Exploring the Social Entrepreneurialism of Elon Musk
$19. 9 billion, that is how much Elon Musk is worth. But who is Elon Musk, and what transpires in his world?
Musk is often exemplified as a social entrepreneur; an individual who independently institutes a company or corporation through the intention of resolving social dilemmas and problems. Musk has been epitomized in profuse examples as an entrepreneur, due to his commitment and foundation in a myriad of businesses. For example, “. . . he founded and sold two internet companies: Zip2, a publishing software company for news outlets, and X. com, which merged with Confinity to become PayPal, the online payments service later bought by eBay. After these internet ventures, Mr Musk moved on to his two other competing passions, clean energy and space exploration. He co-founded Tesla Motors, where he oversaw the design of the mass-market electric car at around the same time as SpaceX. He serves as chief executive of both companies”. This portrays Musk’s adherence and admiration for advanced technology, which shaped the foundation of his complex childhood.
Furthermore, from the innumerable enterprises that he has founded, he has used the wealth to establish some of the most substantial products and services that are highly used today. Moreover, Musk explicates his actual motive to becoming a successful entrepreneur: to change the world for the better. He wondered what real world obstacles he can tackle, by constructing his own dynasty of establishments and agencies and altering the way we live. Growing up, Musk has experienced numerous complications and difficulties, especially regarding his father. As a young child, he was often the victim of bullying and states that his father, who was absent throughout Musk’s childhood, is beyond evil. For instance, “Elon Musk had earlier called his father ‘evil’ and a ‘terrible human being. . . Elon Musk has termed his childhood as ‘painful and isolated’, overshadowed by an absentee father”. Musk clarifies that his father is belligerent and pugnacious, specifically when it comes to particular situations and decisions. In addition, he explicates that he had an immensely odious and egregious childhood, encompassing his consistent distrait father and harassment from his peers.
Apart from these negligent encounters, he flourished through his years of education in North America. For example, “Education: Attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1990-1992; University of Pennsylvania, B. S. in economics and B. A. in physics, 1995; briefly attended Stanford University in 1995”. This elucidates that he moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University from 1990 to 1992 and progressed to the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, where he received his Bachelor of Science in economics and Bachelor of Arts in Physics shortly after; only to attend Stanford University in California momentarily in 1995 to garner a PhD. As a result, he advanced his entrepreneurial skills through the development of prolific companies, such as Zip2 and X. com which would later submerge into Paypal. This exhibits his accomplishments prior to creating SpaceX and Tesla, which later influenced the term of social entrepreneur in Elon Musk.
