Top 10 Most Famous Entrepreneurs in History

Entrepreneurs are people who build companies and ventures out of big ideas, often changing the way we live. Throughout history, many entrepreneurs have become famous for their innovations, wealth, and impact on society.

In this countdown, we look at ten of the most famous entrepreneurs ever – from early industrial pioneers to today’s tech visionaries. Each has a unique story, but all share a passion for innovation, hard work, and perseverance that can inspire us.

If you’re wondering how to become an entrepreneur, take a look at our in-depth guide.

Now, let’s meet the top 10 entrepreneurs, in reverse order:

10. Coco Chanel (1883–1971)

Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer and businesswoman who founded the iconic Chanel brand​. Coming from a humble background, she started by designing hats in Paris and eventually launched elegant clothing lines that redefined women’s fashion in the early 20th century. Chanel popularised a sporty, casual chic style for women, freeing them from the era’s stuffy corsets​. Her creations – like the little black dress and the Chanel No. 5 perfume – became globally famous and remain stylish today​.

Chanel’s entrepreneurial success was remarkable at a time when the business world was dominated by men. She built one of the world’s most famous luxury brands through her talent and bold vision.

Why she’s famous: Chanel is the only fashion designer on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century​. She is remembered for her timeless designs and for being a female pioneer in business and fashion.

9. Jack Ma (1964– )

Jack Ma is a Chinese entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of the Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies​. Ma started his career as an English teacher and was rejected from dozens of jobs (including KFC) before finding success in business. In 1999, he co-founded Alibaba from his small apartment, aiming to help small businesses sell their goods online. Alibaba grew rapidly, transforming how people in China (and beyond) shop and pay for things on the internet. By 2014, Alibaba’s record-breaking IPO made Jack Ma one of China’s richest and most famous entrepreneurs​.

Jack Ma’s story is one of perseverance. He taught himself English, persisted after many failures, and embraced the internet’s potential when very few in China were doing so.

Why he’s famous: Under his leadership, Alibaba became a global tech powerhouse, and Jack Ma became a global ambassador of Chinese business, often representing China’s tech innovation on the world stage​. His charismatic speeches and commitment to philanthropy (through the Jack Ma Foundation) have further solidified his reputation as a leading entrepreneur.

8. Sir Richard Branson (1950– )

Richard Branson is a British business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970. Starting with a small student magazine and a mail-order record shop, Branson built a business empire spanning airlines (Virgin Atlantic), music stores (Virgin Records), trains, telecoms, and even space tourism (Virgin Galactic). At one point, the Virgin Group encompassed over 400 companies under the Virgin brand​.

Branson is famous for his adventurous spirit and publicity stunts – from flying hot-air balloons across oceans to attempting world record boat races – which have made him a pop-culture figure as well as a businessman. Despite struggling with dyslexia and leaving school at 16, Branson’s knack for business was evident early on. He was knighted in 2000 for “services to entrepreneurship”​, recognising his contributions to business and his charitable work.

Why he’s famous: Branson’s name and the Virgin brand are recognized worldwide. He’s known for making business fun and daring, and for his approachable, bold personality. His success across such diverse industries and his status as a celebrity entrepreneur have made him one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world​.

7. Oprah Winfrey (1954– )

Oprah Winfrey is an American media mogul, talk show host, and philanthropist who rose from poverty to become one of the most influential women in the world​. She is best known for “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” her talk show that ran for 25 years and reached millions of viewers daily​. Through her company Harpo Productions, Oprah expanded into producing films, magazines, and later launched her own television network (OWN). Along the way, she became the first Black female billionaire and was often ranked as the world’s most influential woman​.

Oprah’s entrepreneurial journey is rooted in her ability to connect with people. Her empathetic interviewing style and personal warmth revolutionised the talk show genre, turning media into a platform for self-improvement and book clubs.

Why she’s famous: Often called the “Queen of All Media”​, Oprah leveraged her fame to build a business empire and to give back through extensive charitable work, including educational leadership academies. She’s an inspiration for overcoming adversity – from a difficult childhood to massive success – and remains a role model for entrepreneurship, especially for young women and people of colour.

6. Henry Ford (1863–1947)

Henry Ford was an American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903​. He didn’t invent the automobile, but he revolutionised how cars were made and sold. In 1908, Ford introduced the Model T, a car designed for ordinary people. To mass-produce it cheaply, he developed the moving assembly line – a production method that dramatically lowered costs. This innovation allowed Ford to make cars affordable to middle-class consumers, transforming automobiles from a luxury item into a practical necessity​​. By putting the world on wheels, Henry Ford changed transportation and industry forever.

As his company’s sole owner, Ford became one of the richest and most successful entrepreneurs of all time​. He also doubled workers’ wages to $5 a day in 1914, believing that well-paid workers could afford the cars they built – a radical idea then.

Why he’s famous: Henry Ford is celebrated as a pioneer of modern manufacturing and the father of the assembly line. His vision of producing inexpensive cars “for the great multitude” came true, and the Ford brand remains one of the biggest in the auto industry. Ford’s methods influenced not just car making but manufacturing across many industries worldwide​.

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5. Walt Disney (1901–1966)

Walt Disney was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur who co-founded The Walt Disney Company. He started in the 1920s with cartoon characters like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but after losing the rights to Oswald, he and his brother Roy created a new character – Mickey Mouse – in 1928. Mickey’s success launched Walt Disney’s career. Disney went on to produce the first-ever feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937, and many more classics followed.

He later built Disneyland (opened 1955), the world’s first major theme park, bringing his characters to life in an immersive experience​. Disney’s imagination brought joy to millions, and he introduced countless innovations in animation and entertainment​.

