It is a common belief that a college degree is necessary to get a good financial life. However this isn’t true. Today there are many great examples who didn’t had a college yet they achieved great financial success in life.
According to Business Today a 2016 research says that there are more than 30% Billionaire without a Bachelor’s degree and this number has increased in the past 7 years.
Today we will checkout 17 inspiring and most successful Billionaires without college degree who dropped out of college and choose an entirely different path and achieved great success and became inspiration for people like you and me.
But before that lets just see how much is actually $1 Billion.
How much is $1 Billion
“Billionaire” this tag is really difficult to achieve. Billionaire is an individual who has a net worth of at least $1 Billion, which is equivalent to $1000 millions.
So you if you have $1 Billion in your bank and you spend $10 million every year, then it will take 100 years to spend your $1 Billion. Wow! that’s a lot of money.
So without any further ado lets start with out list…
1. John D. Rockefeller - Billionaire Oil Tycoon
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and one of the richest people in history. He is best known for founding the Standard Oil Company, which became one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world at the time.
Rockefeller was born into a modest family in New York and started his career as a bookkeeper before entering the oil industry in the 1860s. He quickly realized the potential of the oil business and founded Standard Oil in 1870. By aggressively consolidating smaller oil companies and controlling the transportation and refining of oil, Rockefeller was able to dominate the industry and amass a massive fortune.
Despite his immense wealth, Rockefeller was also known for his philanthropic efforts. He donated large sums of money to various causes, including education, public health, and scientific research, and established several charitable foundations that continue to operate today.
Rockefeller’s legacy is complex, as his business practices were often criticized for being monopolistic and anti-competitive. However, he also played a significant role in shaping the modern oil industry and was a pioneer in the field of philanthropy, leaving a lasting impact on American society.
2. Richard Branson - a Billionaire Entrepreneur and Adventurer
Sir Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, best known as the founder of the Virgin Group, a conglomerate that includes over 400 companies in industries such as aviation, hospitality, entertainment, and telecommunications.
Sir Richard Branson is an extraordinary individual who has dyslexia. Despite this he has achieved a lot in life making his story inspiring and motivating.
Mr. Branson started his first business venture when he was just 16 years old ! He started a magazine called “Student”. He then set-up a mail-order business record business and opened a chain of record stores namely Virgin Records, which later in 1972 came to be known as Virgin Mega-stores.
Richard Branson is known as a “Risk Taker”. He has taken risks not only in business but also lives a very adventurous life. He has invested his money in various ventures like a spaceflight company, airlines, hotels and many more. Next coming to his adventurous life he has done space travel and has explored the world in hot air balloon and via ship.
3. Steve Jobs - Most Successful Billionaire without College Degree and a Visionary Leader
Steve Paul Jobs, knows as one of the best entrepreneurs of all time. Steve Jobs dropped out of college just after 6 months but spent the next 18 months as a drop-in.
After that he did some odd jobs in California to survive. He later in 1976 founded Apple with Steve Wozniak quickly gained a reputation for his charismatic leadership style and focus on design and user experience.
He introduced various groundbreaking products such as iPhone, iPod, Mac Book and iPad.
- Read: Apple Marketing Strategy
Jobs is also well known for founding Pixar and NeXT.
Jobs was known for his attention to detail, insistence on excellence, and commitment to innovation. He was also a controversial figure, with some criticizing his leadership style as overly harsh and demanding.
Despite his untimely death in 2011, Jobs’ influence on the technology industry continues to be felt, and his legacy as a pioneer of personal computing and consumer electronics remains secure.
4. Paul Allen - A Visionary Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Many people still don’t know much about Paul Allen, he was another billionaire without college degree who started Microsoft along with Bill Gates.
Paul Allen (1953-2018) was an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation along with Bill Gates.
Microsoft was originally Paul Allen’s idea and he was the one who came with the name Microsoft. He then told his idea to Bill Gates and started Microsoft.
Allen co-founded Microsoft with Gates in 1975 and helped to develop the company’s early software products, including the popular programming language BASIC. He also played a important role in the development of the MS-DOS operating system, which became the foundation of Microsoft’s success.
