TEKS Entrepreneurs

Bill Gates American businessman,  philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor. Gates is the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. Gates has donated large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Sam Walton American businessman and entrepreneur, best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club. The first true Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Called the Wal-Mart Discount City store. In 1998, Walton was included in Time's list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. Walton was honored for all his pioneering efforts in retail in March 1992, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Oprah Winfrey Talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and is currently North America's only black billionaire. In 2004, Winfrey became the first black person to rank among the 50 most generous Americans and she remained among the top 50 until 2010. By 2012 she had given away about $400 million to educational causes.

Estée Lauder  American businesswoman. She was the co-founder, along with her husband, Joseph Lauder, of Estée Lauder Companies, her eponymous cosmetics company. Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. In 1953, Lauder introduced her first fragrance, Youth Dew, a bath oil that doubled as a perfume. Instead of using French perfumes by the drop behind each ear, women began using Youth Dew by the bottle in their bath water. In the first year, it sold 50,000 bottles, and by 1984, the figure had jumped to 150 million.

Robert L. Johnson  American businessman, media magnate, executive, philanthropist and investor. He is the founder of Black Entertainment Television, which was sold to Viacom in 2001. He also founded The RLJ Companies, a holding company that invests in various business sectors. Johnson is the former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He became the first African-American billionaire. In 2011, Johnson worked with Morgan Freeman to raise funds for hurricane preparedness in the Bahamas.

Lionel Sosa Mr. Sosa founded the agency of Bromley Communications, an advertising agency specializing in Hispanic marketing in the U.S. Sosa was named “One of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America” by Time magazine in 2005 and is a member of the Texas Business Hall of Fame. Currently, Sosa serves on the board of directors of PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service.