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The Inspiring Success Story of SAS Co-Founder James Goodnight

The story of James Goodnight, co-founder of the SAS Institute, is one of remarkable success. Goodnight, a software engineer and businessman was born on January 6, 1943, in the United States.

James Goodnight co-founded SAS in 1976, which is now a leader in statistical data analysis software. His net worth as of April 2023 is anticipated to be 7.4 billion USD, making him the wealthiest citizen in North Carolina.

Goodnight’s interest in computers began when he took a computing course at the University of North Carolina, where he was hired to write software for the agricultural economics division. After completing his master’s in statistics in 1968, he worked for a business that produced electronic tools for the ground stations that interfaced with the Apollo spacecraft.

Also Read: From Candy to Billions: The Success Story of John Franklyn Mars

James Goodnight and fellow researcher Anthony James Barr were appointed project managers for the creation of the first SAS version, developed through a collaboration of eight land-grant institutions and supported by the USDA.

In 1976, Goodnight, along with three University students, left the institution when the program had 100 users and opened the SAS Institute within a building across the street.

Under Goodnight’s leadership, SAS saw its revenue increase from 138,000 USD in its first year of operation to 420 million USD in 1993 to 2.43 billion USD by 2010. The company expanded every year while he was in charge. Goodnight became known for developing and maintaining SAS’ corporate culture, which was often referred to as ‘utopian’ by the media.

To maintain the working environment at the firm, he turned down purchase inquiries and decided against going public. He implemented a flat organizational structure with only three layers and around 27 individuals who serve directly to him.

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Goodnight has been recognized for his achievements with numerous awards and honors. He was chosen as an American Statistical Association Fellow in 1981 and received the “Golden Plate” Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

He was also recognized by Harvard in 2004 as an Outstanding American Business Pioneer and has frequently participated at the World Economic Forum. In March 2020, he received the ‘CEO Great Place to Work For All Leadership’ Award from Great Place to Work.

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

Gianluigi Aponte Success Story: From Sailor to Shipping Magnate

Italian business magnate Gianluigi Aponte is the founder, owner, and chairman of the Mediterranean Shipping Company.

About Mediterranean Shipping Company.

Gianluigi Aponte established the international shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. in Italy in 1970; its head office has been in Switzerland since 1978. The Aponte family owns the privately held business.

The business is active in all significant ports around the globe. With a 4,631,403 twenty-foot equivalent unit intake capacity as of 2023, MSC runs 721 container vessels.

Success Story

For a while, Aponte worked in finance, but he yearned to get back into the maritime business. In 1970, he founded the Mediterranean Shipping Company after raising $280,000 to purchase the German freighter, Patricia. A year later, he launched a second freight ship, Rafaela, named after his wife.

Also Read: How Swiss Billionaire Hansjörg Wyss Built His Empire

By the 1980s, Aponte’s fleet, which primarily operated between Europe and Africa, had grown to 20 cargo ships, which the billionaire sold to transition into container shipping. After purchasing the cruise fleet of his mentor Achille Lauro in 1987, originally operating as Starlauro, he expanded into the cruise line business.

In 1995, the business adopted the MSC Cruises name. Achille Lauro, a passenger ship that was seized by PLF members off the coast of Egypt in 1985 and later caught fire and sank off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean in 1994, was one of the company’s first ships.

The MSC Opera, a ship from the Lirica class that launched the business’s investment in advanced ships, was one of the first such vessels. With the launch of a €5.5 billion funding strategy to create the most cutting-edge cruise fleet in the world, MSC Cruises established itself as a significant player in the global cruise sector during the early 2000s.

In 2014, a new, massive investment project was started, with plans to build new boats as well as refurbish the original Lirica vessels. This expenditure is anticipated to cost $11.6 million between 2014 and 2026, and an even larger Meraviglia fueled by LNG and able to accommodate 6,334 guests is on the horizon.

As a result of its exceptional standards for environmental preservation, health, and safety, MSC Cruises already holds the distinction of becoming the first cruise line in the world to receive the coveted “6 Golden Pearls.”

Gianluigi Aponte shared an award for “Neapolitan Excellence in the World” with Fabio Cannavaro, Ambra Vallo, and other recipients in 2009 from then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.

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He received the Cruise International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 in honor of his extensive work in the sector. In October 2013, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano bestowed upon him the Order of Merit for Labor title as well as Containerisation International’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Aponte family has been listed frequently in the Lloyd’s List of Top 100 Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry, with positions 10 in 2014 and 16 in 2018.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Ashneer Grover – The former MD of BharatPe who took a voluntary leave from the company.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

Ashneer Grover is one of the most famous businessmen in the Indian entrepreneurial world. He became famous after taking the position of Managing Director in BharatPe. Grover has been the recipient of several awards and accolades for his contribution to BharatPe and also as a visionary and leader. In 2021, Ashneer Grover was featured in Fortune India’s list of 40 Under 40 India’s brightest young business minds. From 2020, Ashneer Grover’s name has been making headlines as he got involved in some controversies. He was also sent on leave for using inappropriate language against the staff of Kotak Mahindra Bank. These are a few reasons behind his resignation from BharatPe.

