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If your objective is to grow your business or just to improve the way that your business functions, you should find yourself a mentor. Mentoring offers business owners the chance to learn from seasoned business owners or entrepreneurs on a regular basis. There is a popular misconception that mentors are only for young, inexperienced business people or startups. It is no coincidence that most top billionaires with high performing businesses have mentors. I have listed below 5 very successful people who currently have or have had mentors.

Top Billionaires with Mentors

1. Bill Gates

The co- founder and former CEO of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal computer software company has Warren Buffett as his mentor. Warren Buffet* is one of most successful stock market investors in history.

2. Oprah Winfrey

The former host of the Oprah Winfrey Show, CEO of Harpo Productions, CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network, noted philanthropist and currently North America’s only black billionaire has a mentor. Her mentor is Maya Angelou, the author and poet.

3. Sir Richard Branson

The founder of the Virgin Group that has now grown to over 400 companies, one of the UK’s richest citizens, humanitarian and philanthropist had a mentor. His mentor was the late Sir Freddie Laker, CEO of Laker Airways.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

The co-founder of Facebook, the largest social networking website and current CEO was mentored by Steve Jobs* who advised him to build high-quality teams and maintain a sharp focus on Facebook’s products.

5. Sara Blakely

The founder of Spanx, a multi million dollar underwear garment company and currently the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire has a mentor. Her mentor is Sir Richard Branson. Bill Gates is also advising Sara on philanthropy after she joined the Giving Pledge.

There is a direct correlation between these billionaires having a mentor or having had a mentor in the cases of Sir Richard Branson & Mark Zuckerberg and then going onto achieve amazing levels of success. Even if you don’t aspire to be a billionaire it is very likely that you would benefit from having a mentor. If you don’t have one it is our recommendation that you look for one within your network. You could also try here.

If you like this post you will also like, Mentoring for Young Entrepreneurs : Do you Want a Mentor?

Also, you should read this post, 10 Golden Rules For Entrepreneurs  

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* Warren Buffett also had a mentor. His mentor was Ben Graham who was an economist.

* Steve Jobs himself had many mentors. More on that here. 

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The post Mentoring is only for startups, right? Wrong! – 5 billionaires who have mentors appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Female Billionaires

CHU LAM YIU – Hong Kong

NET WORTH: $2.6BN (£1.6BN)

Mrs Chu was born and raised in Sichuan and studied as a college student in Beijing and while there she became interested in flavours and fragrances. Rather than follow the traditional route of good job and benefits she became interested in business and trade straight away and followed her passion to found her flavourings and fragrance business aged 27. Since renamed Huabao International Holdings, the company makes tobacco flavourings for China’s top cigarette makers. It also produces fragrances and food flavourings for use in detergents, beverages, dairy products and cosmetics. Chu Lam Yiu was the world’s youngest female entrepreneur who became a self made  billionaire until Sarah Blakely came along.

Lesson – Find your true passions and follow your own path.

CHEN LIHUA

NET WORTH: $4BN (£2.5BN)

Chen was born in 1941 in the Summer Palace of Beijing, China. She is a descendant of a noble Manchu family of the Yellow Banner Clan but at the time of her birth, the Manchu imperial family had collapsed and her family was very poor. Poverty forced Chan to leave high school and started her own furniture repair business. In the early 1980s, Chan moved to Hong Kong and continue her business of buying and re-selling furniture. Her business in Hong Kong was successful enough that she accumulated enough money to buy 12 villas and she pivoted into property. In the 1990s this  founded Fuwah International and now has diversified her business interests .Today this female entrepreneur holds much elevated position in the list of successful women in business.

Lesson – Your economic circumstances are temporary – do not allow your dreams or vision to be limited

ROSALIA MERA

NET WORTH: $3.5BN (£2.2BN)

Now 69 Rosalia Mera dropped out of school at 11 to work as a seamstress and opened her first store in 1975 under the Zara brand name with her former husband Amanacio Ortega. In 1985 she founded Inditex, the parent company of Zara retail stores. Since that time the company has acquired and created a number of subsidiaries worldwide and employs close to 100,000 staff across its stores. Today this female entrepreneur is known as ‘The Richest Woman in Spain’ for good reason.

Lesson – You do not need to reach a certain age before pursuing your dreams

SARA BLAKELY

NET WORTH: $1.BN (£0.73BN)

Now 42 Sara Blakely is an American businesswoman and founder of Spanx, a multi-million dollar undergarment company. This female entrepreneur is the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. Sara Blakely’s business empire began when she started to solve a problem for herself – getting ready to go to a party she couldn’t find the right undergarment to wear under white pants. She quickly customised a pair of pantyhose for the party and focused on a more permanent solution for her business. Spanx revenues for 2011 were estimated at just under $250 million, according to independent research by Forbes Magazine.

Lesson – ‘Believe in your idea 100%, don’t let anyone stop you! Not being afraid to fail is a key part of the success of Spanx.’ – Sara Blakely

OPRAH WINFREY

NET WORTH: $2.7BN (£1.7BN)

Now 57, Oprah was born to a single teenage mother and grew up on grandmother’s farm in Mississippi and was subjected to child abuse. Easily the most recognisable name on this list Oprah is one of the richest self-made women in the world and one of the most influential too. Crucially she created her own production company to create her eponymously titled show. She gave considerable donations to the Barack Obama presidential campaign of 2008 and is also a noted philanthropist. Her $2.7bn (£1.7bn) wealth saw her become the world’s first ever black female entrepreneur to became billionaire, and the only black billionaire between 2004 – 2006.

Lesson – Own everything that you do.

We cannot promise to make all women female billionaires but we can help you realise your business dreams so give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.

We hope you find this information useful.

Mike Pitt
Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

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* China in particular has a high concentration of female self-made billionaires.
Sources – Various Forbes Rich lists, Wikipedia and corporate websites

The post Female entrepreneurs – What can you learn from these 5 female billionaires? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.