10 Richest People You’ve never heard of

11 Oct 2024 · 34 min

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In short

Podcast Notes: Secret Leaders - Episode: 10 Richest People You’ve Never Heard Of

Overview In this episode of the Secret Leaders podcast, hosts Dan Murray-Serter and Chris Donnelly explore the world of ultra-wealthy individuals who have quietly amassed fortunes while remaining largely under the radar. The discussion features ten new entrants to the Forbes list of wealthiest individuals, examining their businesses, success secrets, and how they have operated outside the mainstream wealth spotlight.

Key Takeaways

Introduction

  • Hosts discussed the prevalence of billionaire lists, particularly the Forbes list, which updates annually.
  • They introduced the concept of lesser-known billionaires who have made their fortunes in unique and unconventional ways.

Notable Billionaires Discussed

  1. Shein Trio:
  2. Net Worth: $4.2 billion (collectively).
  3. Business: Fast fashion retail through Shein, known for its rapid production and low-cost products.
  4. Model: Introduces between 500 to 2,000 new items daily, leveraging technology to capitalize on trends quickly.
  5. Market Impact: Surpassed Amazon in downloads, primarily targeting Gen Z consumers.
  1. Todd Graves:
  2. Company: Raising Cane's.
  3. Background: Started as a college student with a rejected business plan; funded his venture through salmon fishing in Alaska.
  4. Scale: Expanded to over 700 locations across 35 states.
  1. William Goldring:
  2. Net Worth: $6 billion.
  3. Business: Family asset management in the spirits industry, involved with brands like Buffalo Trace Whiskey and Fireball.
  4. Historical Context: Family has roots in the alcohol industry dating back to the prohibition era.
  1. Andrea Piñatoro:
  2. Net Worth: $27.4 billion.
  3. Company: Founded ION, which processes over $40 trillion in trades daily, servicing top banks globally.
  4. Startup: Began with an investment of £10,000.
  1. Giancarlo Deversini:
  2. Net Worth: $9.2 billion.
  3. Background: Transitioned from plastic surgery to crypto trading, specifically through Tether, a stablecoin company.
  4. Profit Model: Generates substantial profits through interest on reserves.
  1. Charles Lang:
  2. Net Worth: $3.1 billion.
  3. Background: Renowned for holding 60 patents in server technology.
  1. Agos Projismito:
  2. Net Worth: $7.1 billion.
  3. Business: Controls one of the largest gold and copper mines in Indonesia, acquired post-nationalization.
  1. Shawling Sisters:
  2. Net Worth: $5 billion each from inheritance.
  3. Background: Inherited their father's industrial empire, which includes stakes in security and tax-related businesses.
  1. Chow Family:
  2. Net Worth: $5.1 billion each.
  3. Business: Involved in petrochemicals, providing essential materials for packaging and other plastics.
  1. Runuka Jagtiani:
  2. Net Worth: $4.8 billion.
  3. Company: Landmark Group, operates over 2,200 stores in 24 countries.
  4. Background: Inherited and scaled the business after her husband's death, showcasing a long-term partnership in building the company.

Discussion Points

  • The episode highlights how many billionaires have inherited wealth rather than built it from scratch.
  • The hosts emphasize the ethical considerations of wealth accumulation, particularly in industries perceived as exploitative (e.g., fast fashion, petrochemicals).
  • They critique the societal structures that allow wealth to concentrate among a few while questioning the implications for future generations.

Conclusion

  • The conversation wraps with reflections on the lessons learned from these billionaires, particularly around the importance of identifying profitable industries, leveraging technology, and the often overlooked role of inheritance in wealth accumulation.
  • Hosts encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to consider unconventional paths to wealth, such as mining and technology, as opposed to traditional approaches.

Call to Action

  • Dan and Chris invite listeners to subscribe and engage with the podcast, sharing their thoughts on the content and what they'd like to hear next.

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This summary encapsulates the episode's key themes, discussions, and notable figures, providing listeners with insights into lesser-known pathways to immense wealth and the implications of these stories in the broader context of society and business.

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Transcript

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0:00Okay, Chris, if I said to you, there's the Forbes rich list in front of me, top 10 richest people in the world. If I say name five of them I'm pretty sure you could do that So go and try it Who of five are the richest people in the world? Elon Musk Yeah he's number one Jeff Bezos Number two Guy who owns LVMH Yeah Bernard Arnard Yeah and number three The guy who owns Navidia No Jensen Horn Still no Wasn't yes the first time Isn't yes when you spell his name out I actually couldn't tell you another one I don't know that much What are you talking about? How useless are you? Have you ever heard of Bill Gates?

0:33Oh did I not say Bill Gates? No have you ever heard of mark zuckerberg yeah you heard of these guys yeah what about larry page sound familiar you're not very good at this are you all right well that's actually a very good segue into what we are going to talk about that's the 10 richest people in the world but every year forbes creates a new list right of the wealthiest people in the world and this year there are 10 new entrants into this list they're people who just like sergey brin and larry page you'll never have heard of right um and so interesting for us to discuss not just like you know who these guys are but like how they made their money what do they do so these are 10 of the new richest people in the world so joining us on this list we've got a uh chicken shop owner kind of guy right a fried chicken shop yeah i mean pretty much like a chain of fried chicken shops yeah i mean insane money just just you wait for his story okay we've got a guy who owns a gold mine I mean that makes sense How is he new?

1:31We only started last week The exploitation has been quite fast And also not that surprising But a crypto billionaire Yeah that one feels about right And there's some other fun ones as well Alright let's get into it Our first freshman The Sheen Is that how you say it? Shane Shane Shane The Sheen Of course we have We're trying to do respect to the Mandarin language here Are we doing a good job? I thought because I've heard people say Shine well either way we're keeping all of this in so just get on with it trio yeah uh trio no i think on trio we've got trio the sheen trio yeah maggie goo molly mao and ren don't know how to say that shawking shawking which is sheen is obviously the fast fashion powerhouse that we all know you know crazy rise massive growth always in the news for probably the wrong things you know like low-cost labor poor quality product taking advantage of people etc but those three are on the bit the the Forbes list and are worth a net worth of 4.2 billion yeah that's pretty cash right so in total you know pushing 13 billion dollars worth of ownership and equity there at Shane.

2:54Yeah. And can you guess how many items Sheen introduces every day? To their website or to landfill? I'm guessing probably 500 on their website, of which 400 are landfill. So they add between 500 to 2 ,000 new items to their website a day. Jesus. A day. Have you ever shopped on Shane? I haven't, I mean, I don't shop in most places. But I presume like my wife would have at some point ordered things from there. But all I ever read is negativity. But I remember talking to someone about this and they were like, everyone says it's really, really bad. But obviously, if you've got the opportunity to buy something you want for a low price, you just do.

3:40I mean, at the end of the day, anyone, anyone who shops at Shane is going to hell. And I say that having bought two items at Shane. What do you buy? It's very appropriate. like once for burning man or a gold uh like shirt and short combo uh it's disgusting and the only place you could buy clothes that ugly would be shane um and i bought a really great tiger coat basically tiger print coat for glastonbury this year which kept me warm at night and i think that cost like 20 quid so i haven't been quite able to work out how much slave labor went into that but like i will admit that i felt horrendous buying it the thing is obviously people are very moralistic about this but like here's an interesting fact the sheen app is one of the most downloaded shopping apps globally that does make its morals better yeah a fact is approximately 229 million downloads across ios and android devices which surpasses amazon and many other retailers that is incredible well i guess i'm going to heaven after all the people that are calling it out must be the smallest minority ever because everyone else is buying from it oh it's not that mate it's pure hypocrisy their entire audience base are gen z's who are like constantly like you boomers are ruining the world and blah blah blah blah blah and then spending all their money on shame it's like the hypocrisy is crazy and that's their target market it's gen z's all over the world you can't possibly have that successful a business it's not just dickheads like me buying tiger coats going to glastonbury once a year it's people buying it day in day out 500 to 2 ,000 new items of clothing a day.

5:17Yeah. It's insane. And it's more popular than Amazon. So basically everyone's buying from it. Yeah. At least I was honest about it. Where's your t-shirt from? Shane. Can you imagine? Timu. Can you imagine? H &M. It's either H &M or Arquette. It's Arquette. How do you know? Because I can... A, because all my t-shirts are from Arquette. And B... Arquette is H &M, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's the fancier Arquette. It's the less child labour Arquette. Why? It's adolescent labor. Mm. Yeah. But I am like, I am like typical man in that like I find two or three pieces of clothing I can wear and I just buy loads of them.

5:54Yeah, yeah, same. I've got, that's what I'm saying, I've got 10 of those black t-shirts that you're currently wearing as well. Yeah. And 10 of the white t-shirts that Jay is currently wearing. And they cost a little bit more than Sheen. Yeah, just a little bit. They're still going to hell though. Why do you think that Sheen has done so incredibly well? Because I mean, it's not like, It's not like you can't buy cheap clothes elsewhere Yeah, you can buy cheap clothes elsewhere You've got an unbelievable e-commerce experience in lots of different places Why is it doing so well? No, like I used to work in fashion So I actually sort of You could not tell No, I know, thank you This is, I presume, a comment just for the podcast listeners Anyone watching me will see this masterclass in fashion Couture Basically what they do really uniquely is They built a technology engine that enables them to mass produce fast fashion lines on the latest trends so the way that the fashion industry generally works is you have your fashion weeks led by the trend masters your carl lagerfelds your fendies that whoever and they do the london fashion week new york fashion week all of them right they just go around that's a cycle they debut they're debuting debut the styles that are going to be popular for the next season and at that point all the retailers jump on trying to make those clothes and obviously in a responsible fashion cycle you've got to source the product you've got to make it etc so it's a little bit late high quality etc it's the thing that zara got really like globally famous for for doing this stuff so quickly and at such a good price shane have just taken that to another level so the speed at which they do it and react to trends is like a factory let's see even like an instagram trend now that isn't even um you know runway fashion but they can see that it's popular and they can turn that into clothing in every size for a fraction of the price you can get it anywhere else and shipped globally so long as you're willing to wait like seven to ten days on shipping and pay the import tax it's an insane model and it's essentially only possible through technology right so that is like low wages yes both software technology and manufacturing capacity and then insane low wages obviously places like china where that is just the norm it's not possible in most places of the world to create that engine and then just ship it out um in reality everyone that's buying from shane knows that this is absolutely morally questionable but my god do we look good well there we go i mean another way to think about it is they're like an algorithm company right so as soon as they get an inkling of something coming out that looks like it's going to be trendy fashionable a big hit they're able to turn on a sixpence get it out produced and ship globally and also market it really well and then if you think on the other side who are the people that want that right who are the people who are desperate for the latest trend the latest culture looking great etc is gen z's the youngest generation that's able to buy products but they don't have much money so there's this weird dance between their morals that they virtually signal to the world and the fact that actually their ego say they'd like to look good everyone's buying from sheen yeah i don't think it's a young person thing i think everyone's just looking at that their personal outcome from buying the product is just less expensive for them yeah but they might just not admit to it no totally everyone but you you look awful that's it todd graves do you know who that is i don't think of him as modern day colonel sanders todd graves is the new chicken man on the scene so raising canes is the name of the company has to be only in america can you get that big doing that that's so true i mean only in america could you have a company worth billions called Raising Cane.

9:25I mean, that's also the thing is that when you come from the UK and you think about business generally, like even small businesses in America are massive in context. Yeah, totally. So this guy, it's his college business plan for Raising Cane's. It received the lowest grade in the whole school. And he worked as a boilermaker and fisherman to raise startup capital because everyone thought that he was a fucking joke. And he's now grown it to over 700 locations across 35 states it's absurd i've never heard of that and we think it's niche yeah i mean that's crazy people like you and i would go to startup funding competitions and like whatever or like go see vcs and stuff i mentioned that he got his startup capital from working as a fisherman what do you think he was fishing he actually got his startup capital from being a fisherman yeah this guy's a legend um i have no idea honestly no idea obviously the answer is salmon fisherman in alaska i love the idea that a guy is a salmon fisherman in alaska to fund his fried chicken in the deep south this guy's an absolute dude yeah he is quite cool i just can't believe you get to 700 locations funding it yourself well also what would you do if your business idea was rejected by everyone would you because you've got the lowest class in a school as well right so would you just be like okay everyone else is right because that's what's really cool here right he's like okay everyone else is wrong i'm right yeah no one else will give me a job no one's giving yeah totally no one's giving me money i'm gonna go be a salmon fisherman in alaska until i've saved up enough money to open my chicken shop it's a nice lesson to anyone watching who hasn't got good grades recently yeah fish salmon ultimately yeah go fishing next on the list william goldring and family spirits and acquisitions okay so this guy is worth six billion dollars yeah from alcohol so the question is can you name any goldring family brands like off the top of your head you know do Do you know who he is or what they are?

11:17Again, like absolutely no idea. Like never heard the name before. So did you go to university and did you used to get wasted? Yes. Okay. So do you remember Fireball? No. Do you never have that? What is it? Oh, it's fucking gross. It's like spicy alcohol that like you're having shots and it's horrendous. No. All right. What about Pappy Van Winkle? No. Terrible name. I never had that either. No, no, no. It's shocking. You're saying why are you so cultured, but I'm not. Okay. But here's one. Here's one that you all know. Buffalo Trace Whiskey. No. No. You really are uncultured. heard of carling yeah it wasn't that but it sounds like your kind of thing all right southern comfort i have heard of all right finally okay well they didn't make that but they did acquire southern comfort for 544 million dollars in 2016 so six billion dollars from selling alcohol that people would neither want to drink or name so as i in fairness these guys are a bit of a dynasty so just looking at here the gold wings family involvement in the alcohol industry spans the prohibition era its repeal and the consolidation of the spirits industries in the late 20th and early 21st century so these guys have been a couple of hundred years why the names are so bizarre because you would never come up with those names nowadays but they're like historical names right indeed actually a little look up as well and turns out there's 1.3 milligrams of gold in every bottle of goldschlager so there you go all right i've got a better one for you it's more interesting um andrea piñatoro the bond villain of financial software imagine that title okay so his net worth is 27.4 billion dollars jesus more money than jesus actually how much money do you need to make the list well how much money did jesus make yeah that's the right amount he's famous because have you heard of this company called ion i-o-n i hadn't heard bill gates so no that's true you haven't heard very much ion group is a company that he started with just 10 000 pounds so i guess the starting point is you know 10 000 pounds isn't nothing actually most people who start a business out of nowhere don't have£10 ,000 to invest.