Early Life

Grover was born in Delhi in 1982 and was raised in the same city. After completing his schooling, he joined IIT Delhi to study Civil Engineering. While he was studying at IIT, he was one of the six students who got selected for an exchange program for a university in France. After he went to France he also received a scholarship of Rs 5 lakh from the French embassy. After graduating from IIT Delhi, he got enrolled in IIM Ahmedabad in the Finance Program for MBA. During the placement season, Grover secured a job at Kotak Investment Banking and started his career.

Career

When Grover got his first offer, he directly joined the company as its Vice President. After joining Kotak Investment Banking, he worked there for almost 7 years and left the company in 2013. He then joined American Express, a well-known MNC, and worked there for a couple of years. In 2015, he left American Express to join Grofers as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. In these several years, Ashneer tried to expand his network and made connections with several investors as well. After working with multiple companies, he wanted to do something different and thus joined PC Jewellers as Business Head. His main target in the company was to develop an improvement with the payment option.

Since he was developing new payment options for the company, he got the idea for a new start-up revolving around the same. So, in 208, Ashneer Grover along with Shasvat Nakrani and Bhavik Koladiya launched BharatPe. Today, it is one of the most widely used digital payment options in the country. It is India’s first UPI interoperable QR code. Launching a startup was quite challenging for Grover in the early days. Initially, he wasn’t able to afford too many employees but he needed someone to manage the operations with him. So, eventually his wife, Madhuri became a part of the company. Grover is also famous as one of the sharks in Shark Tank India, a reality show for startup businesses.

Resignation from BharatPe

There are several controversies and criticism that have surfaced in the last few years against Grover. For example, a lawsuit was filed against Grover and his company, BharatPe by Paytm and a few other companies for distributing pamphlets that suggested that they were not fully India-based companies. The companies that filed the lawsuit also requested the Reserve Bank of India to take appropriate actions against BharatPe. Another battle also took place between BharatPe and PhonePe regarding the usage of the same suffix.

But one controversy that escalated fast and didn’t leave Grover any other option but to retire was an abusive audio clip. In January 2022, the audio of Grover having a conversation with Kotak Mahindra Bank went viral where abusive languages were used. The bank also alleged that both Grover and his wife threatened the staff of the bank. Later, Grover tweeted that it was a fake audio clip. In March 2022, Grover stepped down as the Managing Director of the company and quit from BharatPe.

Personal Life

Ashneer Grover is married to Madhuri Grover who is also an entrepreneur. Before she started working for BharatPe, she was an interior designer and worked with many high-profile people. The couple has two children, a son (Avy Grover) and a daughter (Mannat Grover).

Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Bill McDermott : The Inspirational Life Story of the First American CEO of SAP

Inspiration, Story, Tech Story / By Yashica Vashishtha

Great minds and great ideas will find their way to success, even after facing difficulties. Such a great person with a great mind is the American businessman and the highest paid CEO of SAP SE, Bill McDermott, who despite spending his childhood in poverty emerged as one of the most powerful businessmen of America. McDermott has described his whole amazing life story in his book, “Winners Dream,” co-written by Joanne Gordon, that has been awarded a gold medal for a business memoir of the year by the Axiom Business Book Awards.

Early Life

McDermott was born in Amityville on Long Island, to Kathleen and Bill McDermott. His father worked as a power maintenance specialist at Con Edison, and his grandfather, Bobby McDermott, was a famous basketball player. According to his book, he had a tough childhood, and his family faced critical financial conditions. Even the family used to live in a house with a floor that flooded every time it rained.

McDermott, from a very tender age, started working in part-time jobs. At the age of 11, he started selling newspapers, greeting cards, cookies, and other products and saved enough money to start a new business. When he was sixteen, he bought a Country Deli for $7,000, with the money he earned in past five years, with different jobs and businesses. His County Deli business proved to be most beneficial for him, as he was able to get admission into an undergraduate course in business management at Dowling College, with the earned profits.

After completing the undergraduate course, McDermott joined Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management to pursue an MBA degree and later, attended the Wharton School of Business, where he completed the Executive Development Program.

Career

Possessed with awesome management skills and an MBA degree, McDermott managed to get a job in the sales department of Xerox. He continued working in the same department for 16 years, and at the age of 36, he was promoted to the post of Division President of Xerox’s sales, becoming the youngest person to hold that position in the company.

Later, in 2000, McDermott became the President of Gartner and served at the same position till 2002. He also worked as the Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations at Siebel Systems.

Career with SAP

In 2002, McDormett joined SAP America, as the CEO of the company. Only in few years, he was designated to the SAP Executive Board, followed by gaining the position of co-CEO of SAP AG, in February 2010. SAP is a German company, and McDermott became the first American to hold the position of the CEO of the company, on May 21, 2014.

Personal Life

McDormett is married to Julie McDormett, and the couple has two sons together. At the time he was working in Gartner, Julie suffered from breast cancer. After six months of chemo, she recovered from the disease. But later, his mother suffered and died of pancreatic cancer. The incident encouraged him to launch the Kathleen McDermott Foundation for pancreatic cancer.

McDermott is a member of the Business Roundtable and the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT). He has won many honorary awards including the GENYOUth’s Vanguard Award, the City Year’s Idealist of the Year, and the Manager of the Year by the German Business Daily.

Yashica Vashishtha

Yashica is a Software Engineer turned Content Writer, who loves to write on social causes and expertise in writing technical stuff. She loves to watch movies and explore new places. She believes that you need to live once before you die. So experimenting with her life and career choices, she is trying to live her life to the fullest.

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