Carlos Slim Helú - “Alo, Alo, Mexico!”
Sorry about the photo, I found this and thought would be funny. Carlos Slim’s mother was born in Chihuahua 
Who He Is
He’s the second richest man in the world, at age 67, according to Forbes, being worth around $60 billion!
His father came from Lebanon when he was 14, and started a small store in Mexico City. He had 6 kids, out of which Carlos was the youngest boy. His name was Salim, which was changed to Slim - voila, Carlos Slim.
His father’s small store developed in a big business, becoming the largest store in the country, all because of his entrepreneurial qualities.
Slim was born in 1940, and married in 1967, at the age of 27. Guess how many children he got? 6 as well.
How He Got Rich
Carlos Slim Helú is an amazing person, that has gotten involved in many big projects throughout his life: the Mexican Stock Exchange, the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses, the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, Altria (Previously Philip Morris) Group, Alcatel, SBC Communications, the World Education & Development Fund, CompUSA, Grupo Carso (which he buit), Teléfonos de Mexico, América Móvil, and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.
An impressive list of businesses that he presided over, owned or added a major contribution to.
He also controls two of the major telephone companies in Mexico, Telmex (90% of all house phones), and Telcel (80% of all cell phones), and the biggest mobile company in South America, América Móvil.\
He basically received a very good financial education from his father, and started investing at an early age.
What’s So Special About Him
- he opened his first checking account and start buying shares at Banco Nacional de México when he was only 12 years old;
- Carlos Slim Helú studied Civil Engineering, and also taught Algebra and Linear Programming while studying, being a student and professor at the same time. Not many people can say that!
- at only 25, he started building Grupo Carso
- when Mexico was going through the debt crisis, him and his group started to invest very aggressively, which paid off very good later on. This to show his genius and sense for business, and the risks he took
- and one of the most amazing things about him: his work right now is focused on education, health and employment in Mexico and Latin America. He founded some charity companies that have a huge capital to work with. His three sons have taken over his businesses.
Go HERE to read his entire biography.
In conclusion, I think him and Warren Buffett have a lot of things in common, they both had a very solid financial education from an early age, both of their fathers were entrepreneurs, they both started investing as kids, and they both have a genius for business, and a natural “feel” for the market. Oh, and they both are self-made billionaires.
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Carlos Slim Helú - “Alo, Alo, Mexico!”…
The second richest man in the world - according to Forbes - has many things to teach you. His story is just as amazing as Warren Buffett’s!…
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
Thank you Allen, I really appreciate that! You now have a spot at the top, in “resources”.
All the best!
Kind of surprising that the second wealthiest man in the world is from Mexico. I didn’t think there was a whole lot of business opportunity in that country.
Edward, I know what you mean, it’s not at all one of the wealthiest countries, but it just shows you how you can make it anywhere if you really want to.
I think this man is something close to a genius, he made money in a time when Mexico was even worse than now, he’s a wonderful example of determination.