Amancio Ortega Gaona was born 12 March 1936.He is a Spanish business magnate. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories retail shops.
He is currently the richest person in Europe, and the second richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$74.6 billion as of 7 November 2016.
He left school and moved to La Coruña at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Shortly after, he found a job as a shop hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruña, and learned to make clothes by hand. In 1972, he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), selling quilted bathrobes which Ortega produced using thousands of local women organised into sewing cooperatives.
Amancio Ortega: Lifelong highlights
- Dissuaded from first choice name for his stores, Zorba (after the film), by the owner of a local bar of the same name
- Dispensed with an office at headquarters, preferring to sit at a table among Zara's young designers and buyers
Added other brands to Inditex, including Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and Oysho
- Owns an equestrian center in Finisterre, Galicia, where he indulges a passion for riding; daughter Marta married Sergio Álvarez Moya, an international show jumper
- Invested in gas, banking and tourism; owns Spain's tallest skyscraper, the Torre Picasso, in Madrid, and Epic Residences & Hotel, a luxury development in Miami designed by Luis Revuelta
- Started Fundación Paideia to promote entrepreneurship in Galicia
Source: Wikipedia/CNBC
