Billionaire College Dropouts!

I recently came across an article which listed some of the billionaires (present and past) who had not completed formal education. I'll list out some of them first and then give my take on this topic.

Dhirubai Ambani:
Dropped out of school when he was 16. Went to Turkey and worked as a gas station attendant and later as a clerk in an oil company. 10 years later he returned to India, and started a business with a meager capital. Today Reliance Industries is one of the biggest, with both of his sons in the Top 10 richest men list with a net worth of $40 billion each!

Subhash Chandra:
Dropped out of school when he was 12. Started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19. Later he launched Zee Telefilms, India's first Hindi Satellite channel. He also pioneered new business - amusement parks Essel World. His personal wealth is estimated to be $2.3 billion.

Bill Gates:
Dropped out of Harvard when he was a junior there. Started his own company Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen. For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat: computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate capitalist, top management thinker. . . His personal wealth is estimated to be over $50 billion.

Steve Jobs:
Dropped out of Reed College after just one semester there. In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by popularising the concept of home computers. Introduced the Macintosh to the world. He had an influential role in the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever. Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1. It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net worth? More than $5.4 billion.

Michael Dell:
Dropped out of University of Texas when he was 19. He started his own company Dell Computer Corporation. By 2003, Dell, Inc. was the world's most profitable PC manufacturer. His personal wealth is believed to be more than $16 billion.

Roman Abramovich:
Dropped out of school very early. Richest Russian alive, Roman is popularly known as the boss of Chelsea Football Club in which he has invested $500 million. His personal wealth is estimated to be over $23 billion.

Ralph Lauren:
Dropped out of City College of New York while studying business. He was in the army for a while and later went on to work as a sales man for Brooks Brothers. He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer and a formidable businessman. His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion.

Henry Ford:
Dropped out of school when he was 16. Worked as an apprentice machinist, married, tried a bit of farming, ran a sawmill, experimented with internal combustion engines and eventually formed the Detroit Automobile Company with a few other investors. When the company went bankrupt, he formed the Henry Ford Company, but was forced out by investors. He returned with the Ford Motor Company. And here's something everyone should thank Ford for. In 1926, he instituted the five-day, 40-hour work week. And the modern weekend was born.


To list some more:
Gautam Adani : Adani Groups.
Li Ka-shing : The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings. Worth $18 billion
Carl Icahn : Leading shareholder in Yahoo. Worth $14billion
David Geffen : Founder of Dreamworks SKG. Worth $5 billion
Larry Ellison : Co-Founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation. Worth $25 billion
Richard Branson : Founder of Virgin Recording, Virgin Flights, Virgin Mobiles.
Francosis Pinault : Owns Christie's auction house, Samsonite luggage, Converse sneakers, Gucci, YSL, etc. Worth $15 billion

So what makes these achievers great. For one, most of them have achieved against all odds, even when the society around them did not permit. But is it because of the fact that they did not have a formal education? Let me explore this a little more.

There are many college and school dropouts who have amassed a huge amount wealth. But good education is never a waste of time, because there are millions of dropouts, but only a few of them go on to become billionaires.
But there is something in these people that makes me think that they would not have achieved what they have if they had got/continued their education. I feel that these people have learnt more from the experiences of life. These people did have education, the education that life teaches everyone of us, but only few can grasp it to become achievers.

The billionaire college dropouts list shows that a combination of qualities like vision, determination, hard work, business acumen, ability to spot an opportunity and turn it into a winning venture, leadership and motivational skills, etc is more important than a college degree.