Born into a Tamil Muslim family, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India, once worked as a newspaper distributor. He is also called the Missile Man of India. 

Superstar Indian actor Rajinikanth worked as a porter, carpenter and bus conductor before becoming one of the most successful actors of Indian cinema. 
 

After a failed first business venture, Narayana Murthy founded Infosys with limited funds. Today, Infosys stands as the third-largest IT company.
 

In 1978, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw launched Biocon with a small investment of Rs 10,000. Today, Biocon is counted among one of the country’s best pharmaceutical companies. 
 

MS Dhoni’s early cricket journey was full of struggles. Prior to his cricket career, he worked as a TTE, and later earned selection in the Indian cricket team in 2004. 
 

At the age of 50, he had a mid-career crisis and found himself without money and any film offers. He restarted his career with a role in Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein. 
 

Following his retirement from Army, he ventured into farming, ran a hotel, but faced failures. Eventually, he laid the foundation of Deccan Aviation.