Anastasiia Kosharna, I year student, speciality “ Management + BBA”.
Anastasia talks about her «super hero» Elon Musk:
«When someone asks you what comes to your mind first if you start thinking about Elon Musk? I can bet that you remind SpaceX and his rockets or maybe Tesla and electric cars. I am sure that most people do not guess the real-life story of Elon Musk. They do not know about his childhood or how much effort he has given to his work. So, I would like to tell you about the most important elements of his biography. I am going to explain why Elon Musk is the perfect role model of the entrepreneur.
Elon had a difficult childhood but he never stopped dreaming. He was always “that bookworm” that loved physics, mathematics, and comics. His classmates did not understand that curiosity. Therefore, he was bulled and hit a lot only because of his type of thinking. Nevertheless, reading so many comics at an early age made him take their philosophy. The heroes were always passionate about saving the world. And little Elon truly believed that he had to do it too. Looking back through all these years, we could say that he has become a modern superhero.
Things were tough in South Africa (where Elon was born) but when he moved to Canada, his big dreams started to happen. Not immediately of course. At first, he was working on different physically hard jobs. As time passed by, he was thinking about a new startup connected with promoting the Internet to the masses. The concept was about placing ads on the World Wide Web. But we are talking about 90-s. Back then, people did not seem to understand correctly what the Internet was and how it worked. The only person that supported him was his brother Kimbal. Together they started to bring the idea to life. And they did it. No matter that there were so many people that told them that it could not work or simply did not even try to listen to them. They launched the Zip2, which succeeded and earned them their first millions and the world`s recognition.
After the accomplishment Musk`s ideas have been improved to a global level. He did not like the red tape in the banks, the boredom, and long-lasting operations. So he thought about the bank system that could collect all your money inside it with the help of the Internet. At first, all his acquaintances were like “What? No! An untouchable value? That is crazy!” But he did it. Again. Elon improved his finance company X.com to the international stage, the global company named PayPal by merging with the Confinity service.
It seemed that it was time for Elon finally to think about his duty. He always felt that space was his most important task to accomplish. So, he started his company SpaceX. Elon was passionate about Mars; he wanted and wants to colonize it (because the space on the Earth is not endless). The only problem was with the rockets, other companies made them too expensive and cumbersome. Musk decided to build the rockets named Falcon by himself. The company faced a lot of difficulties with them. The first launch was not successful. The second attempt failed. The third one did not work. Elon continued working and he did not give up. As he later commented, “I have a Samurai principle in my mind; I either make it or die”. The fourth launch of the Falcon1 was a stunning success. And the furthermore launches of a Heavy Falcon brought Musk a huge amount of awards and honors.
Right now Elon Musk is working in his Tesla Company building electric cars. Also, he is the CEO of SpaceX and takes part in all the technical and mechanical construction processes. He owns a company OpenAI that is making a friendly artificial intelligence too and has a Charitable Foundation Musk Foundation.
An unusual boy from South Africa is reaching his dream. He always continues going, never gives up, and always believes in himself. He has already changed the world and he is still trying to save it. He is the best inspiring example and proves that the best way to accomplish the idea is to do everything possible and impossible for it.»
