Greatest Investor: George Soros

George Soros is the founder and chairman of a network of foundations that promote the creation of open, democratic societies based on the rule of law, market economies, transparent and accountable governance, freedom of the press and respect for human rights.

For someone who started his life as a railroad porter, story of Soros' life is stuff dreams are made of.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930, his father was taken prisoner during World War I and eventually fled from captivity in Russia to reunite with his family in Budapest.

Soros was 13 when Adolf Hitler began deporting the country's Jews to concentration camps. He emigrated to England in 1947 and earned his living by working as a railroad porter and a restaurant waiter. He graduated in 1952 from the London School of Economics and obtained an entry-level position with an investment bank.

At the London School of Economics, Soros was much influenced by philosopher Karl Popper. The latter's critique of totalitarianism, The Open Society and Its Enemies, in which he maintained that societies can only flourish when they allow democratic governance, freedom of expression, a diverse range of opinion and respect for individual rights paved Soros' future course of life.

In 1956, Soros immigrated to the US wherein he worked as a trader and analyst until 1963. During this period, he adapted Popper's ideas to develop his 'theory of reflexivity,' a set of ideas that seeks to explain the relationship between thought and reality.

Soros began to apply his theory to investing and concluded that he had more talent for trading than for philosophy. In 1967, he helped establish an offshore investment fund.

In 1973, Soros set up a private investment firm that eventually evolved into the Quantum Fund and became the source of Soros' fortune.

In 1979, Soros provided funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in Apartheid South Africa.

Soon he created a foundation in Hungary to support culture and education and the country's transition to democracy.

Soros distributed funds to the underground Solidarity movement in Poland, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet dissident-physicist Andrei Sakharov.

In 1982, Soros named his philanthropic organisation the Open Society Fund, in honour of Karl Popper, and began granting scholarships to students from Eastern Europe.

Most recently, Soros provided $50 million to support the Millennium Villages initiative, which seeks to lift some of the least developed villages in Africa out of poverty.

In 1993, Soros created the Open Society Institute, which supports the Soros foundations working to develop democratic institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

In 2003, Soros said that removing US President George W Bush from office was one of his main priorities. During the 2004 campaign, he donated significant funds to various groups dedicated to defeating the President.