College Dropouts Who Became Successful Entrepreneurs!

Around the world, some people have made a name for themselves as successful entrepreneurs and businessmen because of their hard work. Some of them are from unfortunate backgrounds, some are self-made, some had support while others didn’t. Some of them dropped out of college to pursue their passion. They broke the standards set by society to follow their dreams. Now, they’re an inspiration for the youth. Their life’s story is a motivation for the next generation of dreamers. 

Here are five such inspirations from around the globe:

1. Bill gates

Bill Gates wrote his first software program when he was in eighth grade at Lakeside prep school. This is where he met his future business partner Paul Allen. Gates, Allen, and two of their friends formed the Lakeside Programmer’s Club to earn money. They found bugs in the school software systems and learnt many programming languages. Then, Information Sciences, Inc. hired them to write a payroll program. Gates later wrote the school’s student’s information system to schedule classes for students.  He enrolled at Harvard University after graduating as a scholar from his school. But, he dropped out of Harvard University to follow his passion to start a software company. This was the beginning of Microsoft. Bill Gates, now one of the richest men on the planet, founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen. Success followed Gates after the launch of the first retail version of Microsoft Windows in 1985. 

2. Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs grew up as a brilliant boy. He was ahead for his age in academics and the school began to understand it around his fourth grade. After which he skipped a year and his academic life began. He was always tinkering with electronics. Ever since he was little, his parents could see his interest in technology.  He wasn’t from a well-off family but his parents invested most of their life’s saving for his education. After graduating from Homestead High, he enrolled in Reed College. He dropped out a little later, lived in his friend’s dorm rooms, returned coke bottles for money, and later travelled around the world, taking up various projects such as creating circuits for videogames. His success made him a millionaire overnight after co-founding Apple, Inc.  Though Jobs had a difficult life, he never let it get the better of him. 

3. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg has been brilliant in his academics ever since he was a child. He could read and write in five different languages by the time he applied for college and won prizes in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and classical studies when he was in school. Mark enrolled at Harvard University and developed ‘Thefacebook’ which went on to become the brilliant social media website ‘Facebook’ that connects one end of the world to the other. Facebook was an instant hit. Making Zuckerberg famous and rich overnight. Later, he dropped out of college to focus completely on Facebook. Now he’s a renowned American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist.

4. Dhirubhai Ambani

Ambani had a difficult childhood, he grew up in a poor family. He wasn’t brilliant at his academics but he was hardworking and dedicated. He was a political enthusiast when he was in school.  But he could not complete his political interests or education as he had to drop everything mid-way to help sustain the family after his father fell ill. He set out to Aden to find work at the age of 16. After years of hard work abroad, he came back to India and partnered with his second cousin to start Reliance Commercial Corporation to import polyester yarn and export spices to Yemen. It grew from textiles to communications to fuel to infrastructure.  Now, Reliance Industries is one of the biggest companies in the world. 

5. Rithesh Agarwal

Rithesh Agarwal started his career selling SIM cards at the age of 13. He finished his schooling just like any other kid from St. John’s Senior Secondary School in Rayagada, Odisha, and moved to Delhi to pursue his higher education in 2011. He dropped out of college soon after and started “Oravel Stays “for booking budget hotels. Now, Agarwal is the Indian Entrepreneur who founded Oyo Room—India’s favourite-budget friendly stays.