SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
About
BILL GATES
AGE: 68
RESIDENCE: UNITED STATES
CO-FOUNDER: MICROSOFT
(MSFT)
NET WORTH: $134 BILLION
MICROSOFT OWNERSHIP
STAKE: 1.4% ($24.1 BILLION)
OTHER ASSETS: $64.1 BILLION
IN CASH AND BILLIONS OVER
MULTIPLE OTHER
How did Gates and
Paul Allen meet?
Bill Gates developed his fascination with
computers during his childhood days when
he attended school in Lakeside, a private
preparatory school in Seattle, and gained his
first exposure to computers in the late
1960s. Computers in Seattle have limited
access to people, so the school provided and
invested in a computer terminal that was
connected to a mainframe and because of
that, Bill Gates and Paul Allen got to meet
each other. It was the terminal that brought
them together and became childhood
friends. Computer terminals back then were
really expensive allowing Paul Allen and Bill
Gates to find a way to gain extra time,
because of the curiosity of Gates and Allen to
know more about computer terminals, they
exploited bugs in the system giving them
more time to explore. Later on, they got
busted, but because of that, it led to their
first partnership according to Gates.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
About
SUCCESS OF
BILL GATES
HOW’D IT
STARTED
Summer of 1974, after Bill Gates's
freshman year at Harvard University,
they were both working at the software
company
Honeywell
as
computer
programmers. In the year 1975, Paul
Allen convinced Bill Gates to drop out of
his sophomore year at his university at
the age of 19 to pursue his passion for
computer programming. Together they
worked on developing new software and
founded Microsoft and now, Microsoft is
considered to be the largest company of
software in the world. As of now,
Microsoft is known to produce line-tocomputers and provides email services
through its server, also it sells video game
systems and associated game devices.
AFTER THE
SUCCESS OF BILL
GATES
In the year 2008, Bill Gates stepped down
as CEO to the role of board chair to be more
focused on the philanthropic organization
that he and his wife Melinda co-founded the
organization. Also, Bill Gates joined
Berkshire’s Hathaway board in the year
2004, after they announced the vacancy on
Berkshire board after Buffet's wife, Susan,
died of a stroke. According to Gates, he was
glad to be part of the richest company and
also, he wanted to return his favor to the
company after they helped Gates to be
successful. After several years of service,
Bill Gates stepped down from both boards
in the year 2020 at the age of 68 to spend
more time on philanthropic ventures and
with his wife.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILLIPINES
CAREER:
Henry Tan Chi Sieng Sy is a Filipino
Businessman and Philanthropist. He
founded the SM Groups of companies
that include businesses such as real
estate, banks, and malls. He was also
known as "The Father of Modern
Philippine Retail" due to his success in
running the largest malls here in Asia.
For eleven straight years up until his
death, Henry Sy was named by Forbes
as the richest person in the
Philippines with a whooping net worth
of 19 Billion USD.
About
EARLY LIFE
Young Henry Sy was born and
raised in Jinjang Xiamen China.
Due to hardships, his family
migrated here in the Philippines
hoping for a better life. Sy's
family opened an convenience
store in Manila unfortunately
due to World War II, things got
way tougher for them. But Henry
Sy at his young age have a
decent entrepreneurial mindset
which he used as a weapon to
earn money. At that time, Henry
Sy was the first businessman to
open a "Shoemart" where he sell
worn military combat boots on
American Soldiers. Henry Sy's
Perseverance and Hardwork
bears when the Shoe Mart grows
and attracts several local and
international Investors.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILIPPINES
About
CAREER:
The National Bookstore who was
founded
by
Socorro
Ramos
fantasized and gained a reputation
for selling affordable yet quality
books for Filipinos. Educational
commodities became also accessible
as Socorro Ramos managed to build
a lot of branches of National
Bookstores nationwide. At the age of
100, She's still one of the richest
persons here in our country with a
net worth of 3.1 Billion USD.
EARLY LIFE
Socorro Ramos grew up in a
wealthy family of entrepreneurs.
At a very young age, she became
interested on ways to earn
money. She had her first job at
the age of 12 in a cigarette
factory. Later on her teenage
years,
she
studied
and
graduated at Arellano University.
