Ingvar Kamprad is a little known name amongst the general public today, largely because he keeps himself to himself and is a very private individual. However, his achievements are simply amazing given his background. In fact, he is the owner of the single biggest furniture chain in the world at the moment and has made billions as a result. Ingvar Kamprad’s entrepreneurial ventures are simply amazing and thus can provide inspiration for budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

The Young Kamprad

Today, Ingvar Kamprad is worth $31 billion and was at number seven in the Forbes list of the richest men in the world as of March 2008. He is easily the richest man in Europe at the moment. However, his wealth was not always as healthy. The entrepreneur was born on March 30, 1926 in Sweden. He was born on a farm in the village of Agunnaryd in the province of Smaland. It was hardly a wealthy village but was instead a rural community that specialised in farming. Kamprad was well aware of its limitations and saw a business opportunity.

Before Ingvar Kamprad was in his teenage years, he was supplying the community with everything it needed at a profit. He would obtain goods on a regular trip to Stockholm and then sell them at a price to the neighbours. He began his business with matches and then moved onto products like Christmas decorations, fish, pens and seeds. They were all commodities that people needed but could not get a hold of. As such, he learned how to buy and sell for profit very quickly. He was a successful entrepreneur before he left school and set about building his empire at the tender age of 17.

IKEA

The entrepreneur raised the capital to begin his own business from his father, who wished to reward him for his excellent results at school.

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In this day and age, there are a handful of businessmen and entrepreneurs that are well known as a result of their involvement with a high profile company. However, the majority of them do not hold a candle to the early American businessmen that created a model for them to follow. The 19th Century businessmen were incredibly successful and should be used as basic examples of exactly what can be done with a little drive and intelligence. Andrew Carnegie was one such example. The entrepreneur was undoubtedly one of the most successful businessmen of his time to the point where he would be the richest man in the world today were his fortune to be translated into modern values.

Early Life

Very little is known about Andrew Carnegie’s early life purely and simply because he was born in Scotland and then moved to the United States with his parents a few years after his birth. He was born on November 25, 1835. His family was poor and Carnegie began to work at an early age. He only developed his intellect via reading the books that Colonel James Anderson, a local military hero, owned. Anderson had opened his personal library up to uneducated boys to help them better themselves. Carnegie would always be proud that he was a self-made man as he moved up through the ranks of the business world. This is evident in the fact that he worked as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill from the age of 13. This simply typifies the fact that Carnegie worked incredibly hard.

Andrew Carnegie secured a job at the Ohio Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh in 1951 and set about teaching himself the telegraph signals that were sent and received. As such, he was able to move up the ranks of the business very quickly and could afford to begin investing his money by the age of 18. The entrepreneur mainly invested in railroad companies and went about amassing a fortune.

The Civil War And Beyond

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When it comes to the world of fashion, there are very few designers and icons that are as or more prolific than Ralph Lauren. The entrepreneur has been at the very heart of the fashion industry for some years now and his creations are just as in demand as they ever were. As such, he is undoubtedly one of the American fashion designers that every budding designer aspires to be. Ralph Lauren displayed an amazing awareness of fashion from a young age and had a real talent, so he is a shining example of what an individual can do.

The Young Designer

Born Ralph Rueben Lifshitz in The Bronx, New York on October 14, 1939, the young designer most definitely did not have the easiest of childhoods. As the son of a Belarus immigrant who painted housings for a living, the entrepreneur knew what it was to be poor. In fact, it is a safe assumption that the family struggled. This taught Lauren the value of money because it meant that he had to work for everything he wanted. On the whole, that was fashion. He would take any jobs that he could to earn a few dollars, which would ultimately then be spent on suits and other fashion items that made him appear to be more financially sound than he actually was.

Ralph Lauren actually embarked upon his fashion journey when he was at the Martha Stern Talmudical Academy. Before he was 16 years old, he was selling ties and other items that he had actually designed to his classmates. If this did not show his desire to make enough money to live comfortably and get out of the area he grew up in then the comment that the entrepreneur wrote in his yearbook most definitely did. Lauren stated that he wanted to be a millionaire.

From The Army To Fashion

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Very few people outside of the business world have heard of an incredibly savvy entrepreneur called Akio Morita. Although he died on October 3, 1999, he shaped the way that the electronics industry was to operate in the years to come and he has left a legacy that will be difficult to emulate. The entrepreneur may not be well known but the brand that Akio Morita created is the largest electronics brand in the world - Sony. Akio Morita was an unwitting entrepreneur in that he did not aspire to be one but just demonstrates that money can be made from a simple idea.

Morita As A Boy

Akio Morita was born in Tokoname, Aichi in Japan on January 26, 1921. His family was an old and respected one that had manufactured soy sauce, sake and miso since 1665. As it had always been a family business, it was expected that the entrepreneur would take over and thus he spent a lot of time learning the trade when he was younger. However, although Akio Morita had a head for business, he did not have a head for his family’s business. He chose to study physics and mathematics at Osaka Imperial University, from where he graduated in 1944. Upon graduating, he enlisted in the navy and served during the remainder of World War II. This may not have sounded appealing but he did meet his business partner, Masaru Ibuka, during that period.

The Beautiful Friendship

Following the close of the war, the entrepreneur teamed up with Ibuka to create a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946. Morita managed to persuade his family to invest and began to create various items that would revolutionize the electronics and communications industries in the years to come.

