Carlos Slim Helu
( The wealthiest man in the world- 2010 )
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As per the Forbes magazine 2010 report, Carlos Slim Helu is the wealthiest man in the world . His wealth is Us$53.5 billion. 0.5 billion more than his rival  Bill Gates.

Calos slim was born on Janury 28, 1940 in Maxico. His parents were from Lebanon settled in Mexico. His father was a business man. He is the youngest of 6 children. His mother died when he was 13 years old. Slim studied Civil Engineering from National Autonomous University of Mexico.

He  received his first business lessons from his father in early childhood.  His father  gave each of his children a savings book to learn and manage their income and expenses. In this they used to enter their expenses, purchases and activities. Thus they managed their finances  and developed their own wealth. From that time investment and savings were part of young Carlos’s life. He started his business by investing in share market.

By the age of 26, he was worth $40m, but it was during the Latin American economic crisis of the early 1980s that Mr Slim made a name for himself as a man who could make money in a recession.

He was able to buy a number of struggling companies at very low prices before transforming their fortunes.

Like Mr Buffett, Mr Slim has done some canny deals in the stock market - not least, buying shares in Apple when they were $17 each. They are now worth well over $200

Now he controls more than 200 companies. These range from telecoms, where he first made his fortune, to infrastructure, banking and retail.

One of the most significant in Mr Slim's empire is America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile phone company, which operates in 11 countries and serves more than 150 million customers.

His telecoms interests also extend to Telmex - the company he fought to take control of in 1990 when it was nationalised. It now operates around 90% of Mexico's telephone lines.

In order to maintain his influence over his expanding empire, his sons and sons-in-law have been put in charge of many businesses.

Mr Slim, whose heavy-set figure belies his name, also owns the Inbursa financial group and the Grupo Carso industrial conglomerate, whose interests range from retail stores to restaurants.

Meanwhile, the infrastructure firm he owns, Ideal, is working on a project to develop a shopping centre, schools and a hospital in Mexico City.

In recent years the tycoon has sought to expand his businesses abroad, including investments in 2008 in the New York Times newspaper and in the struggling bank Citigroup

Most recently, he linked up with former US President Bill Clinton and Canadian mining figure Frank Giustra to launch an anti-poverty campaign in Latin America, and in March pledged $6bn for his three charitable foundations

He married Soumaya Domit in the year 1967 and they have 6 children. His wife  died in 1999 due to kidney ailment.

He received several awards for various contributions to the business industry.