UP Guy Makes Global Firm Worth Billions From A Simple Idea, Now Aims For The Moon

Every challenge could stand up as a strength only if we accept it. Being deprived of some of the advances of life is not a loss, instead it becomes a motivation for someone’s success. To the ones who attained success and satisfaction had to go through the hardships and the scarcities. We can better put it as the law of this materialistic world saying that, every success is meant to come out of challenges. In this materialistic world, the inadequacy of bare necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter is undoubtedly an indication of poverty, but not having a knack to come out of such terrible situation is worse.

Today, we shed some light on the person, who at his early age experienced poverty but nothing could stop him today, from being on the top-list of industrialists and noble people by doing the unbelievable.

Naveen Jain was born and brought-up in Uttar Pradesh where his father served to be a civil engineer. Being an engineer soon turned out to be a problem, as Naveen’s father would not accept bribe. Naveen’s family was hit by tragedy when Naveen’s father refused to take bribe in Dhandhli construction projects. This was just one case, but Naveen’s father started being transferred thrice in a year, mostly in distant places. This was the case of an honest person who was made a refugee in his own country because he did not accept bribe.

Despite of all the challenges, Naveen was dedicated towards his studies. Eventually, he somehow managed to get an angineering degree from IIT Roorkee and successfully completed his MBA from XLRI in Human Resource Management. Naveen’s first job out of college in 1983 was at Burroughs (now known as Unisys) in New Jersey as a part of a business-exchnage program. He worked for a bunch of start-ups before joining Microsoft in 1989. He worked at Microsoft for around six years but later decided to quit Microsoft, to start InfoSpace with the aim of having his own initial public offering as quickly as possible.

He worked on his idea for two years and finally announced to the world in 1998. Within a year, InfoSpace’s value turned to 36 Billion Dollars. Naveen’s idea initially seemed insane to a few analysts but he proved that his idea was worth billion dollar by constantly working on his project.

Naveen gives utmost priority to his self-confidence, which has a played the most important role in his success.

InfoSpace was Naveen’s first successful project, which made him a distinguished personality and a billionaire. After this, he decided to never turn back. In 2002, he got in a conflict with other board members, which led him to leave his own company. He established an American-based Public Records Business, Intelius in 2003, which provides theft protection related services to industrialists and large organisations.

In August 2010, Naveen co-founded a company named Moon Express along with space entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley. The US government has allowed them to send their robotic landers to the moon. This is the first time that The Federal Aviation Administration of the US has granted permission to land and mine the moon to any private company. The company is attempting to build machine-operated spacecraft that can mine materials like gold, cobalt, platinum, and Helium-3 (nuclear energy fuel) and will soon send a craft on the moon by the end of this year.

Naveen comes from a state in India where millions of people get away in search of work every year.  However, he has attained success through his hard work and capabilities and is changing life of so many people today. He also helps industrialists, scientists, designers and engineers in 35 cities by providing them with their financial and other needs through a non-profit organization called ‘Kairos Society’. Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Silicon India’s “Most Admired Serial Entrepreneur,” and the receiver of “Albert Einstein Technology Medal” for his pioneers in technology, he has been repeatedly honoured for his entrepreneurial successes.

People like Naveen, who are not even known by even a fraction of people in our country, are making India proud in the global sphere with their determination and talent. Naveen’s next endeavour is to travel to the moon, using lunar resources for innovation here on earth.

Whether it’s business or life, Naveen is guided by one firm belief – Our only limit is our imagination.