Ma Yun & Family

Net Worth: $61.4 billion
Company: Alibaba
Country: China
He is famously known now as Jack Ma, but the Alibaba founder was born Ma Yun. He currently ranks 20th in the list of the wealthiest people on Earth, thanks mainly to his company, Alibaba. Ma has been a strong supporter of a market-driven economy, and he has also served as an inspiration among the startup community, seeing how he built Alibaba from the ground up. Ma is currently the third wealthiest man in China.

The businessman revealed in an autobiographical speech that when he graduated from Hangzhou Normal University in 1988, he applied for 30 different jobs, with every single one rejecting him. Ma took note of how of the 24 people who applied for a job at KFC, he was the only one who was not accepted. Everything changed, though, when he heard about the Internet in 1994 and realized its potential. When he set up his first company, the entrepreneur did not even ask for a business loan, as it was as simple as setting up a website, with 411-like inquiries pouring in. The rest, they say, is history.