Saturday, September 27, 2008

The New Rich

The phrase "rags to riches" is a tag that is being attached to more and more people, nowadays, all over the world. They are the Nouveau Riche per wikipedia definition.
For almost two decades now, this Nouveau Riche group have been hugging the limelight of the media for the very reason that articles about them give hope to "the poor" or those who are still dreaming of their first millions.
Most of these new rich were not born rich. They were ordinary students, or employees, or even school drop-outs. But they all have these things in common: a curious mind, a never ending satiety for success, an entrepreneural ingenuity and luck.
Because of these qualities, the new rich are able to make sophistication, and eventually, millions, out of very ordinary things: be it extracting gas from beans, or natural oils from fruits or herbs, or changing the design of a tire, or reducing the cost of an item by 1 cent.
One of my favorite Nouveau Riche is Mr. Bill Gates, the billionaire behind Microsoft. He started young. He was a mere college student (and dropped out before he finished his degree). But he never gave up. He pursued his dreams to the very end. And the one good thing I admired about him is he doesn't keep his good fortune to himself. He genuinely shares it with the world, especially the needy, the poor, the young, those most in need of his talents and riches.
Hooray to the Nouveau Riche!

1 comment:

Forever59er said...

You're right. One of the routes to upward economic mobility (wealth, in short -- haha) is entrepreneurship. Bill Gates is the most famous example. In the Philippines, marami din. Hindi nga lang kasing successful and prominent and rich as the Microsoft founder.

Sana nga maraming maging noveau riche through business because they do not only benefit themselves but others as well in terms of creating jobs and incomes and building the community. etc. etc.