13:10If you gave most people£10 ,000, would they start a company and then build a wealth of£27 billion? Absolutely not. So he starts with£10 ,000 in 1998. Now he builds what is known as ION's software processors, whatever the hell that means. Don't worry about it. How much money do you think they process in trades per day? And just to make this a shorter game, it's in the trillions. God, I was going to say like a billion, but hey, I'm miles off. 40 trillion trades go through their software platform every single day they're one of those companies that are basically like grown big by acquiring those of other companies so to date they've acquired over 30 different companies wow pretty sick so i've never even heard of them so who uses the actual software no that's a good question there's not really people like you and me right it's people like our sponsor wise uh 48 of the top 50 banks in the world all rely on and use their software not a bad customer not a bad customer he's had 10 grand to start this company up and he's got to a business worth 27 billion dollars what would you do if you had 10 grand start up a tech company 10 grand I would look to an outsource team and try and put together a very basic mvb mvp product which helps my consumer get some value add and then I would think because I don't have much money I would think how do I get that product to market and distribute itself like how would I make a viral mechanic that someone wants to recommend the next person that uses it or that I could maybe piggyback another existing business or network because$10 ,000 is not going to get you far at all.

14:37And I would need to predominantly have all of my team being in, yeah, like lower cost countries on the technology side. So basically, you're a small picture thinker. Yeah, no pignatory for you. All right. So that's one. Who else have we got on the list? So new to the list is Giancarlo Deversini, who's gone from plastic surgeon to crypto kingpin with a net worth of 9.2 billion. And the key point here for me is one, you know, how do you go from being a plastic surgeon to being a crypto aficiado? Well, both of them are going to be living in Miami. Lots of lots of people in Miami that do crypto. Lots of people in Miami do plastic surgery.

15:17Yeah. Two, it's all fake, isn't it? Well, I mean, I don't know enough about stable coin and I don't know enough about Tether. Can you tell us a little bit? All I heard you say is I know loads about plastic surgery. So what have you had done? yeah and we're not yet yeah you seem very clear about what you don't know well early 30s yeah no mention on the other stuff okay so you don't think about tether or stable coins i don't really even know what stable coin is all right so a stable coin any cryptocurrency that's designed to have a relatively stable price typically through being pegged to a commodity or currency like the dollar um or it just has it's like it's it's supply regulated by an algorithm so So Tether's business model is ingenious in its simplicity.

16:00By holding reserves to back its token and generating profit from the interest on those reserves, it's created obviously a very lucrative business. To give you an idea, in 2023, with higher interest rates, the model led to a staggering$6.2 billion in profit. And so to wrap this up, Devacini, he's got 47 % stake in this business, which is worth$9.2 billion. So what do you reckon that makes Tether? That's probably 20-ish billion. 20-ish. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to get him on the show. I mean, to be the idiot in the room for a second, it sounds like Tether just holds US dollars and makes interest on them.

16:41Kind of. I mean, that's not that smart. Smart enough. Smarter than you. Yeah. I mean, it feels too good to be true, which is what i always say to anything involved in crypto yeah that's pretty fair and uh as someone who's been nice and heavily involved in crypto i can confirm you're right it often is just every story is like hey this thing is like so incredibly yeah it almost always and it's like hey the guy was on the cover of forbes and then it's like oh the guy's in jail for two decades yeah yeah so next on the list is charles lang the net worth of 3.1 billion week pretty light work did you know that he started as a lot of tech billionaires do in the garage doesn't surprise me if you ask me where did he start this company i would guess the garage right because it's just the synonymous place for all successful tech companies it's like cooler now if you don't start in the garage it's true yeah i started in my mom's bedroom yeah like how do you make it sound so so bad your starting position where's like the worst place um i started in the penthouse suite at the uh at jp morgan did you know me like you know i saw humble beginnings in the penthouse we've said jp morgan i often think if you own a garage you probably do have to actually have a decent amount of money that's a very good point like that's a very good point most people don't have a garage i don't have a garage start my business in starbucks started my business using the parking permit for the parking spot outside my house yeah not residents because we couldn't afford it at the time can you guess how many patents a person like that would own i don't know well i mean how many patents can someone own like 10 unless he's like nobel no so he owns 60 patents in server technology i don't know what to say i know nothing about him can't even do basic research can you i feel i'm better at the research i mean 60 patents in server technology christ that's all i've got to tell you three billion i'd be just disappointed it's not more next on the list is agos projismito christ butchered that beautiful um mining indonesian resources with a net worth of 7.1 billion so quite quite commendable not bad so for them to be a new entrance to the forbes list and to be worth that much where do you think this gold mine is uh i don't know much about gold mines to be honest necker island so the gold mine is in papara in indonesia okay um and i think that the story of this is that it's is it recently nationalized um and so the family have taken ownership over the mine recently so it feels like a very uh kind of got oligarch energy going on here yeah russian oligarch type you know i've been given some of the nation's infrastructure i now own the trains type vibe yeah that's what i'm getting we could be completely wrong though can you guess how much copper and gold this mine produces annually to be making that much.