The first big success for Morita and the company was the magnetic recording tape.

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Hugh Hefner is a name that the majority of adults have heard of and can easily put a face to the name. This is largely because Hugh Hefner is undoubtedly the king of porn and has been for quite some years. Although his route to becoming an entrepreneur was anything but conventional, the empire he has built up is undoubtedly one of the most impressive ever seen! As such, he is an entrepreneur that many individuals could learn a little something from.

The Pre-Playboy Years

Hugh Hefner was born in Chicago on April 9, 1926. His early life was a relatively happy time. His family was relatively wealthy and Hefner enjoyed a carefree childhood. However, as he was old enough to enlist when America entered World War II, Hefner enlisted to serve during the final few months of the battle. It was not until he got back from his service duties that he began to develop his business skills and, more importantly, the concept behind his business.

The entrepreneur claims to have had an epiphany of what he was to do with his life when he was in full time education at the University of Illinois. He graduated in 1949 after less than three years of majoring in psychology. During that period, Hefner was also honing his skills of editing and publishing by gaining a role editing Shaft magazine and submitting cartoons to various publications. Although it was an auspicious start given the role that he would eventually play in a certain magazine’s rise to notoriety, it gave him the entrepreneurial drive to start his very own magazine.

The Sexual Revolution

Sex was still very much a taboo in the 1950s, but it was also an untapped market as a result of that. Hugh Hefner undoubtedly spotted that the tide of public opinion was turning, society was changing and there was a huge gap in the market.

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Modern entrepreneurs have one thing in common for the most part – they use the Internet to great effect. Many may use it for marketing purposes, some use it to build their business but some actually start Internet business revolutions and experience tremendous success. Elon Musk is one example of that. He is the creator of PayPal and so is responsible for a quick and easy pay system that has revolutionized the way people can conduct the finances of business and pleasure online. However, his entrepreneurial ventures do not end there. As such, his methods provide a great template for other budding entrepreneurs to follow.

Childhood And Technology

Elon Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971. His father was an engineer in South Africa and exhibited an obsession with his work. As such, Musk also picked that obsession up and began tinkering with technology and computers in his spare time. The entrepreneur invested in his first computer at the age of 10 and set about learning the inner workings of it, including the programming. He used the knowledge he gained from it to teach himself how to program. Just two years later, he had created and sold his very first piece of software.

Elon Musk left South Africa in 1988. Although he was still just 17 and leaving without his parents, the entrepreneur knew that he had to head to North America to make a living from his love of technology. He initially attended Queen’s University in Ontario as his mother was Canadian and thus he was able to live there legally. However, he soon obtained a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, or more specifically the Wharton School, to study economics. When he graduated with a degree in economics and also one in physics, Musk knew exactly what he wanted to do in the world of business.

Entrepreneurial Empire

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There are few names that are as huge in the film industry today as George Lucas. The entrepreneur has had a massive impact on film since the 1970s and has undoubtedly influenced this generation of potential film directors and producers. In some ways, George Lucas actually revolutionized the industry in the 1980s because he was part of the blockbuster innovation along with Steven Spielberg. The entrepreneur’s story is certainly a fascinating one.

The Young George Lucas

George Walton Lucas Jr was born on May 14, 1944 in Modesto, California as one of four children. His father was a traveling salesman so the family got by, but Lucas often found himself frustrated. He did not like school and really did not care whether he got good grades or not, which may go some way to explaining why he often barely passed. He was undoubtedly more creative than academic, which ensured that he did not always see eye to eye with his father. However, he had no intention of pursuing the course of an artist until he almost died in a serious car accident in his senior year of high school. The entrepreneur’s perception and attitude towards life undoubtedly changed and he decided to attend Modesto Junior College to study social sciences.

George Lucas discovered film and photography while at college and started making his own films as a direct result. He began with an 8mm camera and soon found it to be his calling. As such, he moved from Modesto to study film at the University of Southern California. Animation, cinematography and editing all captured his imagination and the entrepreneur resolved to become a film director after graduation. His cause was helped by the fact that he won several awards for a short film he produced called THX-1138: 4EB.

Into The Film Business

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There are a few names that are synonymous with the candy that is sold in various retail outlets today, and many of them have been around for years. Hershey is one of them but would have never came into being if it were not for the dream of a humble farm boy from Pennsylvania. Milton Hershey fell into the candy trade by accident but is now king of it, despite the fact that he died over 60 years ago. The entrepreneur has earned legendary status and you can read on to find out how and why.

The Chocolate King Is Born

Milton Snavely Hershey was born on September 13, 1957 in Derry Church, Pennsylvania. His parents lived in a farming community and made a living off the land. However, during the entrepreneur’s early childhood, the family moved a lot. An unsettled Hershey barely managed to attend school and make friends before they were on the move again. As a direct result, he left school after completing the fourth grade, which was early even by the standards of the time.

Milton Hershey was determined to settle down and make a living but his first foray into the world of work was hardly a success. He began an apprenticeship with a printer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania but absolutely hated the business. He persevered for a few weeks before deciding to move on to pastures new. Remaining in the town, the entrepreneur managed to get another apprenticeship but this time with a candy maker. Finding that he loved it, he stayed for four years and then put his knowledge to good use by setting up his own candy business.

The Beginnings Of Hershey Foods

Milton Hershey’s first few ventures into the candy industry were nothing short of a disaster. He did not make any money at all from his first three business ventures and moved home to Lancaster in 1883.

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