Leonardo Del Vecchio

75 years old and the second richest man in Italy, Leonardo Del Vecchio is a self made man with a net worth of $11 billion, making him listed as 71st richest by Forbes Fortune Global 2011. He is the founder and president of Luxottica, a very well run company that produces its own glasses and is the world leader in the eyeglass universe.

Born to an impoverished Milanese family in 1935, Fatherless Leonardo Del Vecchio, at the age of seven lived under the care of nuns in an orphanage. Del Vecchio at the age of 14 started supporting his family by working as an apprentice to a tool manufacturer in Milan. Later, he began studying industrial design in the evening along with work in the day time. Leonardo eventually became passionate about eye glass frames and moved to Agordo, a valley that concentrates all the players of the eye glass industry. Later, with his 6 years of work and experience, Leonardo decides to move into the business of assembly glasses. Further, to expand his founded company Luxottica, he took an important decision to develop his own line of exclusive eye wear and used research to become a leader in the field.

Del Vecchio’s futuristic vision to control every step of the eye-glass manufacturing process along with his strategic business decisions, led his Luxottica Group to begin possible acquisitions in the distribution and retail field. Luxottica gradually took over famous Italian brands like Vogue, Persol, Lens Crafters followed by acquiring Ray-Ban, an iconic American brand. Slowly, Luxottica has been acquiring all major eye-glass including the recently bought Oakley for $2.1 billion. Luxottica also manufacturers for biggest luxury brands including Ferragamo, Chanel, Versace, Prada, Armani, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, and DKNY.