Photographs: Fred Prouser/Reuters
There are some people who are born wealthy and then there are some who become rich.
Let's take a look at 18 people who grew up in poverty, but turned their lives around.
Source: Business Insider
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Anthony Bolante/Reuters
Howard Schultz
Company: Chairman and CEO of Starbucks.
Net worth: $1.5 billion.
Background: He was born on July 19, 1953, in a government housing project in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a truck driver.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Handout/Reuters
Sam Walton
Company: Founder of Walmart.
Net worth: $23 billion.
Background: He helped his family out by milking the cow and driving the milk out to customers. He also delivered newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions, according to Business Insider.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Bobby Yipt/Reuters
Sheldon Adelson
Company: Chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands.
Net worth: $20.5 billion.
Background: His father drove a taxi and mother ran a knitting store.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Jean-Bernard Sieber/Reuters
Ingvar Kamprad
Company: Founder of IKEA.
Net worth: $42.2 billion.
Background: He was raised on a farm in Sweden. Kamprad bought matches in bulk from capital Stockholm to sell to his neighbours and later expanded to fish, Christmas decorations and pens.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Andrew Winning/Reuters
Roman Abramovich
Company: Main owner of private investment company Millhouse and owner of Chelsea Football Club.
Net worth: $14 billion.
Background: Abramovich's parents died before he was four, and was raised by his extended family in Ukhta, Russia, later moving to Moscow.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Kirk Kerkorian
Company: CEO of Tracinda Corporation.
Net worth: $16 billion.
Background: Kerkorian, whose parents were Armenian immigrants, learned English on the streets and dropped out of eighth grade to become a boxer.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Francois Pinault
Company: Owner of PPR, a luxury goods group that sells brands like Gucci and Stella McCartney.
Net worth: $12 billion.
Background: He quit high school after being teased for his poor background and joined his family's timber business.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Siu Chiu/Reuters
Li Ka-shing
Company: Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa.
Net worth: $25.5 billion.
Background: His father died when he was 15, so he quit school to support his family.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Handout/Reuters
George Soros
Company: Chairman of Soros Fund Management.
Net worth: $20 billion.
Background: He put himself through the London School of Economics by working as a waiter and railway porter.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Maria das Gracas Silva Foster
Company: CEO of Petrobras-Petroleo Brasil, Brazil's state-controlled oil company.
Net worth: N/A.
Background: She grew up with an alcoholic father in an extremely poor neighbourhood. Maria collected cans and paper to make extra money.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Christinne Muschi/Reuters
Guy Laliberte
Company: Co-founder and the current CEO of Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian entertainment company.
Net worth: $2.6 billion.
Background: He began his carrier by playing harmonica and accordion on the streets of Quebec and later joined a performing troupe that included fire-breathers, jugglers and acrobats.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Eric Henderson/Reuters
John Paul DeJoria
Company: Founder of Paul Mitchell line of hair products.
Net worth: $4 billion.
Background: His parents divorced by the time he was two years old, and at nine he began selling Christmas cards and newspapers with his older brother to support his family.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Olivia Harris/Reuters
Richard Desmond
Company: Publisher/Businessman.
Net worth: $1.5 billion.
Background: Desmond grew up the son of a single mother after his parents divorced. The two of them lived above a garage.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Source: ilmessaggero.it
Leonardo Del Vecchio
Company: Founder of Luxottica.
Net worth: $11 billion.
Background: His father died five months prior to his birth. He was given to an orphanage by his mother because she was unable to support him financially. He began his career as an apprentice to a tool and dye maker in Milan, Italy.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Source: tn.nova.cz
Zdenek Bakala
Company: Majority stakes in coal mines.
Net worth: $1.9 billion.
Background: He fled Czechoslovakia to the United States with a $50 dollar bill wrapped in plastic wrap hidden in a sandwich.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Source: sunlightfoundation.com
Harold Simmons
Company: Chairman, Valhi Incorporated.
Net worth: $7.1 billion.
Background: He grew up in the extremely rural town of Golden, Texas, where he lived in a "shack" that had no plumbing or electricity.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Source: thisismoney.co.uk
Do Won Chang
Company: Founder of retail store Forever 21.
Net worth: $4 billion.
Background: When he first arrived in the United States from South Korea, Do Won was forced to work three jobs at the same time to support his family, as a janitor, a gas station attendant and in a coffee shop.
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18 people who went from being poor to mega rich
Photographs: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Ursula Burns
Company: Chairperson and CEO of Xerox.
Net worth: N/A.
Background: She was raised by a single mother in a government housing project in New York. Her mother ran a daycare centre from home and ironed shirts to send Burns to school.
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