Great Entrepreneurs is pleased to announce The Top 50 Entrepreneurs of 2022. These are the daring individuals with bold visions who are transforming the economy and the way we live our lives. These innovators were not content to work within the strictures of the economy as it was. Rather, they had ideas and started businesses that created new categories or, in some cases, new industries altogether. They did not just penetrate markets, but rather fundamentally redefined markets. This year’s list of awardees are some of the most creative, determined, transformational individuals of our modern world.
Elon Musk has revolutionized industries as wide-ranging as spaceflight, solar energy, electric cars, and neurotechnology. Bill Gates, after co-founding Microsoft, whose operating system is on nearly 75% of the world’s computers, has devoted his time to philanthropic endeavors around the globe. And together, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have created the most-used search engine in the world, allowing anyone with Internet access to have the world’s information at their fingertips.
Entrepreneurs change the way we think. Through their hard work and focus, they show that one singular person can affect the world in remarkable ways. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Entrepreneurs of 2022.
1. Elon Musk
Company: Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, OpenAI
Industry: Internet, Space, Energy, Neurotechnology, Transportation, Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, Electric Cars
Country: United States/South Africa
Elon Musk is known for being one of his generation's most visible and visionary entrepreneurs. According to Forbes, this has also made him the richest person in the world with a net worth of $269.7 billion, as of April 2022. Musk, who was born in South Africa, showed an interest in computers from an early age. When he was 12 years-old he created and sold a video game to a magazine for $500. Since then, he's honed his entrepreneurial instincts to create a plethora of businesses. He is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; early-stage investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla; Founder of The Boring Company; and Co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI.
In April 2022, Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Over the years, he's received numerous distinctions, including an honorary doctorate from Yale, and in 2021 he was selected as Time's "Person of the Year." In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Soon after, he was accepted into a PhD program in Materials Science at Stanford University, but he dropped out after two days to launch the software company Zip2 with his brother and a friend.
2. Jeff Bezos
Company: Amazon
Industry: Internet, Spaceflight
Country: United States
Best known for playing a seminal role in the development and growth of e-commerce, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world. Bezos started Amazon in his garage in 1993. Since then, the company has become one of the Internet's biggest success stories, ushering in a revolution in online shopping by introducing innovative features like one-click shopping, customer reviews, and e-mail order verification.
Before Amazon, Bezos spent nearly a decade on Wall Street in a variety of related fields. In 2000, Bezos added to his list of successful business ventures with the launch of the aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company Blue Origin. After reaching space in 2015, the company completed its first commercial suborbital human spaceflight in July 2021. Since 2013, Bezos has also been the owner of The Washington Post, purchasing it for $250 million. As of 2022, Bezos boasts a net worth of approximately $174 billion, according to Forbes. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a 4.2 GPA and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
3. Bernard Arnault
Company: LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton
Industry: Luxury Goods Conglomerate
Country: France
Bernard Arnault got his start as an engineer with his father’s construction company in 1971, working his way up to various executive management positions before becoming Chairman in 1978. Three years into his employment, he convinced his father to shift the focus of the company to real estate and assisted in various acquisitions. In 1984, he seized the opportunity to acquire Christian Dior’s bankrupt parent company, which he reorganized and returned to profitability. Five years later, he became the majority shareholder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, where he remains to this day.
While Arnault may not be talked about as often as many of the other entrepreneurs in the top ten positions on this list, he has built his company into an economic powerhouse that owns everything from wine and spirit brands like Moët and Dom Pérignon, to fashion brands Marc Jacobs and Christian Dior, to jewelry and watch brands TAG Heuer and Tiffany & Co. In 2020, LVMH was ranked 9th on the Forbes list of The World’s Most Valuable Brands, and in 2021 it surpassed Nestle to become the largest and most valuable company in Europe. Arnault himself has a net worth of approximately $158 billion. Prior to becoming an engineer-turned-business magnate, he earned an engineering degree from France’s École Polytechnique.
4. Bill Gates
Company: Microsoft
Industry: Software
Country: United States
In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to start a software company with his childhood friend Paul Allen. They called the company Microsoft – and within years Gates became an internationally known entrepreneur. During his tenure at Microsoft, Gates held several positions, including those of Chairman, CEO, President, and Chief Software Architect – while also being the largest individual shareholder until 2014.
Gates isn’t just a founder of the world’s largest PC software company; he is also one of the world's most philanthropic individuals. In 2000, along with his then-wife, he launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is reported to be the second largest charitable foundation in the world, as of 2020. Since its founding, Gates and his wife have personally donated approximately $36 billion to the foundation.
5. Warren Buffett
Company: Berkshire Hathaway
Industry: Conglomerate
Country: United States
Warren Buffett is the longtime Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a multinational conglomerate holding company based in Omaha, Nebraska. Berkshire wholly owns companies in a variety of industries from insurance to restaurants, railways, clothing, real estate, and more. It also holds significant minority stakes in food, credit card, banking, and technology companies, among others. In 2021, Berkshire had a revenue of more than $276 billion, and it currently has a market capitalization of more than $706 billion, making it the 7th most valuable company in the world by market cap.
After attending college, Buffett worked as an investment salesman and securities analyst before becoming Chairman and CEO of Berkshire in 1970. He currently has a net worth of $115.4 billion, making him the 5th wealthiest person in the world. He attended the New York Institute of Finance, earned a Master of Science in Economics from Columbia Business School, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He has committed to giving away 99% of his wealth as part of The Giving Pledge, which he co-founded with Bill Gates, and so far has given away $45 billion.
6. Larry Ellison
Company: Oracle
Industry: Software
Country: United States
Yachting aficionado Larry Ellison is Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of software empire Oracle, which he co-founded and owns approximately 35% of. Ellison stepped down from the position of CEO in 2014 after 37 years at the helm. While CEO, he shepherded Oracle’s expansion through steady and well-calculated acquisitions of various software companies, the most significant of which was NetSuite’s $9.3 billion buyout.
Two years ago, Ellison made the Hawaiian island of Lanai his permanent residence; he had purchased 97% of its territory for $300 million in 2012. Tesla welcomed him to its board in late 2018, following his purchase of 3 million shares of the company. In 2019, the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC honored Ellison with the inaugural Rebels With A Cause Award, reflecting his generous support through the years.
7. Larry Page (tie)
Company: Google
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
Larry Page is one half of the iconic duo that invented the world's most popular search engine – Google. As the son of computer professionals, Page’s fascination with the digital world began at an early age. Page met Google Co-founder Sergey Brin at Stanford in 1995 while they were both working toward their computer science PhDs. According to a commencement speech Page delivered, the genius idea for the search engine came to him in a dream. After Google launched in 1998, Page became the Chief Executive Officer of the company, a position he kept until 2001, when he switched to President of Products. In 2011, Page became CEO again, keeping the position until the company's restructuring in 2015. From then until 2019, Page served as CEO of Alphabet.
Despite relinquishing his CEO duties, Page remains an Alphabet board member, employee, and controlling shareholder. Among Page’s achievements, he's been included in numerous Forbes' lists, including: Billionaires 2021, Powerful People 2018, Richest in Tech 2017, and Global Game Changers 2016. Page holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, with honors.
7. Sergey Brin (tie)
Company: Google
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
One of the most influential figures in the Digital Age, Sergey Brin helped revolutionized the world of Internet search engines. Brin, who is the son of a Soviet mathematics professor, is half of the team that founded Google, which began as a research project at Stanford University and launched in 1998. As the President of Technology, Brin supervised Google’s daily operations from 2001 to 2011.
Later Google was reorganized to become a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., for which Brin served as President from 2015-2019. He continues to serve on Alphabet’s board of directors. Today, Brin does his philanthropic work through the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, which gives away more than $100 million annually. As of 2022, Brin is the 7th-richest person in the world, boasting an estimated net worth of $116 billion. He received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics with honors from the University of Maryland before beginning his graduate study in Computer Science at Stanford University on a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation.
8. Mukesh Ambani
Company: Reliance Industries
Industry: Conglomerate
Country: India
Indian business magnate Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is the Managing Director and the majority shareholder of Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market value. He also owns the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians and is the founder of the Indian Super League, a football league in India.
Ambani’s multiple titles include being a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai; the Chairman of the Board for Reliance Petroleum; Chairman of the Audit Committee of Reliance Retail; a committee member of the Bank of America Corporation; and President of Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology.
9. Carlos Slim
Company: Grupo Carso
Industry: Conglomerate
Country: Mexico
Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helú became a wealthiest-person-in-the-world candidate through his extensive holdings in a plethora of Mexican companies via his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, with interests in the fields of insurance, communications, construction, energy, mining, retail, publishing, and finance. He alone accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, and his impressive net worth is equivalent to approximately 6% of Mexico's gross domestic product. He is also the largest single shareholder of The New York Times Company.
Known for striking private real estate investment deals the world over and particularly in the U.S., Slim’s holding company Inmuebles Carso also develops, invests, owns, and operates many residential and commercial properties across Mexico. He has pledged well over US$4 billion to his Carlos Slim foundation, giving support for philanthropy by advising would-be entrepreneurs that businessmen “should participate in solving problems." Slim originated three nonprofit foundations dedicated to the arts, education, and health care; sports; and downtown restoration concentrating on Mexico City. He studied Civil Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
10. Mark Zuckerberg
Company: Facebook (Meta Platforms)
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
In 2008, Mark Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest billionaire when he was just 24 years old. The American entrepreneur and media magnate is most notable for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), of which he is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and controlling shareholder. A former Harvard University student majoring in Computer Science, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his dormitory in 2004. Initially meant only for Harvard students, Zuckerberg eventually allowed Facebook to be used at select college campuses. However, in the following few years, the site experienced exponential growth, and Facebook became the world’s largest social media platform.
For his efforts, Zuckerberg has been rewarded handsomely. As of March 2022, his net worth is over $74 billion. He was named Time magazine's “Person of the Year” in 2010. Zuckerberg studied Psychology and Computer Science at Harvard before dropping out in his sophomore year to focus on Facebook full time.
11. Changpeng Zhao
Company: Binance
Industry: Internet
Country: China, Canada
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume. Prior to Binance, he developed futures trading software for Bloomberg Tradebook. In 2005, he founded a trading system for brokers known as Fusion Systems, and in 2013 he briefly served as Chief Technology Officer for OKCoin. In 2015 he created BijieTech, which provided cloud-based trading technology to several Asian exchanges; and two years later, when he founded Binance, he filled many of the senior positions with BijieTech senior developers and engineers.
In 2021, Binance saw its share of spot-market crypto trading volumes increase to 69%, up from 49% the previous year, and earned an estimated $14.6 billion in trading fees. As of April 5, 2022, Zhao is the 19th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $65 billion. In a November 2021 interview, he said he plans to donate up to 99% of his wealth. He majored in Computer Science at McGill University.
12. Amancio Ortega-Zara
Company: Inditex
Industry: Retail
Country: Spain
Counted among the wealthiest clothing retailers in the world, Spain’s Amancio Ortega-Zara first began his career manufacturing textiles with a small family company in 1963. A true pioneer in the fast-fashion space, he and his ex-wide founded Inditex, known for its Zara fashion chain, in 1975. He owns about 60% of the Madrid-listed Inditex, which has 7,500 stores around the globe as well as eight brands, including Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear.
Ortega-Zara owns a 5% stake in the publicly traded natural gas grid operator Enagás and 10% of Spanish telecom Telxius. He is the Executive Chairman of Inditex’s real estate arm, Pontegadea, the portfolio of which includes Manhattan’s Southeast Financial Center and the Haughwout Building. For a short window of time in 2015, Ortega-Zara was listed as the richest man in the world as Inditex's stock flourished. He is dedicated to the fight against cancer, having donated €300 million across Spain to help the cause.
13. Michael Dell
Company: Dell Technologies
Industry: Technology
Country: United States
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Dell has powerful name recognition as the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Dell Technologies, one of the most wide-ranging technology infrastructure companies in the world. In 2013, he made a bid to own Dell Inc. privately for $24.4 billion, in what became the largest management acquisition since the Great Depression. Though private operations came to fruition in 2013, the company was eventually re-listed in late 2018.
Often sought out for his business expertise, Dell serves on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, the executive committee of the International Business Council, and the U.S. Business Council. He also was a member of the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Dell and his wife Susan established the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which focuses on grants for urban education, childhood health, and family economic stability, among other causes.
14. Phil Knight
Company: Nike
Industry: Footwear
Country: United States
Phil Knight retired as Chairman of Nike, which has perhaps the biggest “footprint” in the entire shoe industry, in 2016 after 52 years with the company. He initially conceived of and created the brand with his former track coach, Bill Bowerman, with each putting up $500 to found what was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Nike grew exponentially over the years under his guidance, with its revenue in 2021 totaling around $44.5 billion.
Knight has pledged over $2 billion in grants to his alma maters, the Oregon Health & Science University and Stanford's Graduate School of Business. He also serves as Chairman of Laika, an animation studio run by his son Travis. Knight holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
15. Jack Ma
Company: Alibaba Group
Industry: Internet
Country: China
Once a poor young man who survived by guiding tourists, Jack Ma rose to become one of China's wealthiest people. Ma is mostly known for being the head of the multinational technology conglomerate Alibaba Group, which comprises several of China’s most popular websites, including Alibaba.com. The group had revenues of $105 billion in the year to March 2021. Ma co-founded Alibaba in 1999, and under his stewardship, the company turned into an e-commerce giant that is used by more than 750 million people each year. Ma also has a stake in online payment service Ant Group, and he co-founded Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm, in 2010.
In 2019, Ma stepped down from Alibaba to pursue other interests. That same year, Forbes named Ma in its list of "Asia's 2019 Heroes of Philanthropy" for his work supporting underprivileged communities in China, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. As of May 2022, Ma's net worth is estimated to be $24.2 billion. Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher's Institute (currently Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He claims to have applied to Harvard Business School ten times and was rejected each time.
16. Rupert Murdoch
Company: News Corp
Industry: Media, Entertainment
Country: United Kingdom/United States
Rupert Murdoch is a media tycoon known for controlling an empire that includes hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world. This includes cable channel Fox News, The Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal. A native of Australia, Murdoch inherited a newspaper at the age of 22 after his father – a famous war correspondent and publisher – passed away. By the time Murdoch acquired his first British newspaper in 1969, he had created a proven formula for boosting circulation: an emphasis on crime, sex, scandal, and human-interest stories with boldface headlines.
Since then, Murdoch has gradually built his business empire. Among his conquests in the media world, he boasts of having acquired publications including The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The New York Post, and HarperCollins. As of March 2022, Murdoch's net worth is estimated to be over $21 billion. Murdoch received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) from Worcester College, Oxford.
17. Jack Dorsey
Company: Twitter
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
At a young age, Jack Dorsey showed a flair for computers, writing the dispatch software that is still used by many cab companies when he was just 15 years old. His fascination with computers paid off in 2006, when Dorsey co-founded the microblogging platform Twitter, which became one of the top 10 most widely visited websites in the world with over 217 million monetizable daily active users around the globe. In November 2021, Dorsey relinquished his Chief Executive Officer title at Twitter, leaving the top job with an estimated $11.8 billion fortune.
Dorsey currently serves as CEO for Block (formerly called Square), a fintech company that also owns mobile money transfer app Cash App. Dorsey co-founded the payments company in 2009. For six years, he ran Twitter and Block simultaneously — a rare feat even for work-obsessed Silicon Valley titans. In April 2020, he promised to give away $1 billion – then 28% of his net worth – to philanthropic causes. Dorsey attended the University of Missouri–Rolla for more than two years before transferring to New York University, but he dropped out of NYU two years later, one semester short of graduating.
18. Ralph Lauren
Company: Ralph Lauren
Industry: Retail
Country: United States
An international household name due to his namesake fashion brand, Ralph Lauren created one of the most successful fashion companies in the second half of the 20th century. Lauren’s billion-dollar empire, now best represented by sportswear line Polo Ralph Lauren, was built upon his knack for sculpting the “American look,” which helped make New York a direct competitor with global fashion capitals such as Paris. A key ingredient of his success was becoming the only American designer to manufacture and license his creations.
Goldman Sachs purchased more than a quarter of the company in the mid-1990s, and Polo Ralph Lauren went public in 1997. Lauren stepped down from his position as CEO in 2015, transitioning into Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer roles. In terms of charitable contributions, Lauren co-founded the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research, supported the establishment of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem, and partnered with the Royal Marsden, the largest and most comprehensive cancer center in Europe, to develop a world-class breast cancer research facility. He studied business at Baruch College in Manhattan.
19. Melanie Perkins
Company: Canva
Industry: Internet
Country: Australia
Melanie Perkins has been launching creative businesses since she was a teenager. At the age of 14, she made and sold scarves to shops in her hometown of Perth, Australia. At 19, Perkins founded Fusion Books, a business that offered online school yearbook design and publishing services. However, Perkins had a grander vision to make graphic design easy and accessible for all. With $3 million in backing, and a former Google executive as a Co-founder, Perkins launched Canva in 2013. With Perkins serving as Chief Executive Officer, the free-to-use, online design platform had more than 75,000 users by the end of its first year.
Within five years, at age 31, Perkins was already considered a top tech CEO, and her company achieved unicorn status. Since then, the company has continued its meteoric rise. Today, Canva competes with tech titans like Microsoft and Adobe. In September 2021, the company reached a $40 billion valuation. Perkins enrolled at the University of Western Australia, majoring in Communications, Psychology, and Commerce, but dropped out shortly after at the age of 19 to focus on Fusion Books.
20. Sam Zell
Company: Equity Group Investments
Industry: Real Estate, Investments
Country: United States
Industry-diverse entrepreneur and investor Sam Zell is perhaps best known for founding Equity Group Investments in 1968, which today invests in industries such as healthcare, energy, and logistics. Hailed as the forefather of modern real estate investment trusts (REITs), Zell chairs five public companies—including one of the nation's largest residential REITs. He was involved in one of the biggest real estate deals of all time when he sold REIT Equity Office to Blackstone for $39 billion just prior to the market crash of 2007. At the same time, he led an $8.2 billion buyout of newspaper owner Tribune Company.
Zell and his wife have made significant donations to the University of Michigan through the sponsorship of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program; to Northwestern University's Kellogg School via the Zell Center for Risk Research and Zell Scholar Program; and to the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School through the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center. They have also contributed to Start Early (formerly The Ounce of Prevention Fund), the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Zell earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence as well as a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
21. Richard Branson
Company: Virgin Group
Industry: Conglomerate
Country: United Kingdom
Known to dabble in practically every kind of business venture, Richard Branson’s fortune is derived from a conglomerate of businesses bearing the "Virgin" moniker, notably including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic. Branson started out in earnest with a mail-order record business more than 50 years ago; he now resides on a luxurious British Virgin Islands retreat, Necker Island, which he acquired in 1978 for $180,000. In 2016, Alaska Air acquired his Virgin America airline for a hefty sum, and Branson is now making waves in the cruise business with Virgin Voyages.
Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship," and has publicly pledged to contribute upwards of $3 billion to help address global warming and climate issues. Virgin Orbit recently introduced The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, which is meant to offer paid work experience and mentorship in the aerospace industry for extraordinary Black students.
22. Mark Cuban
Company: MicroSolutions
Industry: Internet, Entertainment
Country: United States
Self-made billionaire Mark Cuban has come a long way from his days of selling stamps door-to-door as a kid. In the 1990s, he made his fortune by launching start-ups MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com; the latter he sold for $5.7 billion to Yahoo in 1999. Today, Cuban is better known as the impassioned owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. He also has appeared on TV shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and is one of the main “shark” investors on "Shark Tank." Meanwhile, considering Cuban's strong entrepreneurial spirit, it is no surprise that over the years he's made investments in businesses ranging from technology-based start-ups to movie distribution. In addition to owning an NBA team, Cuban owns Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and the media company 2929 Entertainment.
Cuban conducts his philanthropy through the Dallas-based Mark Cuban Foundation, which has given millions to education, public health, and veterans, among other interests. Cuban, whose net worth is an estimated $4.3 billion, was ranked No. 177 on the 2020 Forbes 400 list. Instead of attending high school for his senior year, Cuban enrolled full-time at the University of Pittsburgh. After one year, he transferred to Indiana University, where he graduated from the Kelley School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Management.
23. Fred Smith
Company: FedEx
Industry: Shipping, Transport, E-commerce
Country: United States
The Founder of multinational shipping, transport, and e-commerce company FedEx, Fred Smith hatched his billion-dollar idea for the company with an inventive term paper at Yale in 1965. After serving in Vietnam with the Marines, he returned home and followed up on his dream, launching Federal Express Corporation in 1971. Although it was initially rough going, with $29 million in losses over its first two years of operation, Smith kept the business afloat—and the company now generates approximately $84 billion in yearly revenue.
Smith made headlines in early 2021 when he sold off his 10% stake in the NFL’s Washington football team, since renamed the Commanders, for approximately $216 million. Among his numerous honors over the years, he was given the Peter F. Drucker Strategic Leadership Award in 1997 and named CEO of the Year for 2004 by Chief Executive magazine. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.
24. Howard Schultz
Company: Starbucks
Industry: Retail
Country: United States
Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz took charge of the company in the 1980s, transforming a then-regional coffee operation into the best-known coffee brand the world over. Now also functioning as a social hub, especially for U.S. customers, Starbucks excelled with Schultz’s leadership, branching out from 11 stores to more than 30,000 globally. In 2018, Schultz stepped down as Executive Chairman and board member of the company, and briefly served as Chairman Emeritus until his return to the helm in 2022.
Schultz has a penchant for investing in other consumer businesses such as Groupon, Madison Reed, Allbirds, and Lucy via his venture capital firm, Maveron. With substantial investment in the training and hiring of veterans as well as youths, The Schultz Family Foundation has spearheaded an upsurge in the hiring of those populations in recent years. Schultz received a Bachelor’s degree from Northern Michigan University.
25. Reed Hastings
Company: Netflix
Industry: Media, Entertainment
Country: United States
Reed Hastings, the man behind video streaming titan Netflix, is currently the company’s Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer. Looking to revolutionize home entertainment, Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1995, as he concurrently sold his first company, Pure Software, to Rational Software. Originally functioning as a DVD subscription service, Netflix began transitioning to streaming content in 2007. Hastings maintains a 1% stake in what is now both a streaming service and production company, which currently has 222 million subscribers and went public in 2002.
In the wake of racially charged events in the U.S., mid-2020 saw Hastings and his wife Patty donate $120 million to fund scholarships at two historically Black colleges and the United Negro College Fund. Hastings is also a common presence in educational philanthropy and political circles, where he is a particular advocate of charter schools improvement. He holds a Master of Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College.
26. Peter Gilgan
Company: Mattamy Homes
Industry: Construction
Country: Canada
As Canada’s largest residential home builder, Peter Gilgan has been building houses for more than 40 years. Gilgan, a former accountant, founded Mattamy Homes, an Ontario-based home builder and real estate company, in 1978. Today, the company is the largest private homebuilder in North America, having constructed more than 100,000 homes in Canada and the U.S. Along the way, Gilgan—who has an estimated net worth of US$4 billion, according to Forbes—has emerged as one of Canada’s most generous philanthropists. In June 2019, he donated $100 million to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, which is going toward building a new patient care tower — one of many such gifts he’s made.
Gilgan is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mattamy Asset Management Incorporated, a firm he founded in 2018 to build and hold a diversified portfolio of investments and businesses. In 2013, he was honored with a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of outstanding achievement and public service. Gilgan did not attend university but rather trained as a chartered accountant.
27. John Paul DeJoria
Company: John Paul Mitchell
Industry: Beauty, Retail
Country: United States
The Founder of tequila maker Patrón Spirits and Co-founder of hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems, John Paul DeJoria is the archetypal “bootstrapped” entrepreneur. He went from sleeping in his car while selling shampoo door-to-door to joining forces with Paul Mitchell in 1980, turning a mere $700 into salon heavyweight John Paul Mitchell Systems.
DeJoria and business partner Martin Crowley stepped into the spirits game in 1989 when they purchased a stake in the newly introduced Patrón, ultimately leading to a $5.1 billion sale to Bacardi in 2018. Under the umbrella of his ROK Stars brand, DeJoria has also recently launched a line of 3D cell phones. DeJoria lends substantial support to multiple charities, such as anti-poaching group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Food4Africa, Mineseeker, and Blazer House.
28. Wayne Huizenga
Company: AutoNation, Miami Dolphins
Industry: Retail, Entertainment
Country: United States
Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He originated both AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., and was the Owner of Blockbuster Video and the Co-owner of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. Huizenga gained notoriety for bringing baseball and ice hockey to the South Florida area as the creator and initial owner of the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers. He also famously purchased the cable television channel SportsChannel Florida (now Bally Sports Florida) to air his teams' games in the region.
Altruism in academia was important to Huizenga. His achievements in that area include funding the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at the Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and donating to Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school, which named its science building Huizenga Science Building. He was also a board member of the Laureus Foundation. Huizenga studied at Calvin College, a liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
29. Oprah Winfrey
Company: Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)
Industry: Media
Country: United States
After growing up in dire poverty, Oprah Winfrey rose above adversity to become one of the most influential women on the planet. Winfrey, a self-made billionaire, is best known for her talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Her lively, open personality made her talk show the highest-rated television program of its kind; and it was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media," Winfrey rapidly expanded her media empire by launching a magazine, a television channel, a production company, and a radio network. Prior to her status as a media mogul, Winfrey was also an accomplished actress. She appeared in a number of movies and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Color Purple."
Throughout her career, Winfrey has won many accolades, including 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Peabody Award. In 2013, President Obama awarded Winfrey the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country. Furthermore, Winfrey is a dedicated philanthropist, having given away hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable causes around the globe. She studied Communication at Tennessee State University, where she received a full scholarship as a result of winning an oratory contest.
30. Ted Turner
Company: CNN
Industry: Media
Country: United States
Celebrated firebrand Ted Turner, an eternally famous and somewhat divisive personality, is professionally well known as a television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. Turner is often credited with altogether transforming the cable industry, and has been dubbed the “Alexander the Great of broadcasting.” He is the Founder of several television channels, including Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. Turner’s company pioneered operating a new communications satellite to broadcast the station to a widespread cable television network in 1975. Turner also gained fame as Chairman of the United Nations Foundation.
No stranger to the world of sports, he bought out the MLB’s Atlanta Braves in 1976 and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks a year later. As a main conduit of his philanthropy, in 1990 he created the Turner Foundation, which focuses on grants supporting environmental and overpopulation solutions. Turner was awarded an Honorary Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.
31. Ronald Burkle
Company: The Yucaipa Companies
Industry: Investments
Country: United States
Ronald Burkle is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of The Yucaipa Companies, a private investment firm that backs U.S. companies in the logistics, distribution, food, retail, hospitality, entertainment, sports, and light industrial sectors. Yucaipa has executed grocery-chain M&A deals involving supermarket chains such as Fred Meyer, Ralphs, and Jurgensen's, and once owned stakes in about 35 companies, including the grocery chains A&P and Whole Foods Market.
Burkle's honors and awards include the Los Angeles County, California Boy Scouts Jimmy Stewart "Good Turn" Award, the AIDS Project Los Angeles Commitment to Life Award, and the Los Angeles Urban League Whitney M. Young Award. He has received numerous labor-related honors and awards, such as the AFL-CIO Murray Green Meany Kirkland Community Service Award and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Man of the Year award. Burkle studied Dentistry at California State Polytechnic University.
32. Reid Hoffman
Company: LinkedIn
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
Reid Hoffman is an accomplished entrepreneur and tech executive, having played an integral role in building some of Silicon Valley's most iconic businesses. In 2002, he co-founded LinkedIn, which he sold in 2016 to Microsoft for a deal worth $26.2 billion in cash and a seat on Microsoft's board. Before LinkedIn, Hoffman was one of PayPal's first employees, first joining the payment company as Chief Operating Officer. There, he was responsible for all external relationships, including payments infrastructure (Visa, MasterCard, ACH, Wells Fargo), business development (eBay, Intuit, and others), government (regulatory, judicial), and legal.
At the time of PayPal's 2002 acquisition by eBay for $1.5 billion, Hoffman was Executive Vice President. Meanwhile, as an investor, he has been instrumental in the success of companies such as Facebook and Airbnb. Among his other notable accomplishments, Hoffman created the dating site SocialNet, which some regard as the first online social network. He earned a Master of Studies in Philosophy from Wolfson College, Oxford as a Marshall Scholar and graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems and Cognitive Science.
33. Kevin Plank
Company: Under Armour
Industry: Apparel
Country: United States
Kevin Plank is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Under Armour, a leading manufacturer of sportswear, footwear, and accessories. He began his entrepreneurial journey in humble circumstances, selling his first shirts from his grandmother's basement. Plank only recently stepped down as Under Armour’s CEO in 2019; he maintains a 16% stake in the company. Currently, he is overseeing the construction of a 4 million-square-foot headquarters for Under Armour in Baltimore, as part of a larger development called Port Covington.
Planks sits on the Board of Directors at Atlanta Hall Management, the Boomer Esiason Foundation, the Greater Washington Partnership, and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. In the past, he has served on the board of The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc. He earned a Master’s in Business Administration as well as an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland.
34. Shawn Carter (Jay-Z)
Company: Roc Nation
Industry: Entertainment
Country: United States
Aside from working his way to become one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 125 million records as well as winning 24 Grammy Awards to date, Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) is a leading entrepreneurial presence in his industry. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 and wisely secured ownership rights to his whole catalog from the start.
Carter founded clothing retailer Rocawear in 1999, and four years later debuted luxury sports bar chain 40/40 Club. Those businesses have become multimillion-dollar corporations, and he leveraged them to introduce entertainment company Roc Nation in 2008. In 2013, Carter launched Roc Nation Sports, and in 2015, he acquired the tech company Aspiro. At the outset of the pandemic, Carter donated $1 million through the Shawn Carter Foundation for relief efforts in New York. Alongside fellow rapper Meek Mill, he also contributed more than 100,000 masks to U.S. prisons to protect inmates from COVID-19.
35. Sara Blakely
Company: Spanx
Industry: Apparel
Country: United States
Sara Blakely built a retail empire helping women make their butts look small and their stomachs look tight. Blakely is Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Spanx, which sells body-slimming women's undergarments, leggings, swimwear, and maternity wear in over 50 countries. A onetime door-to-door fax machine salesperson, Blakely made the very first prototype for what would soon after become Spanx before her 30th birthday. She initially peddled her new invention on the sales floors of various Neiman Marcus department stores, but her big break came in 2000 when her products were featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
In 2012, Spanx was valued at $1 billion and Blakely was the sole owner, making her the youngest female self-made billionaire in history. That same year, Blakely was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2006, Blakely launched the Sara Blakely Foundation to help women through education and entrepreneurial training. More recently, Blakely pledged to give $5,000,000 to support female-run small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s in Communication.
36. Ratan Tata
Company: Tata Group
Industry: Conglomerate
Country: India
Ratan Naval Tata, a renowned Indian businessman, was chairman from 1991–2012 and again from 2016–2017 of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate. In 2000, Tata led the group to acquire London-based Tetley Tea for $431 million, and in 2004 it purchased the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea’s Daewoo Motors for $102 million. Three years later, Tata Steel acquired the giant Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus Group for $11.3 billion, completing the largest corporate takeover by an Indian company. Tata also spearheaded Tata Motors’ purchase of car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company in 2008 in a $2.3 billion deal that became the largest-ever acquisition by an Indian automotive firm.
Tata is a noted advocate of education, medicine, and rural development and is widely considered a leading philanthropist in India. He supported the University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering in developing capacitive deionization to provide improved water for underserved areas. Tata was given one of India’s most distinguished civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, in 2000. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Cornell University.
37. Tory Burch
Company: Tory Burch
Industry: Apparel
Country: United States
Since launching her eponymous brand in 2004, fashion mogul Tory Burch has built a multi-million dollar lifestyle brand. Birch made her mark on the fashion world by providing her boho-chic options for shoes, handbags, accessories, beauty, watches, and home décor. As of 2020, Burch's empire has grown to include more than 300 stores worldwide; her fashion line is also carried at more than 3,000 department and specialty stores around the globe. As the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her company, Burch is routinely recognized for her role as a trailblazing businesswoman, including being listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020.
Burch is also an avid philanthropist. In 2009, she launched the Tory Burch Foundation, which advances women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in the U.S. by providing access to capital, education, and digital resources. She also sits on numerous non-profit boards, such as the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Burch graduated with a Bachelor’s in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania.
38. Sean Combs
Company: Combs Enterprises
Industry: Music, Entertainment
Country: United States
For three decades, Sean “Diddy” Combs has been a driving force in the world of entertainment. At 19, Combs was hired by NYC-based Uptown Records, making him the youngest executive in the music industry. By 23, Combs launched his own music label, Bad Boy Entertainment, which would eventually reshape the hip-hop industry with its roster of iconic artists: Notorious B.I.G, Faith Evans, Mase, Foxy Brown, French Montana, and Machine Gun Kelly. Combs has also released six studio albums of his own music and landed 37 times on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
Aside from music, Combs has expanded his personal empire by launching his own clothing line, Sean John, in 1998. Since then, he's launched a line of clothing for women called "GIRLS”; added a cologne to his Sean John brand; founded the hip-hop TV network Revolt; and acquired significant positions in vodka and tequila companies. As a result of his numerous entrepreneurial activities, Combs' net worth is estimated to be approximately $900 million as of 2021. Combs majored in Business at Howard University but left after his sophomore year. In 2014, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Howard and delivered the university's 146th Commencement Address.
