Key Takeaways
- Entrepreneurs face extreme challenges and respond with tenacity
- They offer lessons in endurance and creative thinking
- Disney, Bezos, Gates, Turner and Oprah tell us that anything is possible
- We may have a maverick entrepreneur mindset in all of us
Everyone has their favourites, and I have mine. You might not consider entrepreneurs your heroes, but it is time we ditch the traditional celebrities and focus on those who made a big difference in the world. We will look at how they have transformed their industries. Meet the impossible entrepreneurs and discover how they created a money trail and attractive investments for those who spotted their game plan.
Walt Disney
Walter Disney is considered an icon in the entertainment business. Walt, who passed away in 1966, is no Mickey Mouse in the entertainment business. He won 26 Academy Awards, the most for an individual, and this record still stands. His first production was in his uncle's garage in 1923, and his company was later instrumental in ushering in the animation era.
Today, The Walt Disney Corporation is one of the largest media and entertainment companies and owns Pixar, The Disney Channel, Jim Henson Muppets (Miss Piggy) and Disneyland, among others. The latest addition is Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, set to open in 2022 in Orlando. I spent some time 'goofing around' at Disney; the first time was in the 1980s, and I could never have dreamt they would get so big—I did not buy shares; what a regret!
Bill Gates
According to Forbes, Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest men in the world, with an estimated worth of US$121 billion in 2021. He built this wealth upon the personal computer revolution and is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world. He is a co-founder of Microsoft (together with Paul Allen) and was able to capitalise on the difficulty individuals had with using a computer. In the 1980s, as a college student, I thought computers would never appeal to commoners like myself despite what they could accomplish. I would have been wealthy if I had only bought shares in Microsoft!
When IBM was about to launch its first personal computer in 1980, it approached Microsoft to supply the software. They adapted an existing program, but IBM was allowed to keep the code. This mistake allowed them to sell it to other PC makers. Sales of personal computers took off, and so did the Windows software. Microsoft's sales in 2007 were US$51 billion; their 2021 revenues are now US$176 billion. Though not without criticism, some of Gates's business dealings were labelled anti-competitive; he was also accused of not giving enough. In 2000, he finally yielded and set up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His generosity has made philanthropy the norm for the very rich and famous.
Ted Turner
Ted Turner is best known for creating CNN and starting a revolution in live news broadcasting. Previously, you got the news at a particular time, even though you wanted it immediately. He began his career in the billboard business, which he inherited from his father. He recognised the impact of satellite technology early and thought about how he could use this to cover events.
In 1980, he started CNN, the first channel to have 24-hour news. Many thought his concept would not work, but CNN is the number one news network in over 200 countries today. When I first watched CNN in 1982, I was obsessed but never thought about buying shares! Turner will also be remembered for giving US$1 billion to the United Nations, its most significant private donation. So, if the world is ending, you can catch it on CNN.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos had a knack for combining technology and business. He wondered if he could sell books through the Internet. In 1995, Amazon started in a rented garage with $300,000 borrowed from his parents, Bezos, his wife, and four employees. In the first week, he sold $12,438 in books. Amazon has dominated the book industry so much that it decimated traditional book retailers.
Bezos has gone further with Kindle; you can get your book immediately and publish your own. Today, Amazon has about 50% of the e-commerce market and earned revenues of US$469 billion in 2021. When I worked for a US corporation in the 1990s, my colleagues and I were speculating how far e-commerce would go; however, we could not have visualised this growth. Again, I did not buy stock, as I (and my colleagues, too) thought it would have been too risky.
Oprah Winfrey
Some talk is cheap, but not with Oprah. When you are born to an unwed teenage mother and assaulted twice before age fourteen, the odds are certainly against you. But if you have talent like Oprah Winfrey, nothing can stop you. How could she accomplish what she did? Time magazine wrote, "What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humour and, above all, empathy."
"Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye...They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session." That strategy has earned her the title of the wealthiest black American woman (Forbes estimates US$2.5 billion in 2022) and possibly the most influential living woman. She recently launched her network, OWN; however, her company is not publicly listed.
Maverick entrepreneurs offer essential lessons for venture starters and encouragement for established ones who will face significant challenges in scaling their organisations. These eccentric individuals showed the world they could beat the odds and leave a lasting legacy.
Sajjad Hamid is an Entrepreneurship Educator who supports entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures. In his spare time in Trinidad and Tobago, he tries to produce organic tropical fruits and vegetables and practises sustainable farming in his home garden.
He is the author of Build Your Legacy Business: Solopreneur To Family Business Hero.
Sajjad is a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute.
You can contact him at [email protected] or visit www.entrepreneurnt.com for a complimentary mentorship session.
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