Famous Entrepreneurs

When today’s young business owners think of famous entrepreneurs they immediately think of people like Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft), Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack (Apple), or Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) and similar others. These certainly are celebrity entrepreneurs—they (and many others like them) are today’s famous entrepreneurs.

But, what about those entrepreneurs who blazed the trails for today’s entrepreneurs. How many business students, or MBAs for that matter, know who Adam Smith was? That he is widely acclaimed as the father of modern economics—better known as capitalism.

Adam Smith was born in Scotland in 1723, and without his magnum opus The Wealth of Nations,” we might have a very different view today of free enterprise and free markets. Adam Smith could easily be considered the first of a long list of famous entrepreneurs—starting in 1723.

Since so many current celebrity entrepreneurs are well known today, I want to start this report out by highlighting entrepreneurs who, in most cases, currently receive little media attention for their business endeavors. I will attempt to include those who have made the greatest impact on the business world and society in general. I intend to continue researching famous entrepreneurs and will periodically add new names as I find them.

Anita Roddick
Although Anita Roddick is a well-known entrepreneur, I have included her here because she was one of my all-time favorite entrepreneurs. Anita started with nothing and bootstrapped her business into one of the most successful cosmetics companies in the world. In 1993, she was knighted by the Queen of England, and given the title of Dame Anita Roddick.

Adam Osborne
Adam was the creator of the first portable computer—the “Osborne,” and subsequently turned to successfully publishing computer books and software.

Madame C.J. Walker
First female millionaire entrepreneur. Walker was the daughter of former slaves, and an orphan at age seven. She built a highly successful beauty products company, catering to African-Americans, which employed over 3,000 people.

Simon Cowell
Best known as a talent judge on the TV show American Idol, and a highly successful (and wealthy) music producer. I included him here because he is lesser known for producing the show for new entrepreneurs; American Inventor.

Mary Anderson
Few people know that Mary Anderson invented the automobile windshield wiper, and received her patent in 1903.

Debbie Fields
Although her name is also well known, it is not so well known that Fields started her business at age 20—with no business experience. Today she has several hundred stores in the U.S. and other countries.

Henry Ford
To set the record straight—Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He did however, invent the assembly line and the concept of using interchangeable parts on automobiles. Ford built the first mass-production auto plant.

Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay Ash is the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, and was named the “Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century,” by Lifetime Television.

Lorenzo Borghese
Another cosmetics entrepreneur, whose grandmother was also a cosmetics entrepreneur. However, Lorenzo’s bath and grooming products are for pets only.

Harvey Mackay
Best known as a business motivational speaker…Harvey also started his own business making envelopes when he was 26. Today, the Mackay Envelope Corporation employs over 500 people and has annual revenues over $85 Million.

Patricia Billings
Artist, inventor, great-grandmother…Billings developed a product called Geobond© which is a perfect replacement for asbestos in construction. The last I heard, Billings turned down a reported $20 Million offer for her secret formula.

Ingvar Kamprad
Not a name you often see in today’s business media, Kamprad is considered to be the wealthiest man in the world. He is the founder of IKEA, with several hundred stores in more than 30 countries, employs about 75,000 people, and has about $12 Billion in annual sales. He also flies coach, takes the subway to work, and drives a 10-year old car.

Michael Dell
A well-known name, but I included Michael because he started Dell Computer Corporation in his dorm room at the University of Texas, with just $1,000. He is now reported to be worth over $30 Billion.

Bette Nesmith Graham
Graham was a secretary who wanted a better way to correct typing errors in film-ribbon typewriters and multi-colored carbon forms. She experimented at home in her kitchen and developed a product she called “Mistake Out,” later renamed “Liquid Paper.” She later sold her company to Gillette for $47.5 million.

Margaret Knight
Ms. Knight is the inventor of the machine that manufactures the paper bags we see—and use—in grocery stores. Knight founded the “Eastern Paper Bag Company” in 1870. She also created over 100 inventions and obtained around 26 patents.

Wayne Huizenga
Wayne is the only person in history to have founded three Fortune 500 companies…one in waste disposal, one in video entertainment, and one in auto sales. He also owns the Miami Dolphins.

Ruth Wakefield
You’ll love this person—Ruth Wakefield is the inventor of the “Chocolate Chip Cookie.” Ruth and her husband purchased an old building that was once used as a roadside tollhouse, and converted it into an Inn called the Toll House Inn.” Ruth cooked meals for guests, and word of her food, and especially her desserts, quickly spread.

One day she had to substitute broken pieces of Nestlé’s semi-sweet chocolate for cocoa powder in her “Butter Drop Do” cookies…and the “Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie” was born. Nestle later made a deal with Ruth, putting her recipe on their package of chocolate bits, in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate.