America has witnessed the emergence of many great and powerful entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs have built great fortunes and empires in the US and the world at large. Elon Musk is no doubt one of such men. He has emerged to become one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs. He is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and OpenAI, among a host of other companies. We’ve gathered sufficient information on Musk’s rise to prominence and why he became an entrepreneur. This article is especially for you.

Elon Musk was born and bred in Pretoria, South Africa. He portrayed his entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. This passion was supported by his father, an engineer, and his dietician mother. His parents discovered his deep passion for technology and helped to nurture it.

In furtherance of his unwavering commitment to technology and computers, Musk began to teach himself how to write programming codes at 10.  He also designed a video game called Blaster, which he reportedly sold at $500.3.

He studied at the Pretoria Boys High School and graduated in 1988. He then furthered his education at the University of Pretoria, where he spent just five months. Later, he migrated to Canada, where he was admitted to the Queen’s University of Ontario in 1989. He also attended the Wharton School of Business of Pennsylvania, where he gained a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Musk began his Internet company at age 24 alongside his brother, Kimbal and partner, Greg Curry. This company was created to provide content to newspapers like The New York Times. Musk’s fortunes grew significantly. The growth effect is seen in his ownership of companies like Tesla Motors, Space X, X.com, eBay, etc.

Musk has, through his space travel company (SpaceX), landed numerous high-profile contracts with NASA and the United States Air Force. His company is known for designing rockets and carrying out military missions.

Musk once revealed the real reason he became an entrepreneur. He stated that he didn’t become an entrepreneur to be financially successful, but he has a passion for changing the world. He made this known at the 36th annual ENCORE Award reception at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is instead focused on affecting the future in a positive way than making money. Some of the positive ideas include Sustainable Energy, Artificial Intelligence, The Internet, Making Life Multi planetary, among others.

So far, one cannot deny that Elon Musk is an achiever and a force to reckon with. His goals for the world being a better place are very valid and should be pursued tenaciously by every aspiring entrepreneur.

Doris Cortez
Doris Cortez is a business reporter with the focus on entrepreneurship at New American Truth. She has covered popes and presidents, tragedies and triumphs. But her biggest story is always his next one.