugstore products. Thanks to her involvement in the family business, she had connections in the wholesale world and seed capital, so she took a chance and launched NYX Cosmetics, a luxury cosmetics brand at a great price. In its first year, Ko generated $4 million in retail sales. In 2014, she sold this brand to L’Oréal, the company’s value then reached $500 million. And in the spring of 2016, Ko launched Perverse Sunglasses, a brand of stylish and flirty sunglasses for $40-$60 a pair.
Katrina Lake
Net worth: $120 million
Katrina Lake is the creator of Stitch Fix, an online retailer that selects clothes for customers based on statistics and advice from stylists. Sales reached $250 million last year, showing that the San Francisco-based startup has become a convenient shopping tool for busy women. Although Lake has not earned the $250 million threshold for the list of the richest, she is on the list of promising entrepreneurs and, in the near future, will soon enter the top 60 richest businesswomen in the world.
Dorothy Herman
Net worth: $270 million
The richest self-made woman in the world of American real estate, Dorothy Herman, is a co-owner of a reputable New York firm, Douglas Elliman, which sells homes totaling $22 billion a year, and its income is $600 million. The company employs more than 6 thousand agents in 85 offices. When Dorothy was 10 years old, she and her parents were in a car accident in which her mother died and her father was seriously injured. The baby herself was thrown out of the car. Dorothy became a mother at age 19, and in the 1980s began working as a real estate broker for Merrill Lynch on Long Island. Soon the company was bought by Prudential Long Island, and already in the 90s Dorothy herself acquired most of this company.
Liz Elting
Net worth: $390 million
Liz Elting is one of the CEOs of TransPerfect, one of the largest multilingual translation firms with annual revenues of $505 million. The offices of this company are located in 90 cities around the world. Liz Elting founded the company in 1992 with her classmate Phil Shaw, who was once her boyfriend. Today, their company is based in New York, employing 4,000 people and serving 11,000 clients, including AT&T, Google and Wal-Mart.
Moscow, November 13 - “News. Economy". It is believed that if you have a higher education, you are more likely to earn a good salary and have the opportunity to get a job in a good company. However, this rule does not always apply among the richest people. Among them there are many who managed to achieve success even without higher education. Thus, according to a Wealth-X study conducted in 2016, almost a third of the world’s billionaires do not have a higher education. Below we present 9 rich people who never received a higher education. Ted Turner
Net worth: $35 million Anna Wintour is a British journalist, editor-in-chief of the American edition of Vogue magazine since 1988. Anna is the eldest daughter of the editor-in-chief of the English tabloid Evening Standard, Charles Wintour. While still a teenager, she became interested in fashion journalism. At age 15, Wintour advised her father on how to make the newspaper appeal to young people. She began her career as a fashion columnist at the British magazine Harpers & Queen, where she worked for six years, rising from columnist to deputy editor. Later she moved to the USA, where she worked for Harper∎s Bazaar, Viva, Savvy, and New York magazines. In 1983, Wintour was appointed creative director of American Vogue. Soon after, Anna was transferred to London as editor-in-chief of two magazines: British Vogue and House & Garden. In 1988, she returned to American Vogue and headed it. Wintour completely changed the look of the magazine, creating a unique example of a glossy press for that time. However, Anna, despite her successes, never received higher education. Larry Ellison
Net worth: $61.1 billion Larry Ellison - American entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation, former CEO of Oracle (1976-2014), largest shareholder of NetSuite (acquired by Oracle in 2016 for $9.3 billion) , seed investor in Salesforce.com. Ellison grew up in Chicago, attended school there and began his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Due to the death of his adoptive mother, he did not take exams after the second year of study. After a summer spent in northern California with friend Chuck Weiss, he returned to Chicago and studied for a semester at the University of Chicago, where he was first introduced to computer science. In 1964, at the age of 20, he moved to northern California without receiving a higher education. However, this did not stop him from becoming one of the richest and most successful people in the world. Steve Jobs
Net worth (at time of death): $10.2 billion Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneur who is widely recognized as a pioneer of the IT era. One of the founders, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Apple Corporation. One of the founders and CEO of the Pixar film studio. Jobs received public recognition and a number of awards for his influence on the technology and music industries. He is often called a "visionary" and even the "father of the digital revolution." Jobs was a brilliant speaker and took innovative product presentations to the next level, turning them into exciting shows. His easily recognizable figure in a black turtleneck, faded jeans and sneakers is surrounded by a kind of cult. After eight years of battling the disease, Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. School activities disappointed Steve with their formalism. Teachers at Mona Loma Elementary School characterized him as a prankster, but at that time he began to demonstrate extraordinary abilities. He attended Reed College, but left after only one semester. At Reed, Jobs first became seriously interested in Eastern spiritual practices, especially Zen Buddhism. Then he became a convinced vegetarian and began experiments with fasting. Michael Dell