39. Anne Wojcicki
Company: 23andMe
Industry: Genomics
Country: United States
Anne Wojcicki is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of 23andMe, a pioneering direct-to-consumer DNA testing firm based in Sunnyvale, California. She launched 23andMe in 2006, just three years after the first human genome was sequenced. Under Wojcicki's leadership, 23andMe now provides the only personal genetic test with FDA authorization to deliver health information directly to consumers. The company has also built one of the world's largest databases of individual genetic information. In less than a decade since its creation, the company reached unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
Prior to 23andMe, Wojcicki spent a decade on Wall Street as an Investment Analyst, focusing primarily on biotechnology companies, before entering the entrepreneurial space. In addition to her CEO duties now, Wojcicki advises organizations like Cazoo and Xconomy. In 2020, she was ranked #93 on the Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Wojcicki earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Yale University.
40. Martha Stewart
Company: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Industry: Media
Country: United States
An expert on all things associated with home and garden, Martha Stewart is an entrepreneur and domestic lifestyle innovator who turned a fledgling catering business into an international media and home-furnishing corporation, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. With a scrappy disposition and savvy money management, early on in her years of fame she was able to secure funding to purchase the numerous television, print, and merchandising ventures related to her namesake brand and consolidate them into Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Kmart was one of the first facilitators of her success, as she signed a deal to become its national spokeswoman and promote a line of linens and tableware she designed for the chain. Later, with financing from Time-Warner, she started the bimonthly magazine Martha Stewart Living, which had a circulation of over 2 million by the time Stewart took over ownership of the magazine from Time Inc. in 1997. She also focused on her TV presence, popping up on a variety of talk shows and producing several specials—which eventually led her to having her own syndicated television show. Her most recent ventures include a web-based tie-in to her TV show as well as an interactive online version of her popular "Ask Martha" newspaper column. Stewart attended Barnard College of Columbia University, earning a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in History and Architectural History.
41. Daymond John
Company: FUBU
Industry: Apparel
Country: United States
According to fashion industry lore, Daymond John had only $40 to his name when he launched the clothing brand FUBU in 1989 at the age of 22. He started his business by sewing tie-top wool beanies, which he would sell on the streets of Queens, New York. His big break came when neighborhood friend and hip-hop singer LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat in a Gap commercial. Since then, John has grown his clothing line into one of the most recognizable brands on the market, earning him the moniker “Godfather of Urban Fashion.” John, whose net worth is an estimated $350 million, is also a New York Times bestselling author, motivational speaker, and one of the faces of the TV show "Shark Tank."
In terms of industry recognition, he's received awards and honors such as Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year, the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (which he won twice), and Crain’s New York Business 40 Under 40. In 2015, John’s commitment to mentoring and promoting entrepreneurs led to his appointment by the Obama administration as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
42. Sal Khan
Company: Khan Academy
Industry: Education
Country: United States
Sal Khan is one of the most famous figures in the world of education. He created the popular educational platform known as Khan Academy, which provides free educational videos for anyone to view. In 2004, Khan, a hedge fund analyst, began making math tutorials for his cousin. When friends and family also sought his tutoring, he transferred his tutorials to YouTube in 2006. The popularity of his educational videos on the video-sharing website prompted Khan to quit his Wall Street job and pursue Khan Academy full-time.
Today, Khan Academy has more than 120 million registered users and 20-30 million students every month. On YouTube, Khan Academy's videos have been viewed over 1.8 billion times. Khan, who holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard, added to his lengthy list of credentials in May 2021 when he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Harvard University.
43. Rod Aldridge
Company: Capita
Industry: Business Services, Education
Country: United Kingdom
The son of a factory worker, Rod Aldridge defied his humble beginnings to become one of his generation's greatest entrepreneurs. After years of struggling in the classroom, Aldridge left school at 16, taking his first role as a post boy in the treasurer's department in East Sussex County, England. After years of ambitiously rising through the ranks, in 1987 Aldridge founded Capita, which specializes in business process outsourcing. During his lengthy tenure as Executive Chairman, he transformed the company from a start-up into a hugely successful FTSE 100 company that now employs more than 75,000 people.
As the lack of social mobility in today's Britain is a subject near and dear to his heart, Aldridge added to his various philanthropic endeavors in 2006 by founding the Aldridge Foundation, which sponsors students to attend academy schools. In 2012, Aldridge received a knighthood for his services to young people. Sir Rodney Aldridge also holds an honorary degree from Manchester Metropolitan University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
44. Steve Baxter
Company: Ten13
Industry: Internet
Country: Australia
One of Australia’s most successful tech entrepreneurs, Steve Baxter is best known for appearing on four seasons of "Shark Tank Australia." Born in the remote Australian town of Cloncurry, Baxter left school at 15 and joined the Army, where he spent nine years as a technician learning invaluable lessons in electronics, telecoms, and guided weapon systems. In true entrepreneurial spirit, at the age of 23 Baxter sunk his entire live savings into his first start-up, SE NET. The pioneering internet service provider was eventually acquired by OzEmail/iiNet after reaching a customer base that exceeded 35,000.
Baxter's next project was the 2001 launch of his second start-up, PIPE Networks, a provider of wholesale telecoms infrastructure that was listed on the ASX in 2005. Five years later, PIPE was sold to TPG Telecom for $373 million. Since then, Baxter has continued working as an active investor and mentor to start-ups. In 2019 he co-founded Ten13, a syndicated investment platform that offers sophisticated investors access to early-stage technology startups alongside world-class VCs. Baxter is currently a Partner and the Executive Chairman of Ten13.
45. Arianna Huffington
Company: The Huffington Post
Industry: Media
Country: Greece/United States
Arianna Huffington is best known for creating The Huffington Post, a popular liberal website offering news and commentary. She first started her political and journalistic career as a Republican and rose to national prominence in the U.S. during the 1994 Senate bid by her then husband, Michael Huffington. In 2005, at age 54, Huffington launched her namesake media company; and when she sold it to AOL in 2011 for $315 million, she still owned about 6.6% of the company. AOL subsequently made Huffington the President and Editor-In-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group.
After stepping down from The Huffington Post in 2016, the media mogul launched her newest company, Thrive Global, a start-up focused on spreading the importance of taking care of yourself, sleeping well, and unplugging from technology. Huffington is an accomplished author and has written 15 books to date. Most recently, Thrive was published in 2014 and The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time was published in 2016. Huffington studied Economics at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was the first foreign, and third female, President of the Cambridge Union.
46. Emily Weiss
Company: Glossier
Industry: Consumer Products
Country: United States
Former Vogue assistant turned beauty blogger Emily Weiss transformed her five-year-old beauty start-up into a unicorn. In 2010, Weiss created her beauty blog "Into The Gloss," often working on her side project between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. before going to work at Vogue magazine each day. Once Weiss reached 10 million page views per month, she quit her job to focus exclusively on her business ventures. In 2013, Weiss launched Glossier, a direct-to-consumer line of beauty products. Since its initial launch with four products, Glossier has considerably expanded its product line to include a wide range of beauty and skincare-related items. Thanks to Weiss' instinctive leadership, the company now has more than 5 million customers globally and has become a household name across generations, especially with Gen Z and Millennials. As of July 2021, Glossier is valued at $1.8 billion. Weiss graduated from New York University in 2007 with a degree in Studio Art.
47. Steve Huffman
Company: Reddit
Industry: Internet
Country: United States
Reddit Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Steve Huffman's journey to the world of entrepreneurship started in college after he and his roommate (Alexis Ohanian) pitched an idea to develop a phone-based food-ordering system. However, because there were not enough people browsing the internet on their cell phones at the time, the food-ordering idea was nixed, and Huffman began working on his next project, which he called the "front page of the Internet." In one month, Huffman coded the entire Reddit site in Lisp. Within a year of its 2005 launch, the 22-year-old Huffman sold his stake in Reddit for $10-20 million to Vogue publisher Condé Nast.
After leaving Reddit in 2009 to launch the travel search site Hipmunk, Huffman returned in 2015 to serve as CEO. Under his leadership, Reddit has continued to increase its digital dominance. As of 2021, Reddit ranks as the 7th most-visited website in the U.S. and the 19th most-visited website worldwide. In addition to his CEO duties, Huffman is on the board of advisors for the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Technology and Society. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.
48. Rudy A. Mazzocchi
Company: ONE Exchange AG
Industry: Healthcare
Country: United States
American entrepreneur and author Rudy Mazzocchi has over 30 years of leadership and entrepreneurship experience in the healthcare technology space. Mazzocchi founded and sold several companies in the medical industry, including Microvena, Vascular Science, CytoGenesis, and Image-Guided Neurologics. He is currently Executive Chairman of ONE Exchange AG and PreIPO Exchange, Chairman and CEO of AGENTIX, Chairman and CEO of ASEP Medical, Executive Chairman of Establishment Labs (NASDAQ: ELSA), Founding Chairman of OptiStent, and Independent Director of several public and private companies.
Among his numerous awards and honors, he is the recipient of the Technology Leadership Award, the Businessman of the Year Award, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Healthcare, and the Global Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He has also authored more than 100 patents, three published award-winning novels, and a top-selling business book on entrepreneurism. Mazzocchi completed graduate studies in Biophysics at UCLA and earned a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences and Biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.
49. Pierre Andurand
Company: Andurand Capital
Industry: Investments
Country: France
Pierre Andurand is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Andurand Capital. Previously, he was Chief Investment Officer at BlueGold, a global commodities hedge fund which at its peak managed over $2 billion. According to Andurand, much of his success is based on his ability to apply the rigorous analysis of data to investing decisions. As a result, since 2008, his funds have produced staggering cumulative returns of between 900-1300% for investors. Forbes placed him in its list of the top 20 highest-earning hedge fund managers in 2008.
A martial arts fan, Andurand is also the majority shareholder of the international kickboxing league Glory. He earned a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from INSA, Toulouse; an MSc in International Finance from HEC, Paris; an MSc in Computer Science from Columbia University; an MSc in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford; and an MSc in Astrophysics from Queen Mary University of London.
50. Kelsey Ramsden
Company: MINDCURE
Industry: Construction, Toys
Country: Canada
Twice named Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneur, Kelsey Ramsden has been breaking barriers in traditionally male-dominated fields for more than fifteen years. Globally recognized for building multiple multimillion-dollar businesses from the ground up, Ramsden has founded and run diverse businesses ranging from construction to psychedelics to children’s toys. In 2005, Ramsden launched Tallus Development to manage major land development projects. Since 2005, Ramsden has also served as President of Belvedere Place Development, which builds infrastructure projects throughout Western Canada and the Caribbean. In 2012, she founded children’s subscription service SparkPlay. Most recently, she co-founded and was President and Chief Executive Officer at MINDCURE, which is innovating new therapeutic routes with wellness technology, drug development, and psychedelic research.
Ramsden serves on the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council for the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, where she has also been a Lecturer on Design Thinking. She is a bestselling author and keynote speaker who has delivered speeches around the globe at the likes of The Global Entrepreneurship Congress and The London School of Economics. She earned her Master’s in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business and her undergraduate degree from the University of Victoria.