19:37I don't know how to quantify these things. Like millions of, I don't know what metric, but millions. The Grasberg mine produces approximately 31 tons of gold and 453 ,592 tons of copper annually. Christ. Thing is, I don't even know if that's a big mine. Sounds like a big mine. Yeah, so a run-of-the-mill mine. Yeah, it's true. I mean, he's only worth 7.1 billion. Yeah, small fries. So what would you say to becoming an oligarch? um it didn't really line up with my ethical practices or beliefs in the world so someone gave you a gold mine you're saying no i know that you'd say yes i'm just saying it wouldn't be right for me i'm not i'm not answering the question no that's true i would abstain um i'd have fun staying poor as the saying goes someone goes here's a gold mine in the uk you're like nah can't do it what would i do with a gold mine mine gold yeah i just feel like that just it just sounds like more trouble than it's worth owning a gold mine a literal gold mine promisor mito built his fortune primarily through strategic investments in Indonesia's mining and energy sectors.

20:40His key asset is a minority stake in Aman Mineral International, which owns the second largest copper and gold mine in Indonesia. Yeah, I guess that'll do it. That will do it. Well, aspiration for all of us kids out there. Own a gold mine. Go own a gold mine, guys. Rip up the business plan. Who needs product market fit? Perfect. All right, so next on the list, we've got the Shawling Sisters. um okay so these ladies have just inherited five billion dollars each from daddy five bill each yeah so daddy melke shorling has built his empire during sweden's economic boom in the late 20th century which i'm sure you're an expert on um he capitalized on the country's strong industrial and technological sectors thanks for that information forbes incredibly broad yeah so broad um but basically he's a rich swede and his name's not daniel ek i guess that's what you really need to know um so they inherited five bill each five bill each is what they passed down yeah exactly and also in sweden is a high tax place so we have to assume their inheritance tax is fucking serious as well um okay they inherited their father's business empire after his passing in 2023 uh they control melka shawling ab with stakes in major swedish companies chris and their portfolio includes you're gonna love this security lock manufacturing and wait for it the specificity thank you forbes again industrial companies wow yeah broad that's a lot of info uh what would you do with five bill if you just inherited that from daddy wow i mean it's it's an interesting one isn't it because your whole like my whole purpose and what i'm doing right now would be rocked by getting five billion even even though i am where i am i still would get the money and you would be like oh what is the point in pursuing my pursuits well you only pursue money so surely that would be wouldn't you just wouldn't you getting five billion inheritance just be enlightenment well i don't mean what would you do any because it makes you think doesn't it like if i'm going to pursue any business the outcome would have to be very significant to even put a dent into the money I already own and could make from interest.

22:54It makes you think, if you had kids and you're a wealthy guy and you obviously have a kid and you're obviously going to have a situation where you leave money to your kid and give money to your kid, how much do you give to them? I was thinking four bill. Five is just a bit aggressive. It's uncouth. That's what I don't like about it. It's not classy. It's not demure. Yeah, not cutesy. A lot of billionaires aren't leaving their kids loads of money. No, Die With Zero, which is a great book. Strongly recommend. It's fantastic. It's just like, what is the point of hoarding all this money? Just spend it.

