Fred Smith

At Yale Fred Smith was famously awarded a C for his economics paper that outlined his idea for an overnight delivery service. He went on to found FedEx in 1971 on his return from service in Vietnam, using £2.3 million of his inheritance to help raise £46 million in venture capital. Today Fedex is a $30 billion corporation, handling more than six million shipments a day and employing 250,000 staff in 215 countries.