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The Most Influential Person on AIB this week is Elon Musk
Elon Musk is an American businessman of South African descent. His parents, a South African father, and a Canadian mother welcomed him into the world on June 28, 1977.
He showed early ability for technology and business. He made a video game at the age of 12 and sold it to a computer magazine.
Musk was subjected to serious bullying from his peers, and it became so bad that one day they pushed him down a flight of stairs, sending him to the hospital.
He wanted to move to America as he started his teen years but found it difficult to raise the money.
Despite all difficulties, he managed to travel to the United States in 1988 by taking out loans, working two jobs at once, and receiving scholarships. He fled South Africa in search of better economic possibilities in the United States and because he refused to support apartheid through mandatory military service.
Musk studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, before transferring in 1992 to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in both economics and physics in 1997. He enrolled in Stanford University’s physics graduate program but dropped out after just two days because he believed that working in the field of the Internet would have a greater impact on society than working in physics.
He established Zip2 in 1995, a startup that offered online newspapers maps and business directories. While establishing this business, he faced challenges and was homeless. Compaq, a maker of computers, paid $307 million for Zip2 in 1999. Additionally, he established X.com, an online financial services business that later evolved into PayPal and specialized in online money transfers. PayPal was purchased by the online auction site eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. To produce more economical rockets, he established Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002.
Elon Musk is a family man. The CEO of SpaceX has had numerous children throughout his partnerships with Shivon Zilis, Justine Wilson, and Grimes.