After leaving Microsoft in 1983 due to health issues, Allen went on to invest in a variety of other companies and industries, including real estate, sports, and aerospace. He also contributed generously to philanthropy and was a prominent and respected figure in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
5. Bill Gates - 19 Time Richest Person on Forbes List
Bill Gates is an american business magnate who co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. Both Paul Allen and Gates were childhood friends who studied in the same school and later went to the same college, the very famous Harvard University.
Both of them dropped out of the Harvard to start Microsoft from their garage. Bill Gates has also invested his money in various other businesses including Apple.
In March 2020 Gates completely left Microsoft and decided to focus solely on philanthropy via “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” .
6. Larry Ellison - The Man Behind Oracle
Larry Ellison is one of the most influential and wealthy people in the world. He is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer and former chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, a software giant that provides database, cloud and business applications to millions of customers worldwide. He is also known for his passion for yachting, aviation, tennis and philanthropy.
Larry Ellison was born in New York City on August 17, 1944 to an unwed Jewish mother. His biological father was an Italian-American pilot who served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. When Ellison was nine months old, he contracted pneumonia and his mother gave him up for adoption to her aunt and uncle who lived in Chicago. He did not meet his biological mother again until he was 48 years old.
Ellison moved to California in 1966 and worked as a programmer for various companies including Amdahl Corporation and Ampex Corporation. In 1977, he founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with two former colleagues from Ampex: Bob Miner and Ed Oates. They initially worked on a contract for the CIA to build a relational database management system (RDBMS) that they named Oracle.
Under Ellison’s leadership, Oracle grew rapidly through organic growth as well as acquisitions of other software companies such as PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems and Cerner Corporation. This made Larry Ellison one of the richest persons on this planet.
7. Michael Saul Dell - The Man Behind Dell Technologies
Michael Dell is an American billionaire, businessman and philanthropist who is known for founding Dell Technologies,which is one of the world’s largest technology company.
Dell was born on February 23, 1965 in Houston, Texas to a Jewish family of an orthodontist and a stockbroker .
Since childhood he had an early interest in computers and business, and started selling upgrade kits for personal computers from his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a pre-med student .
At age of 19 Dell decided to drop out of his medical college to focus on his company, which he renamed Dell Computer Corporation in 1987.
He became one of the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company when Dell went public in 1988. In 2016, he merged Dell with EMC Corporation, creating Dell Technologies Inc., which went private in 2013 and public again in 2018. He is also the founder of MSD Capital, a private investment firm that manages his wealth.
He is also a philanthropist who has donated $1 billion to his foundation that focuses on child poverty and other causes.
8. Mark Zuckerberg - The Social Media King
Mark Zuckerberg is an American business man and internet entrepreneur, also a philanthropist who co-founded Facebook.
He currently serves as Facebook’s (now Meta) CEO and is the controlling share holder controlling nearly 58% voting shares of Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 at Harvard University with his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes . The social media website expanded rapidly and reached one billion users by 2012.
In November 2021, Zuckerberg changed the name of Facebook to Meta to shift the company’s focus to the metaverse. He also co-founded and co-CEO of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with his wife Priscilla Chan, a philanthropic organization that aims to advance human potential and promote equality.
Under Zuckerberg’s leadership, Facebook has grown into a global phenomenon with over 2.9 billion monthly active users as of 2021. In addition to his work with Facebook, Zuckerberg is also involved in various philanthropic endeavors, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which aims to “advance human potential and promote equality.”
Despite his success, Zuckerberg has faced criticism over issues such as privacy, data protection, and the spread of misinformation on his platform. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions and has pledged to do more to address these issues.
9. Amancio Ortega - Zara Boss, The Most Profitable Fashion Company
Amancio Ortega is one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world of fashion. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex, the parent company of famous fashion company Zara and other popular brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius. He is also one of the richest people in Europe and the world, with a net worth of $75.5 billion as of March 2023.
He got retired from Inditex’s board of directors in 2011 however he still remains as its largest shareholder with a 60% stake. In November 2021, Inditex announced that Amancio Ortega’s daughter Marta Ortega Pérez will become the chairperson of the company in April 2022.