Why he’s famous: Walt Disney is a pioneer of the animation industry​. He won 22 Academy Awards – still the record for an individual​ – for his creative work. More than just cartoons, his name became synonymous with family entertainment. The empire he started (Disney’s films, theme parks, merchandise, and more) continues to dominate global entertainment. Walt Disney’s life story, from a cartoonist with big dreams to the creator of a magical “Disney” world, makes him one of history’s most famous entrepreneurs.

4. Elon Musk (1971– )

Elon Musk is a South African–born American entrepreneur known for his futuristic and bold business ventures. In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online banking startup that later merged with another company to form PayPal​ – the online payments service that many people use today. After earning a fortune from PayPal’s success, Musk set his sights on even more ambitious industries. He founded SpaceX in 2002, with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and eventually enabling Mars colonisation. He also became the main force behind Tesla, Inc., joining the electric car startup in 2004 and helping turn it into the world’s leading electric vehicle maker​.

Beyond that, Musk has launched companies aiming to build high-speed transport tunnels (The Boring Company), develop brain-computer interfaces (Neuralink), and he even acquired and rebranded Twitter as “X”. He was appointed to the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Donald Trump after the 2024 US presidential election.

Why he’s famous: Elon Musk is often in the headlines as one of the world’s richest people and a champion of cutting-edge technology. His work has pushed forward electric cars (Tesla’s are now popular worldwide) and reusable rockets (SpaceX made history by landing orbital rocket boosters).

Musk’s charismatic and sometimes controversial personality, coupled with his boundary-pushing goals like colonising Mars, make him a defining entrepreneur of our era.

3. Jeff Bezos (1964– )

Jeff Bezos is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder of Amazon.com, the world’s largest online shopping company​. In 1994, Bezos started Amazon from a garage in Seattle, initially selling books online. His vision was to create an “everything store” – and he did.

Amazon expanded from books to virtually all retail categories, plus services like Amazon Web Services (cloud computing) and streaming media. Under Bezos’s leadership as CEO, Amazon reshaped how we shop and became one of the most valuable companies in the world​​. In addition to Amazon, Bezos founded the space exploration company Blue Origin in 2000, and in 2013 he bought The Washington Post newspaper, expanding his impact to media and space travel.

Why he’s famous: For several years, Jeff Bezos was the richest person on the planet (he was the wealthiest from 2017 to 2021)​, thanks to Amazon’s success. He is often cited as a driving force behind the e-commerce revolution – the shift to buying goods online. Bezos’ emphasis on customer service, fast delivery, and innovation (like drone deliveries and voice-activated Alexa devices) has set new standards in business. His journey from a small internet startup to global dominance makes him one of the most famous and influential entrepreneurs in history​.

2. Steve Jobs (1955–2011)

Steve Jobs was an American entrepreneur and inventor who co-founded Apple Inc. in 1976, helping to spark the personal computer revolution​. Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak started Apple in a garage in California, selling the first Apple I computer kit to hobbyists. They soon created the Apple II, one of the first highly successful personal computers​.

After being pushed out of Apple in 1985, Jobs founded another computer company, NeXT, and bought a small graphics studio which became Pixar Animation Studios​. Pixar went on to produce Toy Story and many other hit films, making Jobs a major figure in the entertainment industry as well.

In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple and led the company to an incredible comeback. Under his vision, Apple introduced revolutionary products like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the App Store, which have transformed music, phones, and computing. Jobs was known for his intense focus on design and user experience, insisting that technology should be intuitive and elegant.

Why he’s famous: Steve Jobs is revered as a visionary who blended creativity and technology. He helped bring computers into people’s homes, reinvented the smartphone, and changed how we consume media. His showmanship at Apple product launches and the immense popularity of Apple’s devices made him a cultural icon. Even after his passing, Jobs’s legacy lives on every time we use an Apple product – he showed the world how innovation can truly “Think Different.”​

1. Bill Gates (1955– )

The most famous entrepreneur in history, Bill Gates is an American business magnate and philanthropist who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, a company that became a driving force in the personal computer revolution​. Gates started programming as a teenager and dropped out of Harvard University to start Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Their big break came when Microsoft provided the operating system (MS-DOS) for IBM PCs, eventually leading to the dominant Windows operating system used on billions of computers worldwide.

As the chief of Microsoft, Gates became one of the richest people in history – Forbes ranked him the world’s wealthiest person for much of the late 1990s and 2000s​. Key products like Microsoft Windows and Office made personal computing accessible to the masses, firmly establishing Gates’s impact on technology.

In 2000, Bill Gates stepped down from day-to-day leadership at Microsoft and later focused on philanthropy. He and his then-wife Melinda founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to global health, education, and reducing poverty.

Why he’s famous: Bill Gates is not only famous for being a software pioneer and one of the richest self-made billionaires, but also for using his wealth to tackle humanitarian challenges​. He’s a prime example of an entrepreneur whose work transformed the world – from how we use computers to how wealthy individuals can give back to society. Gates’s story shows that with curiosity, strategic thinking, and perseverance, an entrepreneur can change the way we all work and live.

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Conclusion: Most Famous Entrepreneurs in History

From fashion icons to tech titans, the world’s most famous entrepreneurs have shown that great ideas, determination, and a willingness to take risks can lead to extraordinary success. Whether they built empires from scratch, revolutionised entire industries, or inspired millions through innovation, these individuals prove that entrepreneurship is as much about vision as it is about action.

If their stories have sparked your curiosity or ambition, now is the perfect time to start exploring your own path in business. Who knows – your path to entrepreneurial success might just begin today.