Financial Hope: 3 Impressive Rags to Riches Stories

1. Oprah Winfrey

When it comes to stories of rags to riches, Oprah Winfrey has certainly lived one of the most remarkable and inspiring tales, that goes to shows that no matter how bad life might be, with hard-work, determination and a bit of hope, things can always get better. And for Oprah Winfrey things really couldn’t have turned out better.

Facing unbelievable and often gut-wrenching obstacles, Winfrey was born of unwed, teenage parents in rural Mississippi, and spent the first six years of her life raised by her grandmother, who was incredibly poor, at times abusive, but who also taught her how to read by the age of three. When she was six, Winfrey relocated to Milwaukee to live with her mother, still in poverty, however greatly excelling in school.
Despite a horrifically dysfunctional family life; raped by her cousin, a family friend as well her uncle by the age of nine, Winfrey skipped two grades and got a scholarship to Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburbs. But after years of abuse, 13 year old Winfrey ran away from home and by 14 she gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Eventually, her mother sent her to live with her biological father, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee.

Winfrey’s father was very adamant education be an utmost priority. She was an honors student, won an oratory contest, placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation and was even voted Most Popular Girl in her Tennessee high school. She received a full scholarship to the Tennessee State University, and by the age of 19 she was co-anchoring on a local Black radio station and working in television broadcasting. She was the first black female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV.
Winfrey moved to Baltimore where she hosted her own TV chat show “People Are Talking” in 1976, and after eight years was hosting her own morning show “A.M. Chicago”. Becoming a huge success and prominent figure in the media, she landed a role in Steven Spielberg’s “The Colour Purple”, where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. By 1986, she launched “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, a nationally syndicated program, which grossed $125 million by the end of its first year.
According to Forbes magazine, “Winfrey was considered the richest woman in entertainment by the early 1990’s and has remained the only Black person wealthy enough to rank among America’s 400 people nearly every year since 1995”.
2. Frank O’Dea

Most people probably wouldn’t assume, that before becoming the co-founder of Canada’s popular chain of Second Cup coffee houses, Frank O’Dea, was actually collecting money in a coffee cup, while he lived as a homeless panhandler on the streets of Toronto.

Sexually abused as a child, he eventually turned to alcohol and began begging for money, while sleeping in 50-cent flophouse beds. But by the age of 23, he made what was to be the biggest shift in his life. As he says in his autobiography When All You Have Is Hope his main motto for life became “hope, vision, action.” Overcoming daunting obstacles, O’Dea went from destitute and homeless, back into society. Within a few years, he was the successful co-founder of Second Cup.
He has gone on to lead other successful businesses and is an active philanthropist. He is currently the Chair of PureRay Corporation, President of ARXX Building Products, and Chair of Royal Roads University Foundation. O’Dea’s charity work includes AIDS fundraising, child literacy in the Third World and landmine removal. O’Dea is also the founding President of Renascent Treatment Foundation and founder of Street Kids International. He helps kids who are at a financial disadvantage with getting opportunities to improve their situation through a variety of means including university loans as well as helping them find small business grants to young promising entrepreneurs like he once was.
3. Ingvar Kamprad

From selling matches in his hometown of Agunnaryd, in the south of Sweden, to becoming the world’s richest retailer, Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the home furnishing IKEA chains, is yet another inspiring rags to riches story, of a determined kid who beat the odds and came out stronger than fathomable. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, he is the fifth richest person in the world.
Kamprad always had a knack for business and began his ventures as young boy, buying matches in bulk and selling them individually, at a low price, to people in his neighborhood. With his accumulated profits, he went on from his match selling business to selling fish, then Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later on, pencils and ball-point pens.
Proud of his academic achievements, Kamprad’s father gave him some money when he was 17, and with it he went on to establish IKEA, which stood for: Ingvar Kamprad (his initials) and Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd (the farm and village where he grew up). There, he sold a variety of goods, including wallets, watches, jewelry and stockings.
In 1947, he introduced furniture into the IKEA product line and was able to keep costs down by buying from local manufacturers. The furniture did so well that by 1951 Kamprad decided to discontinue other product lines and focus solely on furniture.
Interestingly, it was the pressure from IKEA’s competitors on their suppliers, (who actually boycotted IKEA) which forced them to become the innovative, do-it-yourself company they are today. With almost all their products designed to fit into flat packaging, IKEA’s shipping costs were reduced, transport damage was minimized and customers didn’t have to wait for delivery, able to take furniture home themselves. IKEA has always stayed ahead of the game, offering stylish and unique products, made by IKEA designers at affordable prices.
Kamprad is a visionary who is also reputed for his frugality. He is known to fly economy class, take the subway to work; he drives an old Volvo, frequents inexpensive restaurants and of course, furnishes his home with IKEA ware.