Businessweek has published its list of 30 all time great entrepreneurs. Despite the obvious bias of 90% of the people being from America, it does force one to think of the most impactful innovations and businesses over last 300 years.
Its interesting that the first entry is an admiral, circa 1400 AD. Its also interesting to see the recency affect of journalistic memory — a large chunk of people coming from achieving prominence in last 10-20 years, even though the list attempts to cover a span of 600 years in all.
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Dhirubhai ambani?? Just because someone makes money, does that make him a great entrepreneur? Corruption always is a win-win game with no risk – you only pay bribes to win contracts at margins which can absorb the bribe. As of today, the newspapers are breaking a story of how Mukesh Ambani is being forced to return the plot of land on which he’s building his personal house as it seems to have been acquired through questionable means. Is this a symbol of the extent of corruption or should it be pardoned as one of the wealthiest men in India probably being unaware what his chamchas were upto in their bid to serve him?
Alok,
I tend to agree with Cram
I have great respect for Premji for his business skills and vision. However, to be a great entrepreneur, the biggest thing is the ability to take risks and survive that period when almost no one believes in you and with almost no resources.
What Premji has done is adapting his businesses to changing times, a mere diversification. Having existing cashflows from a set business makes it easier for anybody to take risks. Premji was able to hire the best team to match his vision because he had the resources.
So many organisations have changed their businesses completely during the course of their existence. For example, GE started making light bulbs but today is present everywhere including entertainment. Jack Welch and other CEOs did a great bit by successfully entering new businesses. Does that make Jack Welch a great entrepreneur? possibly not. But a great business leader… definitely Yes?
No Dhirubhai Ambani though? I’d say he was bigger than most others in India. Other notable and perhaps just as important names as Premji would have to be JRD Tata, GD Birla, Rahul Bajaj, Sunil Mittal, Vijay Mallya, Narayan Murthy and Shiv Nadar.
To read an interesting history of entrepreneurship from the days of steam engines etc. read this book:
http://www.andykessler.com/hwgh.html
“How we got here” is a free PDF book (you need to do some registration business) and is a highly readable recount of the world’s innovative history.
Cram, Premji inherited a vegetable oil business. He created the business that he is known for globally from scratch. I think that does qualify him as an entrepreneur 🙂
I went through the list. What a crock of shit! Why the hell should even something like a list of great entrepreneurs be politically correct — you’ve got then Chinese, the Jews, the Muslims, the Blacks, women and voila, an Indian too. I don’t see how someone like Premji, who inherited a business, qualifies an entrepreneur. These lists make me puke!