There are 7 billion of us in the world today, and were facing some huge problems. But talk doesn’t help someone out of poverty, awareness alone does not reduce pollution, increase and grow food production, or heal the sick. That takes a lot of doing and patience. The solutions are in our grasp. Many great inventions that are being created are capable of creating clean energy, make fresh water, and that improve our overall health.
Although it is probably going to sound like a story of Manoj Bhargava the founder of 5-Hour Energy, it will also be an informative article that explains in detail how he is willing to help the entire world with just simple inventions. This charity of giving starts up with one man, a former monk who turned into a entrepreneur, who went from a person who day dreams of his accomplishments to becoming a billionaire in a short period of time.
If anybody were to bring up the topic of 5-Hour Energy, they would at least have an idea of what they are talking about; it has been featured on TV commercials, in magazine articles, and at the counter of every gas station and grocery store in the USA and nationwide. Manoj is very wealthy, but he still likely the most successful self made entrepreneur that has never been heard of. Long story short, the richest Indian American in the US is now Manoj Bhargava, the chairman and CEO of the 5-Hour company behind this energy shot.
It get very tiresome to hear all “overnight success stories”, this one stands out since it been in the making for many years. Undoubtedly, it has taken a lot of brainpower and focus, not to mention all the bumps that he had to go over on the road. This journey on a roller coaster of mixed emotions all started in 2004. However, almost all the info and analysis available says that their annual sales have exceeded the one billion mark, their annual revenues are around the $650-700 million range and as for their profits they have easily acquired over an outstandingly $300 million.
A profit well over 50%, they know every in and out involving this business. Manoj’s net worth is said to be around the area $ around 1. 5 to $5 billion and while he does acknowledge that he is indeed the richest Indian-American in the US he does not give two ***** about being wealth. He does however, willing use his earnings to lend humanity a helping crutch or change a person life completely. But, this isn’t the most interesting fact about Manoj.
In early 2013, he himself signed “The Giving Pledge, which means he and some of the world’s wealthiest individuals and families are now edicated to use most of their wealth towards philanthropy purposes. (aiding human welfare with advancement or helping where help is needed) Manoj in a interview said that the foundation has more than 400 charity projects that also include some big that will take some time to prepare for like Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital which ultimately has the sole purpose to the poor with cancer treatments. In the next ten years he predicts that he and the group donators would probably give 5,000 to 6,000 crores rupees which is equal to $750,000,000 dollars!
Yet, he feels obligated to play tough when it comes down to business. Living Essentials his privately owned firm, which is the core of 5-Hour, is famous for suing many companies left and right due to copycat branding trying to make there debut into the booming energy-shot business. The company and Manoj also had to fight many legal battles on two fronts – defending against those who filed a law suit because of health risks the drink was said to have. There were also companies that proactively filed a suit against them for competitive and intellectual property infringement issues.
This company does not post much of anything because they are privately held and fear that releasing to much to the press could leave them exposed. Living Essentials, which is run by Innovation Ventures, is another private business that does not report its financials, but media reports have in theory estimated that it grossed probably more $600 million and netted around $300 million on 2013. Knowing his education is limited at his current state in the year of 1953, Manoj relocated to America in 1967 when his father decided to pursue a PhD in the US.
His family was well off in India, but things were much tougher in the US. So in the beginning he did some pretty odd jobs and businesses around his teens. He was very gifted when he came down to mathematics and so his priority was to get into Princeton. Unfortunately, he ended up quitting after one year when he decided to teach himself his own way where he knew he’d be more educated. During his life in the early 70s he moved back to India and spent over 10 years in a monastery at Hanslok ashram.
Manoj returned to the US to come to the aid of his father and his plastic business, and has remained in the US ever since. He first started small by buying out several small struggling outlets, which he ended up rebuilding from the ground. Realizing he could do so much more with his life he ended up selling his business. Around this time he got the idea for 5-Hour while attending a natural products tradeshow where he tried many energy enhancing products. He was flabbergasted and amazed so he made a mental note of what ingredients were used to make it.
Many months later he came out with his own prototype of a energy drink that contained caffeine and B vitamins because competing with others in the energy drink business would be a business move that would destroy what he wants to build. While it was small in size. Manoj priced each bottle at a reasonable three dollars per bottle, even when so many of his partners were completely against. However, it didn’t take too long for demand to get out of control. Manoj mentions that human nature plays a major role in building one’s business into a respectable one.
He also says he started slow with only working on for projects at a time including a catalyst-based project to minimize the amount of diesel consumption we were consuming at the current moment, minimizing the staggering amount of money used on purifying water and a side medical project. He believes his biggest advantage is waking up every morning out of excitement for going back to work to the job he loves to do. “I go back to the office running only to get back to doing stuff I love doing,” says Manoj.
He is the “star quarterback” at his job but he could care less about Spotlight and would rather stick with focusing on what he loves to do more than anything else. Manoj’s drinking product didn’t take too long to become one of the largest consumer products in the world. It has reached over $4 billion in revenue. So to help those in need, it was decided he would use 99% of his earnings by giving it away. Whenever someone comes to Manoj with an idea or plan, the first two questions that he asks,” Is it useful and how is it useful?
If not, then it better be entertaining. Otherwise, there’s only one basket left and that is useless,” he said. His 5-hour Energy product is not only a great consumer product, but also an enabler to give them opportunities to do great things that a majority of people can’t do. One out out of the ten main buildings at the headquarters of 5-Hour Energy is an invention shop, which is called stage II. A simple but very effective attitude was to think have let invent stuff and make a difference in other people’s lives.
Stage II’s main priority works in the area of water, power, and health. Whatever is built has only one sole purpose and that’s to directly impact humanity. The only way any of this were to become reality is someone had the funds to go directly fund it, and so Manoj did that. There is an almost perfect infrastructure put together that uses inventions to help the poor half of the world that is what they define as a great invention. The largest area of most work to benefit the future is energy and water.
These are the real solutions to health, livelihood, and all of the other stuff that goes above it. Most people don’t realize like rich countries, that half the world has no electricity or are limited to three hours of electricity a day. Practically everything requires energy in this current era of technology. Human mechanical energy that is acquired from human labor is capable of being a potential groundbreaking discovery that would not only help Americans, but billions of other people save thousands of dollars yearly.
The 5-Hour team created a hybrid bicycle that only requires a person to paddle for an hour, but that is able to put out electricity for up to 24 hours. They call it free electric. Probably the coolest looking of all the inventions not just because it looks really futuristic, but because of how simplistic it is. Yet, it is going to have the largest effect of any created inventions in the last hundred years. This will have the capability of benefiting the entire poor half of the world that doesn’t have electricity 24/7.
Just imagine that amount of things we would be able to accomplish if literally everyone was able to get power and share it. Unlimited amount of energy that would have no drawbacks. Electricity is easily the greatest enabler there is, but ironically we’ve kept half the world out of it. It enables all of these people who haven’t been a part of the industrial revolution. They are still living as if it were 2000 years ago. However, all of these people now have a chance to become a part of a productive society and this will be the motivation needed to enable them.
This solves the problem no matter what happens. Whether it’s sunny, cloudy, night time or whatever it is. If anything happens this hybrid bike will have you covered and the worries of acquiring electricity will be forever forgotten. When a disaster happens like a hurricane hits or a tsunami hits you will be “SOL” since there will be no electricity. Sadly, the one thing most people can’t live without being their cell phone. Without electricity the battery would eventually die, therefore, leading to the loss of connection to everything.
The only negative to using this machine would that it would be making people healthier and maybe a little bit sore. It is a price everyone should be willing to pay. This is the cheapest and very likely the most practical way of getting electricity through out the entire world. Simple stuff is the greatest type of invention because it impacts everything and it also doesn’t have unintended consequences. Peddle for an hour on the bike can charge a phone while many other needed electrical powered appliances throughout the house ar juiced up as well.
