continues to be innovative – from going open source in 2007, allowing anyone to create applications for Facebook users, to its advertising power, and more recently its announcement to integrate with Skype. Love or hate Facebook, it seems that it is here to stay.

Bill Gates – Chairman and CEO, Microsoft Corporation 1976 Gates received his first big break when in 1980 he was offered the chance to provide the operating agreement for IBM’s new PC. Gates had started out aged 17 selling a computer programme to his school, then after a brief spell at Harvard he actually dropped out of college to focus on his IT business.

Walt Disney – Founder and CEO,

The Walt Disney Company 1923 - 1966

most successful movie of the year. Disney’s innovation created a whole new movie genre.

Disney has always encouraged innovation from all of its employees. This led to the brave step in 1955 of creating the first Disneyland theme park. The parks now host in excess of 120 million people across the world. The most recent park opened in Hong Kong in 2005, with the company earlier this year announcing its newest 3.9sq km park is to be built in Shanghai at a cost of over US$3 billion.

he actually understood the importance of letting people’s creativity flourish.

We feature Walt Disney in our shortlist because

Mark Zuckerberg – Founder and CEO, Facebook 2004 “Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.” Zuckerberg became the youngest ever US dollar billionaire, having founded the social networking site in 2004, and then just two years later turning down a US$1 billion for his business from Yahoo. A year later Microsoft bought a 1.6% share which valued the company at US$15 billion. Zuckerberg’s Facebook has over 650 million active users, and in many countries people now spend more time on Facebook than they do watching TV.

Is Facebook the most innovative creation of the 21st Century? From something that started as a platform for his Harvard college mates to stay connected online, Zuckerberg has grown Facebook to something that has become a way of life for young and old. It

50 Management Today | September 2011

It was not just Gates’s innovation that made him his millions, but also his business acumen. When he did that deal with IBM in 1980, he had the vision to ensure that his company Microsoft retained the copyright to the system, MS-DOS, so he could license it to other hardware manufacturers. From this, his company became the centre of the computing revolution. Microsoft’s products continue to be innovative and develop over the years, his Office suite of products becoming more and more integrated and therefore easier to learn and use. The organisation still dominates the computer industry and does not hesitate to do whatever is deemed necessary to retain that market domination.

he continues to pour millions of US dollars back into charitable foundations around the world including here in Africa.

Bill Gates – Chairman and CEO, Microsoft Corporation 1976

Through the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation,