20 Self-Made Billionaires Who Started from Nothing & Made It Big

Becoming a billionaire is often seen as a dream reserved for a select few, but many of the world’s wealthiest people started from very modest beginnings. 

Their journeys from humble origins to extreme wealth are inspiring stories of perseverance, innovation, and hard work.

Here are incredible individuals who defied the odds and built their fortunes from scratch.

1. Jeff Bezos

• Net Worth: Approximately $190.4 billion (ref)
• Background: Jeff Bezos started as a computer science and electrical engineering major. He founded Amazon in a garage with a modest initial investment and grew it into one of the world’s largest tech and retail companies.

2. Oprah Winfrey

• Net Worth: Approximately $3 billion (ref)
• Background: Oprah grew up in poverty and faced significant personal hardships. She went on to become a successful television host, media mogul, and philanthropist, transforming her early challenges into a remarkable career.

3. Elon Musk

• Net Worth: Approximately $241.8 billion (ref)
• Background: Born in South Africa and moving to Canada for better opportunities, Elon Musk had a challenging start. He eventually became a prominent entrepreneur with ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink.

4. Andrew Carnegie

• Net Worth: Historically estimated at around $310 billion (in today’s dollars) (ref)
• Background: Carnegie emigrated from Scotland to the U.S. with his family and started working as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory. He later became a leading steel industrialist and philanthropist.

5. Howard Schultz

• Net Worth: Approximately $3.3 billion (ref)
• Background: Schultz grew up in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn and worked various jobs to support himself. He eventually transformed Starbucks from a small coffee chain into a global coffee empire.

6. Richard Branson

• Net Worth: Approximately $2.7 billion (ref)
• Background: Richard Branson struggled with dyslexia and dropped out of school at age 16. He started his entrepreneurial journey with a magazine and later built the Virgin Group, which includes ventures in music, airlines, and space travel.

7. Huda Kattan

• Net Worth: Approximately $560 million (ref)
• Background: Huda Kattan, an Iraqi-American entrepreneur, started from modest beginnings. She gained fame and fortune through her beauty blog and later founded Huda Beauty, a successful cosmetics line.

8. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

• Net Worth: Approximately $3.5 billion (ref)
• Background: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw started as a brewmaster in India with a small loan and went on to establish Biocon, a major biopharmaceutical company. She faced numerous challenges but has since become a leading figure in biotechnology.

9. Jan Koum

• Net Worth: Approximately $16 billion (ref)
• Background: Jan Koum emigrated from Ukraine to the U.S. with his mother and lived on food stamps. He co-founded WhatsApp, which was later acquired by Facebook for $19 billion.

10. Gordon Moore

• Net Worth: Approximately $6.8 billion (ref)
• Background: Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, grew up in a modest background. His work in electronics and semiconductors, notably Moore’s Law, and revolutionized the tech industry.

11. George Soros 

• Net Worth: Approximately $7.2 billion (ref)
• Background: George Soros, born in Hungary in 1930, came from modest beginnings. He survived Nazi occupation during World War II and later emigrated to the United Kingdom.
• Over the years, he built a vast fortune through his investments and became a prominent philanthropist, funding numerous causes and initiatives through his Open Society Foundations.

12. Steve Jobs

• Net Worth: Approximately $10.2 billion (ref)
• Background: Steve Jobs was adopted by a working-class couple. He co-founded Apple Inc. in a garage, which grew into one of the most valuable and influential global technology companies.

13. Shahid Khan

• Net Worth: Approximately $13.3 billion (ref)
• Background: Shahid Khan emigrated from Pakistan and worked as a dishwasher before founding his own auto parts company, Flex-N-Gate, which became extremely successful.

14. Larry Ellison

• Net Worth: Approximately $175.2 billion (ref)
• Background: Larry Ellison was raised by his single mother in a modest environment. He went on to co-found Oracle Corporation, which grew into a major technology company.

15. Evan Spiegel

• Net Worth: Approximately $2.7 billion (ref)
• Background: Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. (the company behind Snapchat), grew up in a middle-class family. He developed Snapchat while a student at Stanford University, which led to his significant wealth.

16. Peter Thiel

• Net Worth: Approximately $9 billion (ref)
• Background: Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, was raised in a modest household in East Germany before moving to the U.S. His ventures in technology and finance contributed to his substantial net worth.

17. Ralph Lauren

• Net Worth: Approximately $9.4 billion (ref)
• Background: Ralph Lauren grew up in a working-class family in the Bronx. He started as a tie salesman and went on to build a globally recognized fashion empire with his Polo Ralph Lauren brand.

18. Haim Saban

• Net Worth: Approximately $3.1 billion (ref)
• Background: Haim Saban emigrated from Egypt to Israel and later moved to the U.S. He achieved success in the entertainment industry, particularly through the creation of the Power Rangers franchise and his media investments.

19. Rocco Commisso

• Net Worth: Approximately $6.4 billion (ref)
• Background: Rocco Commisso was born in Calabria, Italy, and immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child. He started with limited resources, working in various jobs to support himself through college.
• Commisso founded Mediacom Communications; his success in telecommunications made him a prominent billionaire and owner of the Italian soccer club ACF Fiorentina.

20. François Pinault

• Net Worth: Approximately $21.5 billion (ref)
• Background: François Pinault was born in France and started his career in the timber business, working in his family’s small company. Despite being bullied for his poverty and leaving school, the mogul’s business acumen remained unaffected.
• He founded Kering (formerly PPR), a global luxury goods and fashion conglomerate that includes brands like Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga. 

These billionaires are proof that it’s possible to rise from humble beginnings and make a big impact on the world.