Net worth: $23.5 billion Michael Dell is the founder and CEO of Dell. He started his company in makeshift conditions, providing homemade modifications of the IBM PC. After graduating from school, he entered the University of Texas at Austin and intended to become a doctor. While studying, he founded a computer sales company, PC∎s Limited. The company soon began to generate good profits, so at the age of 19 Dell left university and began to spend all his time on business. In 1987, PC∎s Limited was renamed Dell Computer Corporation. Kim Kardashian
Net worth: $20.7 billion Paul Allen is an American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, which he founded with his high school friend Bill Gates in 1975. In 1960, after the 6th grade, Paul entered the most exclusive school in Seattle, Lakeside, where he met Bill Gates in a programming class. Soon, near Allen's home, the Computer Center Corporation was recruiting people to test a PDP-10 computer manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. He and his school friends spent all their free time there. Later Information Service Inc. ordered Paul and three of his friends (including Bill) to develop a payroll program in the Cobol programming language; in return, they received free work time on the PDP-10. They called their company Lakeside Programming Group, but were unable to complete the work. Later, while Paul Allen was in college, Bill got a job processing information from a traffic research company. To develop the hardware, a third partner was needed - Paul Gilbert, their association and device for reading road traffic and drawing up a report for road engineers, they called Traf-O-Data. The Traf-O-Data device was sold from 1972 to 1982. and as a result, $794.31 remained in the company’s account. In 1974, Allen dropped out of college and took a job at Honeywell. John Rockefeller
Net worth: $340 billion (in today's money) John Rockefeller is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and the first official dollar billionaire in human history. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 and ran it until his official retirement in 1897. At the age of 13, John went to school in Richford. In his autobiography, he wrote that it was difficult for him to study and he had to study hard to complete his lessons. Rockefeller successfully graduated from high school and entered Cleveland College, where he taught accounting and the basics of commerce, but soon came to the conclusion that three-month accounting courses and a thirst for activity would bring much more than years of college, so he left it. Henry Ford
Net worth: $199 billion (in today's money) Henry Ford is an American industrialist, owner of automobile factories around the world, inventor, author of 161 US patents. Its slogan is “a car for everyone”; The Ford plant produced the cheapest cars at the beginning of the automobile era. The Ford Motor Company still exists today. Henry Ford is also famous for being the first to use an industrial assembly line for the continuous production of cars. Ford's book "My Life, My Achievements" is a classic work on the scientific organization of work. However, Ford also achieved success without a college degree.
Sometimes you look at famous millionaires who became famous thanks to their knowledge and talents, and you can’t help but think about how much they had to study to reach such heights. But that was not the case! It turns out that many people who created financial empires did not even graduate from university, but even from high school! In no case do we encourage you to quit your studies - knowledge has never harmed anyone. But it’s still very interesting to see who these lucky ones are.
Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel− one of the most important figures in the history of fashion, founder of the world famous brand Chanel. Being an orphan, young Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel studied to be a seamstress. Determined to find her place in life, she cast aside the idea that world fashion should be ruled by femininity, and boldly began to use fabrics and cuts that were usually considered masculine. It all started small - with hats, and then Coco made a real revolution in the history of fashion, but no one even mentioned its formation. So much for your great desire to conquer the world!
Walt Disney
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If it weren’t for him, we would never have seen so many wonderful cartoons and would not have known our favorite childhood heroes by sight. Having left school at 16, Walt Disney achieved simply unprecedented success and made a brilliant career. At the age of 14, he worked as a newspaper delivery boy. During World War I Disney spent a year driving an ambulance International Red Cross in France. And in 1920, he got a job as an artist in a film advertising studio, where he began to create his first advertising films - at the same time he had a desire to continue his experiments in the world of animation, although he never studied this professionally. Most Influential Animator Walt Disney has a record number of prestigious awards and nominations. Today's annual income Walt Disney Company is $30 billion.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford never went to college or even graduated from high school. But this did not stop him from founding Ford Motor Company− one of the largest automakers in the world. Although he did not succeed on the first try. However Ford did not stop, and his persistence was eventually rewarded. Ford for the first time began to use an industrial conveyor for the continuous production of cars. This allowed him to sell cars at a lower price, and the company's profits continued to grow because sales volumes continually increased. Magazine Time named Henry Ford one of the most influential people XX century.
Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay- an excellent example of how you can find yourself even in old age. Mary Kay Ash studied at college for some time, but left after marriage. She pursued a career in direct sales and retired in 1963. That same year, realizing her dream of owning her own company for women, she opened the doors of a small office "Mary Kay Cosmetics" V Dallas. To start this business Mary Kay Ash I spent $5 thousand that I had been saving for a long time. Now Mary Kay Inc. one of the top 100 best companies to work for America and in the top ten best companies for women, according to Fortune. And are you still worried that you haven't found your calling?
