Master P And Ben Jerry example essay topic

Paper #2: Entrepreneurs INTRODUCTION In this paper, I am going to talk about the contest of business and some of its greatest entrepreneurs. The three entrepreneurs that I have researched are Bill Gates, Master P, and Ben & Jerry. I will be looking at their backgrounds, financial assets, beginnings, and contributions. DISCUSSION Bill GatesBackgroundBorn on October 28, 1955, Gates and his two sisters grew up in Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he began his career in personal computer software, programming computers at age 13. Financial Assets Today, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, worth over $100 billion. He is chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, the leading provider, worldwide, of software for the personal computer. Microsoft had revenues of $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 1998, and employs more than 27,000 people in 60 countries. Beginning While at Harvard, Gates developed the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his efforts to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Contributions To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $300 million to organizations working in global health; more than $300 million to improve learning opportunities in the United States and Canada; more than $54 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $29 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns. Master PBackgroundPercy Miller, better known as Master P, was born in New Orleans' Calliope Projects, with four siblings to follow. Reality was right outside the window: poverty, crime, and murder were nothing new. Surrounded by a strong sense of family, even after his parents split up, Percy had dreams of basketball and acting stardom.

He followed the latter to a college basketball scholarship, but personal setbacks and family tragedy knocked down the game on his list of priorities. Financial Assets Master P recently topped "Forbes" magazine's list of 1998's highest paid musicians. The CEO of No Limit Records is the 28th richest man in America. Master P's No Limit Records sold more than 10 million albums and late in 1998 boasted three of the year's 40 best sellers. The man has done it all, from making a professional wrestling debut, playing basketball for the Charlotte Hornets, designing his own clothing line, and starring in a eight movies, three of which are in production.

Beginning After his grandfather's accidental death, Percy inherited $10,000 with which he started No Limit Records, a hip-hop record store that evolved into an independent rap label. As Master P, Percy Miller released his first solo album in 1991; The Ghetto Is Tryin' to Kill Me, which became an underground hit. From there, Master P created a business empire, churning out gangsta rap albums for various artists all the while maintaining his own performance career. Contributions With the $56.5 million profit that Master P made in 1998, he has given some of it back to his hometown.

The rapper donated $500,000 to keep several schools and churches in his neighborhood from closing. At the shooting of his last video, he treated the fans to a parade, food, free T-shirts, and toys. Ben & JerryBackgroundBoth Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were born in Brooklyn, New York. They met each other at their junior high school, which is located in Merrick, Long Island. They came to know each other trying to run track in gym class. Financial Assets According to their mission statement, the economic goal of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is to "operate the company on a sound financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value for our shareholders, and creating career opportunities and financial rewards for our employees".

Well, they have certainly done that. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are the brains behind a multi-million dollar ice cream industry. Beginning At Oberlin College, Jerry got his first taste of working in the ice cream industry when he took a job as a scooper in the college cafeteria. Ben's first professional contact with ice cream came in his senior year of high school, when he worked as an "ice cream man", driving a truck and selling ice cream pops to kids. In 1977, Ben and Jerry decided to go into the food business. The two settled on ice cream, and the rest is history.

Contributions Ben and Jerry have been recognized for fostering their company's commitment to social responsibility by the Council on Economic Priorities. They have consistently donated 7.5% of their pre tax profits to nonprofit organizations. CONCLUSION The three entrepreneurs that I have discussed all have their own unique stories. They have come from different backgrounds and motivations to become some of the wealthiest people and philanthropists that I know of.