Carlos Slim Helú (born 28 January, 1940 in Mexico city) is a Mexican magnate, investor and philanthropist. He was ranked the richest person in the world by the Forbes magazine between 2010 and 2013. He derives his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. Grupo Carso includes education, healthcare, industries manufacturing, transportation, real estate, energy, entertainment, high technology, retail, sports and financial services.

He was born to Julian Slim Haddad and Linda Helú Atta, both Maronite Christians from Lebanon. He studied civil engineering at the National Autonomous University Mexico, where he also concurrently teaches algebra and linear programming.

Slim made a large fortune in the early 1990s when Mexico privatised its telecom industry and Grupo Carso acquired Telmex from the Mexican government.

On March 29, 2007, Slim surpassed American investor Warren Buffett as the world’s second richest person in the world. He also became the first Mexican to top the Forbes list of the richest person in the world by overtaking Bill Gates.

Slim has expressed firm support for philanthropy and has advised building entrepreneurs that businessmen must do more than gain.

Today, Carlos Slim is a widower. His wife Soumya Domit died in 1999 after 28 years of marriage to Slim, giving birth to 6 children. Slim and his wife had a very happy marriage and he has indicated that he doesn’t intend to remarry. He owns many businesses all over the world and has a net worth of $73.3 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world today.

The 2 lessons which should be noted in Carlos Slim’s life are as follows: First, he knew what he wanted: Slim knew that he would be a businessman and he worked on it right from his teenage days, gaining knowledge in the business world which he uses till date.

Secondly, Slim foresaw the future: He took his eyes off the present and fixed his gaze on the future. During the Mexican economic crisis, while many companies were running at a loss and selling shares, he invested in many of these companies, buying some of them and becoming a shareholder in others. Today, it is almost impossible to go a day in Mexico without donating to his wealth.

Author: Joshua Fabiyi