He is known for being very a private person and low-profile despite his immense wealth. He rarely gives interviews or attends public events. However, he has contributed significantly to his philanthropic donations over the years.
He has supported various causes such as education, health care, social welfare and culture through his foundation Fundación Amancio Ortega (FAO).
10. Jack Ma - The Inspiring Chinese Tech Giant
Jack Ma is one of the most influential and successful entrepreneurs in China and the world. He co-founded Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate that dominates e-commerce, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in China. He also co-founded Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm that invests in various sectors.
Ma’s journey from an English teacher to a tech mogul is remarkable and inspiring. He had a humble upbringing and struggled to pass college entrance exams. He graduated from Hangzhou Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1988. He then worked as an English lecturer and international trade lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He became fascinated by the internet and its potential for business opportunities. He started his first company, China Yellow Pages, an online directory service, in 1994. He later founded Alibaba.com, a B2B e-commerce platform, with his colleagues in 1999.
Ma also claims that he applied to Harvard Business School ten times but got rejected each time.
Ma’s fortunes took a dramatic turn in October 2020 when he delivered a controversial speech that criticized China’s financial system and regulators for being outdated and stifling innovation. His speech reportedly angered President Xi Jinping and triggered a backlash from the authorities. His latest venture, Ant Group, which operates Alipay, the largest digital payment service in China with over one billion users, was set to launch the world’s biggest initial public offering on Shanghai Stock Exchange on November 5th 2020 but it was abruptly halted by regulators who cited “major issues” with Ant Group’s compliance.
Ma then disappeared from public view for three months amid speculation that he might have been detained or silenced by the government. His companies faced increased scrutiny and regulatory pressure from Beijing who accused them of monopolistic practices, data security breaches and consumer rights violations. Alibaba Group was fined $2.8 billion by China’s antitrust watchdog for abusing its market dominance in April 2021 – one of the largest penalties ever imposed on a Chinese company.
Ma resurfaced briefly in January 2021 via a video message for a charity event where he praised China’s poverty alleviation efforts but did not mention anything about his businesses or his whereabouts. He was later spotted playing golf on Hainan island in February 2021 but has largely remained out of public eye since then.
Ma’s saga reflects the complex relationship between China’s tech giants and its authoritarian regime who both rely on each other but also compete for power and influence over society. It also raises questions about how much freedom and innovation can exist under such tight state control.
11. Jan Koum - Mind Behind Whatsapp
Jan Koum is a computer programmer and entrepreneur know as the co-founder of the famous messaging app WhatsApp which he sold to Facebook for US $19.3 Billions in 2014. Jan Koum birth place is Ukraine but at the age of 16 he immigrated to the United States along with his mother.
Koum started WhatsApp in 2009 with his co-founder Brian Acton, and the app quickly became popular for its simple, ad-free messaging platform. In 2014 when WhatsApp had over 400 million users Facebook decided to acquire WhatsApp for $19.3 Billions
Koum continued to lead WhatsApp as CEO after the acquisition, but eventually resigned in 2018 over disagreements with Facebook’s data privacy policies.
In addition to founding WhatsApp,Jan Koum is also involved in various philanthropic activities, and has pledged to donate millions of dollars to support organizations that promote human rights and education.
12. Dhirubhai Ambani - From Rags to Riches
Dhirubhai Ambani was an Indian entrepreneur who founded Reliance Industries which became one of India’s largest conglomerates. Dhirubhai was born in 1932 in Gujarat, India, and then decided to leave India at the age of 16 and started his career in Yemen as a gas station attendant.
In 1958 at the age of 26, Ambani returned to India and started a business with a small loan from his family. He initially focused on importing synthetic yarn and later expanded into textiles, petrochemicals, and other industries. Under his leadership, Reliance Industries grew into a major player in the Indian economy, with interests in energy, textiles, telecommunications, and more.
Ambani was known for his innovative business practices and his ability to adapt to changing market conditions. He always wanted to support the Indian middle class and lower class, and his efforts to make telecommunications more accessible and affordable helped to revolutionize the industry in India.