She was eventually hired as a
shopkeeper at a bookstore. From
there, she had an inspiration to
begin her career in publishing
and retail. Together with her
husband with a capital of 200
Pesos, they opened the very first
branch of National Bookstore in
Escolta At the age of 19.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILLIPINES
About
EARLY LIFE
Tony Tan Caktiong was a Chinese Immigrant
when his parents moved from Fujian
Province in China. His father ran a
restaurant on the Mainland and worked as a
cook in a Buddhist monastery in Manila.
Tony Tan Caktiong studied high school at
Chiang Kai-shek College and finished a BS in
Chemical Engineering from the University of
Santo Tomas.
Before he started his legacy as a Filipino
Businessman and investor, he bought an Ice
Cream shop inspired by Magnolia Ice Cream
Parlor in 1975. In progress, Tony started to
add some meals such as Fried Chicken,
Fries, and Burgers and took the opportunity
to expand and convert it into a well-known
“Jollibee” fast-food restaurant or Jollibee
Foods Corporation in 1978.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILLIPINES
CAREER:
Tony Tan Caktiong not only stopped
at one fast-food restaurant brand,
he also acquired Greenwich Pizza
Corporation in 1994 and Chowking
Oriental in 2000. After four years, he
also acquired the international
brand Yonghe King, a restaurant in
China. In the same year, the Jollibee
Group Chairman and CEO Tony Tan
Caktiong was named “The 2004
World Entrepreneur of the Year”.
After years of hard work, he also
owned Red Ribbon Bakeshop in
2005, Hong Zhuang Yuan in 2008,
Mang Inasal in 2016, US-based
Smashburger in 2019, and The
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in 2019.
He also has franchised brands:
Burger King in 2011, Panda Express
in 2018, TimHoWan in 2021, and
Yashinoya in 2021. Having different
brands and franchises, he has
already built numerous restaurants
not only in one city but in the whole
country of the Philippines.
The Jollibee Foods Corporation
has been able to travel abroad for
a new voyage beyond the
Philippines because of the
hardship caused by its Chairman
and CEO. In 1986, Jollibee
became the first international
restaurant to open in Taiwan.
After several years, Jollibee's
product was available all over the
world. The Jollibee branch
opened overseas in Asia (China,
Saudi
Arabia,
Vietnam,
Singapore, and Brunei), the
Middle East (Saudi Arabia),
North America (United States),
and Europe (Spain, Italy, and the
UK). And the Jollibee Food
Corporation
continues
to
expand.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILLIPINES
Since the year he started, Tony Tan Caktiong has
achieved different brands and franchises worldwide,
getting numerous outstanding awards from local and
international awards, which led him to be a successful
entrepreneur. The following are the Awards of Tony Tan
Caktiong and Jollibee Foods Corporation: Management
Man of the Year by the Management Association of the
Philippines in 2002, The Far Eastern Economic Review
named Jollibee Group as one of the largest firms in the
Philippines six times in a row in 2003, the 2004 World
Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young in 2004,
Most Admired Company in the Philippines by the Asian
Wall Street Journal in 2006, cited as Most Admired
ASEAN Enterprise by the ASEAN Business Advisory in
2012, the CEO named as a Global Filipino Executive of
the Year at the Asia CEO Awards in 2013, Caktiong is
also awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the Asia
Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards, Gallup Exceptional
Workplace Award by The Gallup Organization awards
in 2020.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
About
ELON MUSK
Elon Reeve Musk is a
businessman-entrepreneur at
the age of 52. He was
prominent for his success
in his career with his
thriving businesses, namely
the X, Tesla, The Boring
Company, and SpaceX.
About
About
EARLY LIFE
COLLEGE LIFE
Elon Musk’s parents parted ways
when he was nine—resulting in Elon
living primarily with his father. At ten,
he taught himself how technology
works using a Commodore VIC-20.
After just a couple of years, he
became skillful enough in this field,
enabling him to sell his first video
game called Blastar for 500 dollars.
He actually wanted to open a video
game arcade near their school, but
his parents prohibited him from doing
so.
Musk first enrolled at Queen’s University in
Ontario, Canada. He spent his freshman
and sophomore years in this school. He met
his future wife at this university—Justine
Wilson, and had their sons after some
years.
When Elon got his Canadian passport
at 17, he unhesitantly decided to
leave his home country for two
reasons: (a) he didn’t support his
home country’s policy (compulsory
military service), and (b) he sought
more opportunities outside his
country.
About
ENTERING THE U.S.