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network Facebook, born in 1984 and is the youngest person to make the list of billionaires Forbes. His capital in 2008 was estimated at approximately $1.5 billion. Zuckerberg entered Harvard, but did not finish it. And in 2004, together with classmates and dorm neighbors Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes he created Facebook, which has become the most popular social network in the world!
John Rockefeller
John Rockefeller did not graduate from high school, but became America's first billionaire and is said to be the richest man in history. From the age of 16 he had to work, as he was the eldest son in the family. He started with a small transportation company, and even then showed an incredible knowledge of mathematics - he was born to calculate everything in advance. What industries have you worked in? John. Having accumulated money and experience, in 1870 he founded Standard Oil− the first transnational corporation. In 1911 Supreme Court ordered the company to be broken up on the grounds that it had violated antitrust laws. So Standard Oil broke up into thirty-four companies (virtually all of today's major American oil companies descended from Standard Oil).
Bill Gates
George Lucas' Star Wars, he decided to become a director. In 1978, together with two school friends, William Wisher and Jason Fessenden, he's making a short science fiction film "Xenogenesis" and, having attracted the interest of the master of low-budget films Roger Corman, starts working in his film studio New World Pictures. His first full-length film was the film "Piranha 2: Spawning"- sequel to the famous horror film. But real fame Cameron brings "Terminator". He later made one of the highest-grossing films in the history of cinema - "Titanic" and then "Avatar", the box office for which amounted to $2.8 billion, which is an absolute record in the entire cinematic history Cameron.
However, again, the same statistics, and even our eyes, “tell” us that diplomas do not solve such issues as: increasing people’s well-being, their life satisfaction, self-realization, achieving dreams and goals, and a red diploma is not always a green light in life.
On the contrary, “bullies” (those who studied with D’s or C’s, slept in classes or skipped them) in many cases, thanks to the developed defense, “decide”, negotiate, “spin” (it’s better to come up with something than to teach), in a certain way communicate in life become more successful.
It turns out that examples of science are looking for work, and “idlers” who know nothing “have to” open, found businesses, companies and hire the first ones. Therefore, from the outside it turns out that a fool leads the wise. Indeed, at present, the market for those who are looking for work is much larger than those who give.
Why is this so? Higher education has become a certain mania; there is a strong opinion that without education it is impossible to achieve anything, although more than 50% of “stamped” bachelors, specialists, and masters do not work in their specialty, which means that 4-6 years of LIFE are relatively lost.
A student comes with the knowledge of a big “0” and says: “I need “4”. The answer is “for what?” - “Let it be, it might be useful.” There is no emphasis on education as a source of understanding yourself, some processes that are necessary for you , and the number on the certificate is a bubble that disappears after graduation outside the university door.
Sometimes people reach the point of absurdity and spend an amount on training (tuition fees, accommodation, search and “job solution”), which, if placed on a regular bank deposit, would give more than the “desirable” job received.
“Live forever and learn,” says popular wisdom. However, in this case we are talking about self-development, which, unlike the academic one, where everything is given with the thought “it might come in handy,” has an applied nature. And it is precisely those people who have developed this line for self-education who, as a rule, reach the top.
It’s worth thinking about what you are doing at this stage of your life, what really interests you, and start studying it, looking for people who are masters of this business, make it a hobby, think about how to make money from it - after all, perhaps the point life is to do something that turns you on, inspires you, gives you pleasure and at the same time provides a decent living.
I would like to give a list of very famous and successful people who did not have an academic education, but, thanks to perseverance and self-education, became one of the richest in the world. Here is the list: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Picasso, Hemingway, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Howard Hughes, Stephen Hawking, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John Davidson Rockefeller, Paul Allen, Steve Wozniak, Ingvar Kamprad, Francois Pino, Michael Dell, Ruth Handler, Lillian Vernon, Kirk Kerkorian, Ralph Lauren, Sheldon Adelson and others...
These people are billionaires who influenced the development of humanity, who did not even deal with such little things as HIGHER EDUCATION! We all grew up firmly convinced that quality education and the opportunity to earn a lot are directly related to each other.
However, today the examples of numerous billionaires who did not even finish school are quite capable of convincing us otherwise. Here's a quick look at some of them:
Millionaires without education
Thomas Edison
John Davison Rockefeller
The name Rockefeller became a symbol of wealth, it became a household name. He had a villa and 700-acre plot of land on the outskirts of Cleveland, as well as houses in New York, Florida, Maine and a personal golf course in New Jersey. But most of all he loved the Pocantico Hills villa near New York. Rockefeller prided himself on his generosity. Considering himself a Christian businessman, from his childhood he donated 10% of his income to the church. In 1905, this “tithe” amounted to 100 million US dollars.