Ambani died on July 6, 2002 at Mumbai after suffering a stroke. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan which is India’s second-highest civilian honor in 2016 for his contributions to trade and industry .
His sons namely Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani took over the reins of Reliance Empire after his death. But both it is to be noted that the Reliance Empire was divided between the two brothers and Anil Ambani is bankrupt while Mukesh Ambani has managed to become Asia’s Richest person.
13. Henry Ford - The Man Who Changed America
Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business man who is know for revolutionizing the factory production with his assembly-line methods. He was also the founder of Ford Motor Company.
Ford grew up in poverty and showed an early interest in mechanics and engineering, and at age 16 he left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit. There he encountered the internal-combustion engine for the first time, and became fascinated by its potential.
In 1891, Ford joined the Edison Illuminating Company as an engineer. In a very short time he become the chief engineer, and in his spare time he used to experiment with building his own gasoline-powered vehicles. In 1896, he completed his first automobile, which he called the Quadricycle. It had four bicycle wheels and ran on a two-cylinder engine.
Ford quit his job at Edison in 1899 to pursue his automotive dreams. He founded several companies that failed before he established the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with a group of investors. His goal was to produce a reliable and affordable car for the masses.
Ford was known for his innovative business practices which includes the use of assembly line production techniques to streamline the manufacturing process and reduce costs. He also implemented a $5 a day minimum wage for his workers, which was considered a significant increase during that time and this initiative helped to improve working conditions of employees.
In addition to his business activities, Ford was also a good philanthropist and was involved in various social causes. He later founded the Ford Foundation, which became one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations, and has supported various initiatives related to education, health care, and scientific research.
14. Ingvar Kamprad - The Silent Billionaire
Ingvar Kamprad was a Swedish entrepreneur who founded the furniture company IKEA.
Ingvar Kampard had dyslexia and thus he used to face some difficulties in studies.
He started doing business at the age of just 5. When he was just 5 years old he started selling matches. He used to buy matches in bulk at dirt cheap price and then sell them individually at lower price and still used to make good profit.
He later started selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils. when he was 17 he started his furniture company in 1943 today known as IKEA, and it grew to become one of the world’s largest furniture retailers.
Ingvar Kamprad was known for his unique approach to furniture design, which focused on simplicity, functionality, and affordability. He was also known for his simple and frugal lifestyle, which he attributed to his upbringing in a farming family. Kamprad was widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential entrepreneurs of the 20th century, and his legacy continues to inspire business leaders around the world.
15. Gautam Adani - Inspiring and Controversial Billionaire
Gautam Adani is a name that evokes both admiration and controversy. Adani is the founder and chairman of Adani Group which is a multinational conglomerate and has its operations in ports, airports, power generation and transmission, green energy, cement, coal mining, and more. He is one of the most influential businessmen in India and has close relations with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Adani started his journey as a diamond sorter in Mumbai in 1978, before moving to Ahmedabad to join his brother’s plastics business in 1981. He soon ventured into global trading of polymers, metals, textiles, and agro products. In 1988, he established Adani Exports (now Adani Enterprises), which became the holding company of his empire.
Adani’s fortunes soared after India’s economic liberalization policies in 1991. He expanded his businesses into infrastructure development and energy production. He built Mundra Port, India’s largest private port, in his home state of Gujarat. He also acquired several other ports across India and abroad.
Adani became India’s biggest airport operator in 2020 after winning bids for six airports from the government. He also became India’s second-largest cement producer in 2022 after acquiring Swiss firm Holcim’s Indian assets for $10.5 billion.
Adani has also promised to become the world’s largest producer of green energy. He has pledged to invest up to $70 billion on renewable energy projects by 2030.
16. Nikhil Kamath: The School Dropout Who Became India's Youngest Billionaire
Nikhil Kamath is today famous as one of India’s youngest billionaires and the co-founder of Zerodha, the country’s largest trading brokerage, but what many don’t know is that Mr Kamath began trading at the age of 17 after dropping out of school.
In this blog post, we will explore his journey from a call centre employee to a successful entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist.
