Buzz
There’s a common saying, 'you need money to make money.' This is certainly the case for most self-made millionaires and billionaires, many of whom were born into affluent families and went on to build their own enterprises.
Education, shrewd investments, and access to opportunities not available to the average person allow wealthy individuals to amass even more wealth. However, there are a few exceptional individuals who truly worked their way up from humble origins to achieve extraordinary success.
10. Leonardo Del Vecchio
Leonardo Del Vecchio was born in Milan, Italy, in 1935. His father passed away just a few months before his birth, and unable to care for him, his mother placed him in an orphanage.
As a teenager, he began working as an apprentice to a tool and die maker, and later secured a job at a factory called Johnson, which specialized in producing medals and badges. The factory offered a program that covered art school tuition, allowing him to study at night while working during the day. Upon graduation, he was promoted to head machinist, responsible for stamping badge patterns into metal.
After years of working in various factories, he observed the significant number of small metal components used in eyeglasses, recognizing the growing demand for them. Leveraging his expertise, he launched his own studio in Milan to manufacture eyeglasses.
At 26, he discovered that the town of Agordo was offering free land to anyone willing to start a factory there. He decided to leave Milan behind and seize the opportunity. A few years later, he realized the need to establish the name Luxottica, ensuring that every company manufacturing glasses in his factory would bear his brand.
Del Vecchio's shrewd business decisions over the years have paid off, and his company now produces renowned brands like Ray-Ban, Coach, Oakley, Prada, and more. With an estimated net worth of $22.6 billion according to Forbes, Del Vecchio reflected in an interview, “When I was starting out, I never thought I would get this far. I was always just trying to do well for myself.”
9. Peter Dinklage
Fans of Game of Thrones will recognize and admire Peter Dinklage for his iconic role as Tyrion Lannister. Given his immense talent, it’s easy to think that success came easily for him.
The truth is, Peter was born in New Jersey to parents with limited financial resources. With dreams of becoming an actor, he pursued a degree in theater at college. However, upon graduating, he was burdened with a significant amount of student loan debt. Unable to afford an apartment, he relied on his friends, who generously allowed him to crash on their couches in New York City.
Dinklage took on odd cleaning jobs to make ends meet. Eventually, he scraped together enough money to share rent on an apartment, but his only option was to sleep on the floor. After two years of struggling to find work, he landed a full-time job in data processing. The salary was modest, and it only allowed him to afford an industrial loft without heat.
He despised his job, struggled to find a girlfriend, and often drank to numb the pain while cuddling with his cat, Brian, in his freezing apartment. At 29, he made a vow to himself that he would take the next acting opportunity and leave behind his soul-crushing data processing job.
Even then, it took several years of hard work to build his acting resume before he finally landed the life-changing role in Game of Thrones, which eventually earned him over $1 million per episode.
During a speech, he shared this advice: “Don’t search for defining moments. They will never come. [ . . ] Don’t wait until they tell you you’re ready. Get in there. I waited a long time out in the world before I gave myself permission to fail. Please. Don’t even bother asking. Don’t bother telling the world you are ready. Show it. Do it.”
8. Do Won Chang
In 1981, Do Won Chang moved from South Korea to the United States with his family. (The exact details of his age are unclear, but he was in his twenties at the time.)
He immediately began applying for jobs in Los Angeles, landing a dishwashing position at a coffee shop for $3 an hour. He also worked a second job at a gas station. Later, he decided to launch his own office cleaning business, juggling these three jobs from dawn until midnight every day.
Whenever he saw a man driving a luxury car at the gas station, he would ask, “What do you do for a living?” He noticed a trend: Many of these men worked in the clothing industry. This led him to leave his dishwashing job and take a position at a clothing store to immerse himself in the garment industry.
With the money he earned from his three jobs, he saved $11,000, which he used to open a store called Fashion 21, selling wholesale clothing at affordable prices. He expanded his business and later rebranded it as Forever 21.
During the 2008 Great Recession, instead of cutting costs, Chang chose to expand his Forever 21 stores, aiming to create 7,000 new jobs annually, which benefited his company. Today, Do Won Chang’s net worth stands at $3.1 billion.
7. Magnus Walker
As a teenager in Sheffield, England, during the height of the punk rock movement, Magnus Walker dreamt of owning a Porsche one day, though he was far too poor to afford one. He was determined to move to the United States, but without money, so he applied for a job through a summer camp program in Detroit, which provided him with a free flight. At the end of the summer, he hopped on a bus to Los Angeles.
At 15, he dropped out of school. Rather than pursue a traditional job, he began visiting thrift stores and reselling cool items like Levi’s jeans and motorcycle jackets on Venice Beach.
He soon realized that people were drawn to his custom patched jeans, so he started selling his own designs. His profits skyrocketed. His clothing business, Serious Clothing, began supplying Hot Topic and styling rock stars. He earned enough to buy a Porsche, and eventually, he began collecting, customizing, and reselling these cars as well.
After marrying, his wife suggested purchasing a run-down building in Los Angeles' Arts District. Back then, it was inhabited by squatters and was a hotspot for criminal activity, so they decided to completely revamp it.
