1. Elon Musk
Elon Musk was born in South Africa and faced bullying and family struggles growing up. He moved to the U.S. with just a few thousand dollars and no safety net. After dropping out of Stanford, he started Zip2, then PayPal, before launching Tesla and SpaceX. Today, Musk is one of the richest people on Earth, with a net worth over $200 billion and influence spanning tech, energy, and space.