Manoj Bhargava is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and CEO of Living Essentials®. Born in Lucknow, India, Bhargava moved to the United States in 1967 at the age of 14. Bhargava grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Princeton University for one year before dropping out and focusing the remainder of his education on spiritual studies in India and the United States.
In 1990, Manoj founded a plastics company that he grew to $20 million in sales, which he sold to a private equity firm. With this money, he started a consumer products company, Living Essentials®, which became an overwhelming success with the introduction of 5-Hour ENERGY® in 2004. Bhargava has committed to giving away 99% of his $4 billion dollar net worth and signed the well-known Giving Pledge in 2012.
He now focuses most of his time on creating solutions at Stage 2 Innovations, his invention shop in Farmington Hills, Michigan, as well supporting the Hans Foundation, one of the largest charitable organizations in India. Located just outside of Detroit, Stage 2 focuses on the areas of water with the “Rain Maker,” energy with the “Free Electric” bicycle system and health with the Renew Enhanced Circulation device. The Rain Maker can convert any existing water – including salt water or polluted water – into drinkable water at 1,000 gallons per hour; the Free Electric bicycle system can provide electricity free of both cost and pollution to the billions of people around the world who live daily without electricity; the Renew Enhanced Circulation device that can enhance lives by promoting circulation.
Bhargava says, “My approach to things is: Let’s invent things that make a difference to peoples’ lives, and the inventions that really matter are the ones that will help the poorer half of the world. Let’s do stuff, not just talk about it.”
