Elon Musk is a fascinating character - a local boy who's made big on a global scale! He's an entrepreneur, a rocket scientist, a global warming activist, and a philanthropist. ("Philanthro-what", you say? No, not a new kinda' dinosaur. It's a tongue-twister for someone who loves mankind, and is kind, charitable and wants to do good).

He was born in South Africa in 1971, the son of a local engineer and an American mother. At the age of 12 he first exhibited his entrepreneurial spirit, teaching himself to write computer code and designing a game called "Blast Star", which he sold to a computer magazine for $500 (R3,475). Nice pocket money, we dare say!

Not content to design video games for the rest of his life, Elon left home at 17 to study at the Kingston University in Ontario, Canada. He was then awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a degree in business, and stayed on another year to finish a... wait for it... second degree in physics!

At 24, he was about to start his doctorate at Stanford - this is someone who clearly loves being the 'eternal student' - but got sidetracked by the Internet frenzy in Silicon Valley, so he ditched studying to become part of this new adventure. "I could either watch it happen, or be a part of it", he reckoned.

So he founded Zip2, which provides online content publishing software for news organisations. You've no doubt noticed how all the South African papers have got an online portal (like news24.com) that showcases the latest breaking news and stories? Well, he had a hunch that the big media moguls would like this online publishing software idea, as it would enable them to get exposure in both print format, and dominate in a digital environment. Incidentally, he later sold Zip2 to Compaq for $307 million (R2,134 million) - in cold hard cash.

He used this to start his next business, X.com - offering a variety of financial services to the public. The most popular feature was the ability to email money. And you guessed it - that business eventually became PayPal , which soon became a favourite amongst eBay users. Months after PayPal went public, eBay bought it for $1.5 billion (R14,425 billion). 

By 2002, he moved out of the Internet world to venture into space. (Hmmm, sounds like someone else we know!). His third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), develops and manufactures rockets that are very reliable and relatively inexpensive. While space tourism isn't on the horizon just yet, Elon's rockets allow governments, universities and businesses to conduct experiments in space. Before, it was just way too expensive. There's that philanthropic thing again!

What else is he up to? 
• Elon is the main owner and Chairman of Tesla Motors.They build - cost-effective electric automobiles for the mass market. (George Clooney even drives one.)
• He's the primary investor in SolarCity, a start-up focusing on photovoltaic products and services.
• And he's the Chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses on science education, paediatric health and clean energy.

That's not all - this boy knows how to enjoy himself. He lives in California . He owns a McLaren F1 sports car - the fastest production car available - and an Aero L-39 trainer, as well as a Falcon 900 aircraft which was used in the film "Thank you for not Smoking" (he was the Executive producer).

A story this good needs a fitting conclusion - so we'll leave it up to Elon: "Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive and determination of the people who do as it is about the product they sell".