The design was so striking that it quickly became a sought-after filming location. As reported by CNBC, Walker’s personal Porsche collection is valued at $7.5 million, and that figure doesn’t even include his business ventures and real estate holdings.
6. Ingvar Kamprad
Ingvar Kamprad was born on a farm in rural Sweden, where his family was so impoverished that he started working at the age of six, selling matches to townspeople. By the time he was 10, he was pedaling around on his bike, attempting to sell Christmas decorations door-to-door.
Kamprad struggled with dyslexia, making it difficult for him to achieve high grades. However, he worked hard to overcome this challenge. At the age of 17, his father rewarded him for his impressive grades in high school. He chose to use that money to establish a business named Ingvar Kamprad from Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd (commonly known as “IKEA”).
After several years of attempting to sell products to his neighbors, Kamprad recognized the universal need for affordable furniture and home decor. He began offering products at lower prices than his competitors, which led local furniture businesses to boycott him in an effort to stop his wholesale purchases.
The local stores insisted that in order for him to sell furniture, it had to be his own design. In response, he began creating simple, modern, and affordable furniture. Today, there are more than 350 IKEA stores around the globe.
Ingvar Kamprad passed away at the age of 91 in January 2018. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated to be $58.7 billion.
5. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born in a small town in Mississippi to a young, single mother who worked as a housemaid. They relied heavily on family for support. At the age of nine, Oprah was subjected to horrific abuse by multiple men in her family. Eventually, she moved to Tennessee to live with her father, but the abuse continued.
At just 14, Oprah became pregnant, but sadly, the baby passed away shortly after birth. Despite all the suffering she had endured in her early years, it only deepened her ability to understand and feel for the pain of others.
Oprah was exceptionally bright and succeeded in her studies. She earned a scholarship to college and secured a job at a radio station. Her career progressed, and she eventually became a news anchor. Her remarkable personality set her apart. At 30, she made history as the first black woman to host her own talk show. Today, her wealth is estimated at $2.7 billion.
4. John D. Rockefeller
The name “Rockefeller” is almost synonymous with immense wealth, but the story didn't start that way. In 1839, John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, to a poor family who eventually moved to Ohio in search of better opportunities.
As a young man, Rockefeller enrolled in an accounting course, which led to a job as a bookkeeper for a produce shipping company when he was just 16. By the time he turned 20, he was ready to launch his own business. Initially selling staples like hay and meat, he soon realized that the real fortune lay in oil.
At the age of 24, Rockefeller opened his first oil refinery. His business acumen quickly turned it into the largest refinery in the region, and it grew into Standard Oil. By 1916, he became the world’s first billionaire. When he passed away in 1937, his assets accounted for 1.5 percent of the entire U.S. economy.
3. J.K. Rowling
Joanne Rowling grew up in a family struggling with financial hardship. She went to college with the aspiration of becoming a novelist, but her parents often dismissed this dream as unrealistic.
As an adult, Rowling escaped an abusive relationship in Edinburgh, Scotland, and found herself a single mother on the brink of homelessness, depending on government support to make ends meet.
Reaching her lowest point became the catalyst for Rowling to fully dedicate herself to writing. She turned her focus to completing her long-gestating story of Harry Potter, despite facing repeated rejections from publishers. Finally, at the age of 32, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in the United Kingdom.
Today, she stands as the most successful novelist in the world. The Harry Potter franchise has generated at least $7.7 billion, and her personal net worth is $650 million.
2. Lebo Gunguluza
When Lebo Gunguluza was very young, he lost his father to cancer. His mother was left to raise him and his siblings on her own in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Despite his struggles in school, his mother sacrificed what little they had to send him and his siblings to a private school.
He didn’t earn his high school diploma until he was 20, but that experience fueled a determination in him to never face poverty again. He made a promise to himself that he would be a millionaire by 25, and he dedicated himself fully to that goal.
Gunguluza went on to study business in college and worked a sales job to help cover tuition fees. After graduating, he founded Gunguluza Enterprises & Media. By 27, he had become a rand-millionaire.
In 2015, his net worth was estimated at US$19 million. He also serves as a judge on the South African version of the TV show Dragon’s Den, where he mentors aspiring entrepreneurs.
1. Gabrielle Chanel
Born in 1883, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was left by her father at an orphanage in France when she was very young. While there, the nuns taught her the art of sewing, a skill she would later use to establish herself as a professional seamstress.
To earn extra money, she worked as a singer at a bar. During that era, women were denied the right to open bank accounts, vote, or own property independently. Determined to make her way in life, she met a wealthy man at the bar and began living with him as a mistress at the age of 23. This relationship helped her refine her social skills, allowing her to blend in with high society.
After forming strong connections within the upper class, she set out to design clothing using fabrics considered “cheap” at the time. Women’s fashion then revolved around feathers, corsets, and heavy brocades.
Chanel deemed this style “vulgar” and began designing comfortable, sporty wear and simple yet elegant dresses. Her creations in Paris reshaped global fashion. She opened several boutiques, and eventually, she no longer needed the support of a man.
Today, Chanel products are synonymous with extreme luxury and come with an extremely high price tag. The current owners of the brand are valued at $19 billion.
