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In entrepreneurship literature, there is a point that it is recommended for all those who aim to be entrepreneurs, and it is the importance of role models.
There are people who are willing to become entrepreneurs, start their own business and work for a purpose.
How big should the business must be?
In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter if it is a small or a big business, as long that the mission of the entrepreneur is fullfilled.
The bigger the mission, eventually it will show how the business can grow.
But as entrepreneurs, it is needed sometimes to follow a path and obviously create a new path from those that were already created.
Successful and famous entrepreneurs already reached a point to become who they are, because they set up the work first in the attempt to reach their goal.
Using famous entrepreneurs examples it is useful for all those new entrepreneurs to learn more about different and common people who achieved to build up a business or organization.
Having role models as one start developing its own venture, helps to get inspired, but also to learn how they resolve the issues that came across.
In my personal experience, I had the opportunity to have a first role model in entrepreneurship and that was my mother.
In family businesses, the second generation have the opportunity to add that entrepreneurial spirit from the founders.
The brief story of how my mother started her business was really simple.
As I asked her, how did you started your business?
She answered, “basically I started to get my first money while doing secretary jobs.”
“I started to save a bit money until I bought some shoes that I could sell.”
“And eventually, I just kept selling and buying, until the money was getting multiplicated.”
It sounds a simple story, but after nearly 40 years of business, she handled how to build 5 different businesses, and staying with a furniture business that keeps going and growing.
Of course, there might be entrepreneurs who don’t have directly a father or mother who can teach them directly about business, but role models and even coaches can help.
In the following part of this article, we would like to share you some famous entrepreneurs examples that can help you to know different business stories.
If you have a brilliant idea, perhaps reading about these examples of famous entrepreneurs will help you realize that’s all it takes to not only become a billionaire, but also to leave your legacy in history.
Read on to learn about the men behind the greatest companies in the modern world.
In case you don’t know, Alibaba, which is part of the group of the same name (one of the largest websites where we also find Taobao and Tmall), is a B2B online marketplace that gives the opportunity specifically to retailers to buy wholesale products at affordable prices.
Since it was founded, until today, it has been recognized as an excellent option for the purchase of products, articles, or any supply that you want to acquire at a low cost.
Everything comes directly from China, and it is a platform where you can really find everything you need.
Jack Ma, the protagonist of our story, was an English teacher who, in 1999, with the company of a capitalist partner and 17 friends, founded Alibaba. However, the creation of his first website portal for Chinese companies took place in 1995, so he had a bit of experience.
Although today he is considered as one of the examples of famous entrepreneurs, we cannot fail to note that Ma’s beginnings were not easy.
He had a hard time finding a job, as it is known that at least 30 of his job applications were rejected.
He also applied to Harvard, and was rejected about 10 times. At his home university he failed twice. Today he is seen as an example of perseverance, as he showed us the face of a man who, if he persists, can win.
It could easily be said that, today, Google is one of the most important companies in the world.
This is a business focused entirely on the internet and new technologies, known for its web search engine, the epicenter of all its activity and also popularity.
However, Google’s main function is to make it easier for users to use the Internet.
Thanks to it, anyone can enter and search for what they need just by entering a couple of words.
Even other actions such as organizing vacations, shopping, and so on and so forth.
As an example of successful entrepreneurs in this case we have the American Larry Page, and the Russian Sherguéi Brin, who are the founders.
By 1995 Page had finished his studies at the University of Michigan, and went to do a postgraduate degree at Stanford University in California.
It was at this same university where he met Brin, who was 21 years old at the time and was in charge of teaching him about the campus.
Who would have thought that so many years later this meeting would develop so well that they would revolutionize the world with the invention we know today?
However, before the creation of Google, Larry and Sherguéi had already created another Internet search engine known as BackRub, but it was only used by university students.
Something like when Facebook started.
This tells us about how important it is to know the right person.
In this case we have, on the one hand, Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, which is better known as Lidl and is a discount supermarket chain that has its origins in Germany.
It currently operates more than 11,200 stores in 30 countries and is part of the Schwarz Group.
On the other hand, we have Kaufland, which is a hypermarket chain, also from Germany, which is also part of the Schwarz Gruppe.
Its first store opened in Neckarsulm in 1984, and it expanded rapidly throughout what used to be known as East Germany.
The man who in this case serves as an example of a famous entrepreneur is Dieter Schwarz, of whom not much is known other than what is necessary due to the fact that he has liked to live in anonymity.
Despite the fact that he is one of the richest people in Germany.
It is known that he was born in Heilbronn in 1939, and was the son of the grocer Josef Schwarz, who had another partner, whose surname was Lidl, a fruit wholesale business.
Dieter, after graduating from high school, started working under his father’s tutelage.
In 1973, the Schwarz family decided to open their first supermarket following the model of Aldi, a chain that was beginning its expansion in Germany.
Since they did not want to use their surname, which means black, and would be reminiscent of the expression black market, they took their partner’s name and Lidl was born.
After the death of his father, in 1977, Schwarz decided to start his second business venture in the world of distribution with a chain of hypermarkets that we know today as Kaufland.
Both are today one of his greatest achievements and chains present in Germany and other countries.
Mercedes-Benz is known for being a German company dedicated to the manufacture of luxury vehicles.
And this is something we can assume when we look at their slogan, which explicitly tells us that they are dedicated to the best or nothing.
Although it has a couple of strong competitors in the current market there is no denying that this is still a leading company, whose formula for success is worthy of admiration for those who want, perhaps, in the future to be on par with it.
So you will have to pay attention to its founders.
As other examples of successful entrepreneurs we have first Karl Benz, a German engineer and inventor who is credited with the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886, which is considered the first vehicle ever designed to be powered by an internal combustion engine.
On the other hand, we will mention Golttlieb Daimler, one of the most important construction and industrial engineers in Germany.
He is credited, like his partner, with being one of the pioneers of the global automotive industry.
And co-founder of one of the most important manufacturers in the world.
Both Benz and Daimler spent most of their lives studying mechanics and even the workings of bicycles.
This helped them take their first steps towards the merger that would occur in 1926, which would form Daimler-Benz with the creation of the popular Mercedes-Benz.
Nowadays there is no one who does not know Spotify, that music, podcasts and digital video streaming service that gives us access to millions of songs and other content from artists around the world.
With basic functions such as listening to music for free, which improve when you subscribe to the Premium version.
First let’s talk about one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world, Daniel Ek, who was born on February 21 in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1983.
What is most striking about him is that he started in the business world at the age of 13, creating websites for clients from his home.
On the other hand we have Martin Lorentzon, who was born on April 1, 1969 in southern Sweden.
It was in Silicon Valley, after his higher education, that he met the best web entrepreneurs.
By April 2006, Ek and Lorentzon’s function would result in a company that they decided not to sell, registering Spotify in June.
The developers were paid out of Martin’s own money, as were the music licenses and office rentals.
We all know Netflix for its series, but behind what is shown on the screen there is an American entertainment company and subscription service that operates worldwide. Which, like all the others, was born from an idea.
In this case the mastermind is Reed Hastings Jr, who was born in Boston on October 8, 1960I).
He graduated from a private school in Cambridge, then studied mathematics at Bowdoin College and, by 1981, served officer training as it was an important interest of his.
Returning from the Peace Corps, he entered Stanford University to earn his master’s degree in computer science by 1988, which led him to become a software developer.
By 1991 he would have founded Pure Software, which was sold in 1997 for a very substantial amount.