23:30Give it to charity. Have fun. Don't give it to your kids. They don't really need it. And it won't teach them good things. There's a lot of very wealthy people who are doing the opposite of the Shawling family. Okay, well, can you guess which industrial sectors the Shawling sisters have invested in through their family holding company? So this is them now investing. Yeah. I bet they have a business manager that was like, your dad would have invested in X. 100%. But it would have been... When I tell you the answers, you're going to realise how right you are. Electricity, locks, security. Yeah, you're pretty much right.

24:01And also, don't forget, advanced polymer compounds. Don't know how you left that off. I was going to say it next. Why didn't you mention specialty vegetable oils and fats for the food industry? You are just an amateur. It's like working with an amateur on this. It's unreal. Good luck to them. And they're really endearing. enduring it's a really endearing investment strategy it just warms the heart so next up is the chow family uh we have yeah well you're about to yeah um if you wait sorry there's three of them two of them work in the company albert and james with a net worth of 5.1 billion each and just a 5 billion uh net worth for dorothy who doesn't work in the company oh hold on a second dorothy gets 0.1 so it gets what 100 million less but because she doesn't have to do a fucking thing so the other guys get up for 100 million if I've already got 5 billion I'd rather not work I think surely Dorothy's smashing this deal a billion's a thousand million little intervention from Jay producer Jay who's just updated our level of insight here so Dorothy doesn't not work Dorothy does work Dorothy works hopefully she earns 101 million I presume she makes good money And Dorothy's husband is the owner of Publix, the sort of supermarket chain in America.

25:17Well, so he's probably a billionaire as well. Easy. Really? Easy. Christ. That's what you do though. When you are a billionaire, you marry another billionaire. Yeah, because you don't really need to do things like character and personality. It's just checkbooks. Yeah. Makes sense. So Dan, what do you think the petrochemicals are used for that the Chow family are involved in? I'll be honest, my petrochemical knowledge base is lower than I would have wanted for a conversation like this. Yeah, Vaseline. Petrochemicals are commonly used in plastic bags, food packaging, and any sort of squeeze plastic bottle that you'll see.

25:52And so I feel like the Chow family have played a good card there. They're kind of in everything that you wouldn't expect to be big wealth building. Yeah, fair play to them. Not sure I'd want that kind of wealth if that's how I made it. It's boring as fuck, isn't it? And it's plastic. Yeah. World's moving away from that. Wow, Dorothy got out at the right time. The company's called Westlake. Did you know Westlake was founded the same year that Microsoft went public? Is that your trivia fact for me? That's it. That's all I've got for you. Why would I care about that? Well, I'm just saying, did you know?

26:22No, I didn't know. I didn't know what petrochemicals were, really. I definitely wouldn't know that they went, you know, they were founded the same year as Microsoft went public. But good luck to them with their billions. Their plastic billions. The only real lesson to learn here is marry up. like dorothy yeah is the lesson not like you know if you talk to young entrepreneurs now they're all talking about building like you know tech businesses is it not like getting some serious product businesses no i think the thing that we're learning from this rich list is get into petrochemicals um gold mines would be like another great shout um dodgy dodgy crypto uh leveraging and fried chicken yeah fried chicken that's the takeaway dream and believe kids yeah so the next person on the list is runuka jagtiani she's got net worth of 4.8 billion dollars so just under five bill wow um this is an interesting one right so technically speaking runuka is the is running this company called the landmark group right to give you an idea it's a big like you know mall related business they got lots and lots of different brands and stuff where are they in the world in the middle east predominantly but they are in 24 different countries so they've got 2 ,200 stores across 24 countries.

27:33Huge operation. So it's huge. Over 30 million customers annually as well. So it is a serious business. And on the face of it, you could be a bit like, you know, the narrative is interesting here, like reading the Forbes stuff. So she's inherited that money. Husband is the founder. He's died recently. She's now running it. So tons of pressure. So it could fall into that trap of like, all right, it's inheritance money. Not really self-made, but the context. She actually married him in the 1980s in an arranged marriage. And it was pretty much at the same time that the company started. Every kind of way that you cut it, like her original job for what it's worth was like cheap designer for one of the brands.