Nikhil Kamath was born on 5 September 1986 in Shimoga, Karnataka. He attended Oxford Senior Secondary School in JP Nagar, Bangalore, but later dropped out after completing class 10. He was not interested in studying as he did not see the practicality of the subjects, except for Maths.
He started selling old phones at the age of 14, but his mother asked him to shut down the business. He then joined a call centre at 17 for a salary of Rs. 8000. He used to work there from 4 pm to 1 am and trade stocks in the morning.
He learnt the skills of stock trading and started managing his father’s savings. He also convinced his manager at the call centre to let him manage his money and marked him present with extra incentives.
In 2004, he quit his job at the call centre and started a stock trading firm called Kamath Associates with his elder brother Nithin Kamath. After four years, they launched Zerodha – an online platform for trading stocks with low fees and high technology.
Zerodha soon became India’s largest retail brokerage firm with over 5 million customers and a valuation of $3 billion as of March 2021. Nikhil Kamath handles risk management and investments at Zerodha.
He also co-founded True Beacon – an asset management company that caters to ultra-high net worth individuals – in 2019.
Apart from being a business tycoon, Nikhil Kamath is also known for his philanthropic endeavours. He and his brother are among India’s top 10 philanthropists in their personal capacity.
They donated Rs.100 crore in FY22 to various causes such as education, environment and healthcare through their foundation Rainmatter.
They also pledged half of their wealth to charity under The Giving Pledge initiative by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Nikhil Kamath has been praised by Bill Gates himself for his efforts in addressing climate change and supporting entrepreneurs.
Nikhil Kamath is an inspiration for many young Indians who aspire to achieve their dreams through hard work, innovation and social responsibility.
17. Michael Bloomberg - Businessman, Politician, author and Philanthropist
Michael Bloomberg is a name that many people associate with business, politics, and philanthropy. He is one of the world’s richest and most influential person. As of March 2023, according to Forbes he has a net worth of $94.5 billion.
He the founder, CEO, and majority owner of Bloomberg L.P., a global financial information and media company that provides news, data, analysis, and tools to millions of customers around the world.
But how did Bloomberg achieve such success and impact?
Lets checkout some of the key moments and decisions that shaped his career and legacy? Here are some highlights from his remarkable life story.
– Born in Boston in 1942, Bloomberg grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. He attended Johns Hopkins University, where he studied electrical engineering and became president of his fraternity. He then earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966.
– After graduating from Harvard, Bloomberg joined Salomon Brothers, a Wall Street investment bank, where he worked as a trader and later as a partner. He was fired in 1981 after a merger with another firm and received a $10 million severance package.
– Using his severance money, Bloomberg started his own company in 1981 with three former Salomon colleagues: Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, and Charles Zegar. They developed a computer system that provided real-time financial data and analysis to traders and investors. The system became known as the Bloomberg Terminal and soon became an indispensable tool for Wall Street professionals.
– As his company grew rapidly, Bloomberg expanded into other areas of media and information services. He launched Bloomberg News in 1990, which now employs more than 2,700 journalists in over 120 countries. He also created Bloomberg Television, Radio, Businessweek magazine (which he acquired from McGraw-Hill), Markets magazine (which covers global finance), among others.
– In addition to his business ventures, Bloomberg also pursued a career in politics. He switched from being a Democrat to a Republican in 2001 and ran for mayor of New York City after Rudy Giuliani’s term ended following the September 11 attacks. He won the election by a narrow margin and took office in January 2002.
– As mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms (2002-2013), Bloomberg implemented policies that focused on improving public health (such as banning smoking in public places), education (such as opening more charter schools), public safety (such as reducing crime rates), infrastructure (such as rebuilding Lower Manhattan after 9/11), environment (such as promoting green energy), among others.
– After leaving office as mayor, Bloomberg returned to lead his company full-time. He also became more active in philanthropy through his foundation: Bloomberg Philanthropies. He has donated more than $12 billion to various causes such as gun control (through Everytown for Gun Safety), climate change (through Beyond Coal), public health (through Johns Hopkins University), arts and culture (through various museums), among others.