The young business tycoon had a meteoric rise from a college dropout to second youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Education does not guarantee wealth. But even the wealthiest who did it without formal higher education know the worth of going to college. One such billionaire is 29-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, one of the poster boys of India Inc's success. The founder of hotel industry giant Oyo had a meteoric rise from a college dropout to second youngest self-made billionaire in the world. However, the answer to whether he misses higher education is a “Resounding YES” as per Agarwal.
Born in a small town in Odisha, Ritesh dived into business at an early age. His father had a small shop in Bissam in Odisha's Rayagada district. He moved out of home after schooling, first went to Kota in pursuit of IIT and then to Delhi. In the national capital, he dropped out of college and focussed full-time on building a business. During days of struggle, Ritesh survived by making peanuts selling SIM cards.
Oyo was founded in 2021 as a budget hotel booking platform called Oravel Stays. A big turning point came when he became the first Indian to bag the Thiel Fellowship program of billionaire technocrat Peter Thiel in 2012. Agarwal got a grant of $100,000 which helped him establish OYO Rooms in 2013.
Despite being highly-successful in business without formal education, Agarwal has admitted in the past that he misses not going to college. However, he credits the Thiel fellowship for compensating the gap and teaching him crucial lessons to become a successful entrepreneur.
Agarwal’s venture grew remarkably from town to town and in just 7 years he became the second youngest self-made billionaire in the world in 2020. In 2022, Ritesh Agarwal’s net worth stood at a whopping Rs 6,300 crore.
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