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6 inspiring rags-to-riches stories of Indian entrepreneurs you should read every time you feel like giving uphttps://www.businessinsider.in/6-inspiring-rags-to-riches-stories-of-indian-entrepreneurs-you-should-read-every-time-you-feel-like-giving-up/a-p-j-abdul-kalam/slidelist/54580881.cms2016-09-29T13:29:53+05:30

6 inspiring rags-to-riches stories of Indian entrepreneurs you should read every time you feel like giving up

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Sep 29, 2016, 13:29 IST

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam hailed from a very humble background. His father was a boat owner. To help his family, Kalam would work as a newspaper vendor. With limited resources, he graduated in Physics and studied aerospace engineering. He was instrumental in India's step towards nuclear energy. In 2002, he became the 11th President of India.

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Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirubhai Ambani — Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, more popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani, is the founder of Indian business behemoth Reliance Industries. Dhirubhai's father was a man of limited means. To make ends meet, Dhirubhai used to sell oils and fritters. The scale of his success, even after his death, is known to every Indian. The total asset value of the Reliance Industries, at present, is over 85 billion dollars.

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Narayana Murthy

Narayana Murthy — The father of Infosys, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy used to work for a lesser known IT firm named Patni Computer Systems. When Murthy started out to set up Infosys, he had nothing but his wife's saving of Rs 10,000. Now, his company's total asset value is over 10.5 billion dollars.

P C Mustafa

P C Mustafa — This is the story of a coolie's son who failed in Class 6, but went on to join the Regional Engineering College (now the National Institute of Technology), Calicut and the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore. Today, fresh idli and dosa batter made by P C Mustafa’s company ID Fresh reaches homes in Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mangaluru and even Dubai.

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Ramesh Babu, the barber who owns a Rolls Royce

Ramesh Babu, the barber who owns a Rolls Royce — Bangalore resident Ramesh Babu, is a star in his own league who runs the business of cutting and styling hair. He is an ordinary businessman, with an extraordinary wealth. He is a billionaire and owns a rent-a-car fleet of 67 alternative cars. At the moment his fleet consists of around 200 cars, vans and mini-buses, including imported vehicles—a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Mercedes C, E and S class and BMW 5, 6 and 7 series. He has a fleet of imported Mercedes vans and Toyota mini-buses.

Jaideep Sajdeh

Jaideep Sajdeh — Mumbai’s Jaideep Sajdeh saw a chance to build a business that could help the environment, create much-needed low-skilled jobs in India and make him rich. His family has been turning old garments from the West into recycled yarn for decades. He decided to create a new source of demand for used textiles by starting a new business: shopping bags made from reused cloth. Like most “recycled” bags on offer at grocery stores around the world, his bags are green because they are not made out of disposable plastic and can be used over and over again. Mr. Sajdeh’s bags, however are even greener, because they are made of old sheets, napkins and table cloths. His capacity today is around 1.5 million pieces a year. He plans to increase that to 5 million in the next four years.He is already supplying them to some of India’s biggest retailers as well as international brands in India including Disney, Mattel, Colgate and Steve Madden.

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