There have been a number of immigrants of European who have made an impact in various areas of business in the United States and this has made them attain a lot of success and wealth. Investors in business and technology have made important inroads not just for their adopted countries but also for the world at large. Just like their predecessors in the earlier days these immigrants had to overcome odds to become the beacons of success they are today.

 Charles Dean Metropoulos

Charles Dean Metropoulos is a Greek born American billionaire who is currently ranked at position 722 in Forbes valuation of the world’s richest people. The businessman and investor has a net worth of 2.4 billion dollars that he has managed to accumulate over the years on account of his sharp business skills that have enabled him identify unique investment opportunities.

Early life and education

Charles was born in Greece and spent a very brief period in the country before his parents made the decision to migrate to the United States when he was only ten years old. Charles’s education saw him attend several US learning institutions and this culminated with the attainment of a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Babson College.

Career

Charles career began with him being posted to Verizon in Switzerland where he rose up the corporate ladder to become a senior executive within that organization. He was later transferred by the company to the United States making him the youngest senior executive in the country at the time.

Entrepreneurship

Charles’s success in entrepreneurship can mainly be attributed to his effective buy-build business model. The investor has over the years managed to purchase various companies and transformed them into substantially successful outfits. Some of the most notable companies that the businessman has been able to transform through his business model include: Pinnacle Foods, Pabst Brewing Company and International Home Foods.

Currently, Charles holds the position of CEO of C. Dean Metropoulos & Company which is essentially a holding company for his various interests. The company has adopted an effective expansion acquisition oriented strategy that has seen Charles invest in more than 70 acquisitions over the last couple of years. Furthermore, Charles’s investment strategy has seen him pump more than 12 billion dollars in various investments with other investors. It is this that has built up his wealth making him one of  the great immigrant success story of or time.

 

Andreas Von Bechtolsheim

Andreas Bechtolsheim was born in 1955. He is an electrical engineer who is the co-founder of the Sun Microsystems and the person who designed its hardware. With a net worth of over $3.3 billion, his success in his area of specialization speaks for itself. He is a genius electrical engineer who, is also an entrepreneur, and investor His brilliance and intellect has seen him own several successful companies. One of the investments that has had him branded a “masterpiece from a genius” is when he invested $100,000 in Google even before it was incorporated and by 2010, it was valued at over $1.7 billion..

About his early life

Famously known as Andy, Bechtolsheim is the second of four children. He was born in Bavaria, Germany and unlike most children, Bechtolsheim did not go to school; during his early years. Instead, he went to work in the family farm with his family. Neither his family nor his neighbors had a TV or any other source of entertainment so he spent most of his time performing experiments with any electronic component or equipment that he could come across. He created an industrial controller whose royalties funded most of his early education.

About his career

As he spent his early life performing experiments, Andy came across Xerox Alto Computer, which went on to serve as his inspiration behind the Sun Computer Systems. He built a state of the art workshop and after some time, he was able to come up with Sun Microsystems. He worked with this company for over a decade. He later left it and founded Granite Systems where he aimed at developing high-speed switches for networks.

Apart from Google, Bechtolsheim has also invested in a number of companies and this has made him one of the most successful angel investors. He has also been a founder and investor in a number of organizations like Tapulous, Arista Networks and Kealia Incorporated.

He has also been feted as one of the people who have contributed the most to server technology in the world today.