"I didn't start by selling technology... I started by selling dry rice and was afraid of failing." "

My story didn't start with screens or smartphones. It began in South Korea, just after the war, when all we had was hunger and hope. I started selling dry rice and fish with a small store, with barely 40 dollars in my pocket. No one imagined that this humble business would someday become something huge... not even me.

But it wasn't a straight ascent. There were fires, thefts, financial crises, even the government closed part of my operations. Many times I thought about giving up, about starting over from scratch. But I couldn't afford to go back. Because every time we fell, I rebuilt with more strength. That's how we went from selling food... to manufacturing televisions, refrigerators, and later, cell phones.

I had to reinvent Samsung more than once. And the hardest part was teaching my own employees to forget the old and think big. Some called me crazy when I ordered the destruction of thousands of defective products with my own hands. But I didn't want Samsung to be big... I wanted it to be excellent.

"Your greatest invention will not be a company or a product... it will be your ability to not give up when everything falls apart."

Lee Byung-chul