28:13So they've been together for 40 years. Yeah, exactly. So they've been together basically the whole time. And the company's been going for 40 years. Right, exactly. So just over. But in reality, they've basically been building it together. Like the silent co-founder, like Jeff Bezos' wife never gets any credit for amazon exactly exactly um so in reality i think that's like a fairer view of her now she stepped into that role and she has to run it she probably has very good insight into how to do that anyway like by osmosis but i feel like she earns she's really earned that five billion yeah i mean 40 years yeah it's not bad uh is your conclusion all these new rich people mine is fuck me basically just inherit money make a gold mine make it rich in crypto we talked to before the show and like the amount of people who had entered the rich list through just inheriting money was slightly mind-blowing and it's like a it's a terrible indictment of the time isn't it where like so much money has been especially over the last decade like extracted from lower class and middle class people to the super wealthy who are now hoarding keeping and transferring that money on and you get like whole generations of people who now are on the the fucking rich list they've not done nothing but they've certainly not done enough to deserve to get there it does make you question a lot of the time you know like what's the advice to young people off the back of that list like well i think i think not that cynical it's get really interested in petro chemicals isn't it yeah but like 50 years ago what's the petrol chemical of today being really good at making things out of paper would be the equivalent wouldn't it because they do like squeeze bottles they plastic bags that sort of thing like making shit out of algae yeah exactly like make plastic bags out of algae yeah and you will be the next billionaire yeah we're probably not going to do that just talk into microphones and make content yeah kids keep it in the mills not the bills okay so out of the whole list you've got 10 people on this um who would you most like to get onto the show if you could interview them who's the one that you'd love the salmon fisher turned uh fried chicken extraordinaire do you remember the name of the company yeah raising cane raising cane still again madness uh i would love to have them on i think i would just be i'd I'd love to know where that name comes from.

30:20Raising Cane. So random. I know. Same as dog. Raising Cane. Even raising part. I know. So this is a guy that like sold fish to make chicken with a dog name. It's like KFC, right? Just completely weird. It's like a KFC. Yeah, it's chicken fingers. Yeah, I think my one I'd most like on, oh, it's got to be the Shane Trio. Trio. It's a fascinating business. And also just upending Amazon and making Amazon sweat because you've executed so well. Just kind of like at the point where you think e-commerce is at its maturity and, you know, nothing that already exists could possibly ever be dislodged, right?

30:59They are flying. And that is an insane thing for entrepreneurs to do to even possibly go against Amazon. It would also be nice to say, like, I mean, if you were able to get them on, you'd ask the question, like, how do you respond to the negative, you know, points? Like, how do you respond to all these negative claims? like what's your take on it yeah and they would say it's all censored in china so we don't we don't get to see it they would have an incredibly good pr response but it would be nice to to have that that conversation it would be all right that's it for the rich list uh if you want to get on the rich list and you don't want to just marry up or inherit the money or inherit the money uh you want to make it on your own then there are some things we know that can help you get there so at secret leaders we're trying to cover new business models new business formats we're trying to create the most entertaining business show in the world.

31:47And what you can do for us is give us a follow, like, and subscribe on YouTube and tell us what content you want us to cover. I'm Dan. I'm Chris. And thank you for watching Secret Leaders. We'll see you next time.

From the publisher

In this episode, we dive into the stories of the ultra-wealthy who’ve quietly built empires and amassed fortunes, all while staying under the radar. From groundbreaking industries to niche businesses, these individuals have become some of the richest people in the world.
Discover the incredible businesses they’ve built, the secrets to their success, and how they’ve managed to stay off the mainstream wealth radar. This episode is packed with insights and surprises that will leave you thinking differently about wealth and success!
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