After two years, Elon transferred from
Queen’s University to the University of
Pennsylvania through a scholarship. He got
a double degree in physics and economics–
both in the same school. In 1995, Elon
enrolled at Stanford University to pursue
his doctorate degree in physics. With his
entrepreneurial ambitions growing, he
made the bold decision of dropping out
after just two days in the university to
pursue entrepreneurship.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
ZIP2
X.com
Elon
Musk
had
the
experience of an internship
at Silicon Valley—a specific
place in California known to
be progressive in terms of
technology.
With
that
experience, he was able to
construct and plan out his
first enterprise, the Zip2.
Knowing that Elon Musk is an “Internet person,” he has
already envisioned how many opportunities the
Internet can offer. With that, he created x.com—a
virtual banking system that offers what traditional
banks offer. A month after he sold Zip2, he invested the
money he got to develop x.com. Although x.com
succeeded and had over 200,000 users, it merged with
its competitor, Confinity. X.com was further developed
before it became PayPal.
Musk first got his idea with
a book that offers directories
of certain places within the
area. He was able to
innovate this idea and
completely turn it into a
website which he called
Zip2. Along with his brother
Kimbal, they were able to
seize Elon Musk’s idea.
Musk used to be the company's CEO before the
company’s board decided to replace him with Peter
Thiel—the co-founder of X.com. Knowing that Elon
Musk is an “Internet person,” he has already
envisioned how many opportunities the Internet can
offer. With that, he created x.com—a virtual banking
system that offers what traditional banks offer. A
month after he sold Zip2, he invested the money he got
to develop x.com. Although x.com succeeded and had
over 200,000 users, it merged with its competitor,
Confinity. X.com was further developed before it
became PayPal.
Not long after, Zip2 was
bought
by
Compaq
Computer Corp for $341
Million, which Elon used to
circulate his money and
create another software dotcom company.
Musk used to be the company's CEO before the
company’s board decided to replace him with Peter
Thiel—the co-founder of X.com. In 2002, PayPal was
bought by the online auction company eBay. Since
Elon Musk had over 11% share in the company, he still
profited almost $200 Million.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
TESLA
Originally, Tesla Motors was founded by engineers Martin
Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning around 2003, naming it
after the inventor/engineer Nikola Tesla. Since Elon Musk
had the intention of focusing on electric cars, he invested
in Tesla Motors, making a huge change through the
company. His investment in this company made it to be
one of the leading car brands in the entire world.
Musk invested his $6.35 million in a car dealership
company. Around 2007, Eberhard resigned as the CEO
due to conflicts and disagreements but remained a
shareholder. On the other hand, Tarpenning also left the
company the year after. With that, Musk took over as Tesla
Motors’ CEO—which was renamed as Tesla later on. In
2008, they were able to release their own kind of roadster—
which purely relies on electricity rather than the
traditional gasoline. From then on, Tesla became wellknown in the industry.
TESLA-SOLAR CITY
RELATIONSHIP
Around 2016, SolarCity had more debt rather than profit. A blessing in
disguise came when Tesla decided to acquire the almost failing business
in order to expand their own. Later on, SolarCity was renamed as Tesla
Solar, which produces rechargeable solar batteries for home and
commercial use.
SPACEX
After selling PayPal, Elon decided to invest its profit in building
Space Exploration Technologies Corp (mainly known as SpaceX).
This business he built was, of course, still inclined to the internet
and technologies. SpaceX aims to develop rockets that can be
sent outside the Earth. Knowing that this kind of business costs
so much, Musk had to use his own pockets to fund the project.
With that, he spent around a hundred million dollars to make his
plan come to life in 2002. With true dedication and hard work,
SpaceX became the first private company to launch a rocket into
Earth’s orbit. So far, according to spaceexplored.com, SpaceX has
already been able to launch 96 rockets.
Experience truly helped Musk to enhance his leadership and
entrepreneurial skills because, under his supervision, SpaceX
had the chance to collaborate with the National Aeronautics and
Space Association (NASA) and the US Force to design a rocket
that would be launched around 2025.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
STARLINK
Starlink intends to offer internet service and is under
SpaceX. Starlink started its planning and
development in 2014, although it was publicized only
a year later. As of 2023, Starlink already has 5,200
satellites working with whooping two million active
subscribers and is available for over seventy
countries worldwide (almost half of the registered
countries).
Starlink has satellites in low earth orbit, unlike other
internet providers, which allows the internet they
provide to have lower latency, resulting in more
consistent and faster internet speed. As of now,
Starlink plans to deploy 12,000 more satellites and
42,000 more later on.
THE BORING
COMPANY
The Boring Company was founded in 2017 as
a subsidiary of SpaceX—Elon’s other business.
A year later, TBC was announced as a standalone
company
focusing
mainly
on
infrastructures and underground tunnel
construction services. TBC started with a little
dream, from the premises of SpaceX’s office to
the undergrounds of Las Vegas. Elon’s first
target was to solve, or at least improve, the
traffic conditions of big cities.
In 2021, The Boring Company was able to
complete its major project–The Las Vegas
Convention Loop. It is a 2.7-kilometer
underground loop that fastens trips and offers
convenience
among
the
convention’s
attendees; making the usual 45-minute travel
a 2-minute ride. TBC made it possible for the
attendees to travel from LVCC to the nearby
Resorts World faster.
TBC’s other projects have been publicized and
announced, although most are canceled or
lifted due to the company’s lack of responses
and activeness.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
X
Elon Musk became controversial on Twitter
when he joined in 2009, where he disclosed
his more than 9% share on the said company.
Later on, he was offered to be one on the
company’s board members, which he declined
days after just accepting the invitation.
Musk decided to come up with a dauntless
proposal—to buy the entire company for
almost 60 dollars per share. As a defense
mechanism, Twitter used a strategy to slow
down Musk’s possible acquisition. In the end,
they still disclosed the entire business in
Elon’s hands.
As of December 30, 2023, Musk's net worth is
around $250 billion dollars; making him earn
the first spot in the richest person in the world
list.
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
CAREER
Jeff Preston Bezos is an entrepreneur in
e-commerce, an American businessman
for his company, Amazon, and the CEO
and founder of the said company. He
also owns other businesses as of today.
He started his own company in mid1994 in his own house. The company
started as an online bookstore and
became larger in selling other different
products. His company escalated their
sales within 30 days of selling books
throughout the
USA
and
other
countries.
Bezos
exceeded
his
expectations for his output in the ecommerce business. He is also in the
cloud computing computer services
business, which makes the company
wealthier.
About
JEFF BEZOS
AGE: 68
RESIDENCE: UNITED
STATES
CO-FOUNDER: MICROSOFT
(MSFT)
NET WORTH: $134 BILLION
MICROSOFT OWNERSHIP
STAKE: 1.4% ($24.1 BILLION)
OTHER ASSETS: $64.1
BILLION IN CASH AND
BILLIONS OVER MULTIPLE
OTHER
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD
AMAZON
Starting in the early entrepreneur
days of Bezos, he and his team
established his own online bookstore,
which he established after he left his
job. He collects his knowledge of
financing
throughout
his
job
expeditions.
He
and
his
wife
Mackenzie helped each other manage
their own company by organizing the
books and negotiating with other
businesses’ contracts. Since then,
their parents have invested in their
company for around 300,000 dollars
and offered a variety of products.
Bezos nearly went bankrupt after
raising equity from other small
competitors. From then on, the
company launched Amazon Web
Services, but it was not successful
because it was spending continuously
in their company. In about 2002, they
cut off all distributors and gave the
employees 14% of the profit, and the
company is getting back to business
again.
In 2003, Bezos was thinking of a
solution to find a lot of profit, so he
ended up launching the Amazon
Kindle, a kind of device that is
useful and helpful to readers
and will make them more
immersed in reading. Amazon
has since surpassed all other
online retailers in terms of global
sales.
About
EARLY LIFE
On January 12, 1964, Jeffrey Preston
Bezos was born in Alberque. He had a
biological father named Mike Bezos,
who raised him as a parent. In his
early years, he was interested in
electrical knowledge, which led to his
innovative ideas. He found computers
to be his passion and became notable
at his school. Then, during his college
years,
Bezos
strengthened
his
knowledge and expertise in computer
science and electrical engineering by
studying both of these subjects, and
he graduated with the highest
distinction, summa cum laude, in
1986.
INTRODUCTION
In this very progressive era, innovation is
the main instrument to achieve success
in the business industry. In order for your
plans to thrive, creative minds shall be
put to work.
It may sound easy, but entrepreneurship
requires much attention, patience, the
ability to accept failures, and a much
stronger will for your ideas to happen. It
does not only come with three steps:
planning, execution, and successproper. With that being said, these wellknown personalities surely had their
sacrifices before reaching the silver
lining. This part shall reveal the steps they
took in order to reach the limelight.