Bill Gates
“You can love him or hate him, but just don’t ignore him,” writes Fortune magazine, edited by John Hugh.
Paul Allen
He resigned from the Microsoft board of directors, retaining his position as chief strategy consultant, because Bill Gates will not tolerate anyone other than Allen as an adviser, with whom his friendship has been going on for four decades...
Steve Jobs
He was not the inventor of the first Apple personal computer; it was invented by Steve Wozniak. However, Steve Jobs can be considered his surrogate father as he brought the idea of the PC to fruition. If Jobs had not put his maximum energy and dedication into the commercialization of the Apple 1 project, the PC might have faced a completely different fate.
Steve Wozniak
In 1975 he left the University of California (he would return there later to complete his EECS studies and receive his bachelor's degree in 1986) and emerged with the computer that would eventually make him famous. However, he mainly worked to impress the members of the Home Computer Club, which was located in Palo Alto. He did not set himself any high goal.
Larry Ellison
Founder of Oracle, one of the largest American companies, developer of database management systems.
Ingvar Kamprad
He started doing business as a child, selling matches to neighbors. He discovered that he could buy them cheaply in large quantities in Stockholm and then retail them at a low price and still make a good profit. He subsequently sold fish, Christmas decorations, seeds, ballpoint pens and pencils. When he was 17 years old, with money received as a gift from his father, Ingvar founded the company that later became IKEA.
Henry Ford
Most Americans believe that Henry Ford invented the automobile. Everyone is sure that Henry Ford invented the conveyor, although 6 years before Ford, a certain Ransom Olds used moving carts in production, and belt conveyors were already used in grain elevators and meat processing plants in Chicago. Ford's merit is that he created mass production. He came up with the car business. When enterprises became economically organized, the need for a manager arose. The 20th century became the century of management. But in order to achieve this, creators had to appear at the beginning of the century. Henry Ford was such a creator. And for this he was recognized by Fortune magazine as the best businessman of the 20th century.
Richard Branson
British entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin corporation, which includes dozens of different branches: stores selling music CDs, air and railway companies, a radio station and a publishing house. Branson is known to the general public for his unconventional actions, including creating his own talk show and repeatedly attempting to break world speed records. In 2007, according to the London newspaper The Times, his fortune amounted to 3 billion pounds sterling.
Francois Pinault
One of the richest Frenchmen (capital - 9.2 billion euros), head of the Pinault-Printemps-Redoute group, which includes numerous department stores and the auction house Christie's, as well as the fashion houses Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci.
Michael Dell
Investment fund managers are ready to blow dust off this person. Michael Dell, with his brilliant example, proved that to achieve financial success it is not at all necessary to have a higher education diploma.
Ruth Handler
This woman gave birth to two children and... a doll. Children brought her joy, and the doll brought her money. Today, “mom” Barbie is one of the richest and most famous women in the United States. Her company ranks first in the world in terms of capital turnover on toys.
Kirk Kerkorian
Almost a legend of Las Vegas: the billionaire owns shares of the largest casinos Bellagio, Excaliber, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Circus Circus, Mirage and so on. Kerkorian’s achievement of tremendous success in the world of gambling was not prevented by the fact that he left school in the 8th grade.
David Geffen
The famous figure of the American entertainment industry also failed to graduate from the university in Austin. However, this did not stop Geffen from becoming the co-founder of the popular DreamWorks studio, which has been releasing one animated hit after another over the past few years.
Ralph Lauren
The American designer has become one of the modern icons of the fashion world. Lauren announced his intention to become a millionaire back in school, where he earned his first money by selling ties. Ralph Lauren later dropped out of the City College of New York and founded his own brand, Polo Ralph Lauren, which has grown into one of the most popular fashion brands in the world.
Sheldon Adelson
Another legend of the gambling business and, part-time, a former student at the City College of New York, next to Lauren, did not complete his education. Today Adelson is the executive director of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo & Convention Center. In addition, Adelson became one of the co-founders of one of the largest computer exhibitions in the United States, COMDEX.
Howard Hughes Robard Jr.
American industrialist-entrepreneur, engineer, pioneer and innovator of American aviation, director, film producer, and one of the richest people in the world. He is known for the construction of the Hughes Hercules aircraft (also known as the Spruce Goose, although it was made primarily of birch), the Glomar Explorer ship and project, and to some extent his eccentric behavior.
Stephen William Hawking
Famous astrophysicist, one of the most influential British scientists, co-author of the LHC. According to his own words, it is known that, being a professor of mathematics, he never received any mathematics education since high school. In his first year teaching at Oxford, Hawking read a textbook two weeks ahead of his own students.
Of course, the list of such people can be continued. And, as we see, it is not the number of diplomas, but the amount of starting capital that works wonders. There is only one conclusion: in order to achieve success, you need dedication, hard work, dedication to a job you love, and, of course, SELF-EDUCATION.
