Most Inspiring Rags to Riches Stories

From humble beginnings to extraordinary success, these entrepreneurs have defied the odds and achieved remarkable wealth. The attests to the herbs of determination, hard work, and innovation. George Soros,Roman Abramovich, J.K. Rowling, Richard Branson and Jan Koum  all challenged themselves from their circumstances, but turned entrepreneurial spirits to their destiny. The stories not only inspire but also prove that with perseverance, anyone can turn their dreams into reality, regardless of where to begin. 

George Soros

Soros is one of the biggest and arguably the most famous rags-to-riches stories in the business world and for good reason. His journey has been very inspiring, to say the least. The businessman survived the Nazi treatment and landed penniless in London as a college student. To make both ends meet, he took up less glamorous jobs as a waiter and railway porter while attending the prestigious London School of Economics when his many classmates were probably funded by their wealthy families. After that, he worked for a modest souvenir shop before getting himself a banking job in New York. His first and huge success was in 1992 when he bet against the British pound and earned an astounding one billion dollars. Since then, he has been able to accumulate his wealth, which is now pegged above 20 billion dollars. 

Roman Abramovich 

Roman Abramovich is also famous not only for business but also for owning Chelsea Football Club, a huge investment. Yet he was not born into a rich family. He was born in Russia, became an orphan at two years old, and was raised by relatives. He grew up with very limited cash. Yet, he had indomitable determination. After the Moscow Auto Transport Institute, he had the inspiration to set up a small plastic toy company, which then developed into an oil company. His business skills developed over the years and after some merger, his company brought some billions into his pockets. Now, with that kind of wealth at his disposal, he can afford to do almost anything and establish a new business, buy a sports team and so on. He also holds the title of the world's biggest yacht, thereby becoming the ultimate example of someone who spent childhood in poverty in a difficult and isolated area of Russia. 

J.K. Rowling

Rowling is probably one of the most famous and triumphed authors ever written in the Harry Potter series-the book franchise that is without a doubt one of the most successful of all time. It is one of those franchises that could be at high peaks-in fact, so much so that presently both children and adults find it exciting through the movies produced and the extended Harry Potter theme park. However, it does not mean she has the luxury or the wealth of family. At the time of writing the very first book, J.K. Rowling was a lonely single mother on welfare, indefinitely depressed by her situation. The manuscript was rejected again and again, finally, a publisher found a place for the unknown writer among its list, and that proved to be one of its best business decisions. For the very first time, she became a reader who would officially become a billionaire-from books-but most of the time, her earnings do drop way below that figure because of her hefty donations.

Richard Branson

Richard Branson's strength lies in his entrepreneurial spirit. The hyperactive Brit never had the best academic successes, nor did he benefit from 'focusing his energies' when he simply decided to drop out as a teenager. Branson's sheer determination started his own music magazine for school and converted later into a record label. That label, Virgin Records, became a massive success, and Branson expanded into the airline industry and beyond. Today, he has sufficient resources to invest in any venture or support anything according to his imaginative mind to live very sharply. Branson himself commented that if he had the resources to attend college, his life would have probably turned out very differently.

Jan Koum

Jan Koum, an entrepreneur who moved from Ukraine at the age of 16 to the USA, experienced hardship with his family's work to support life in their new country relying on food stamps and living from budget to budget. However, his technology brought Koum to establish WhatsApp with Brian Acton in 2009, which could connect people to talk without paying the price for elaborated messaging. Today, WhatsApp has several hundreds of millions of users. In addition, using a multibillion-dollar buyout, Koum's nearly 50% holding has sent his wealth into the billions for his stake in the company. One thing is quite certain no member of his family will ever depend on food stamps again. This is one big success story that hard work and endurance can turn dreams into reality.

The very inspiring stories of these great entrepreneurs show that it is character and hard work that define a man, not his rich beginnings. Though their paths were scattered with thorns of obstacles that would make most people weak in the knees, they emerged like shoots bringing forth fruit from the hard ground of life. Their lives become evidence that even the most difficult challenges can present opportunities for miraculous wealth. It serves as testimony that one can railroad his dreams through hard work and grit, offering the promise of possible all that one might dream.