Manoj Bhargava

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manoj Bhargava

• When he was 14 years old, his family migrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

  

• Manoj got admitted to The Hill School through a math scholarship. This was an elite private school academy from where he finished high school with a diploma.

• He dropped out of Princeton University for a spiritual quest and came to India, where he spent the next 12 years visiting monasteries associated with the Hanslok Ashram. During that time, he used to travel between the US and India and did various small jobs including construction work.

• He was inspired by Vivekananda’s spiritual teachings.

• Manoj later joined his parents’ plastic injection manufacturing company, ‘Bhar Incorporated’ in New Haven, Indiana.

• He bought ‘Prime PVC Inc.’ company in 1990, which produced parts for outdoor furniture and sold it in 2006.

• Manoj also owned a company named Chemicalpartners.com that specialized in inventions and new business ideas. He later sold this one also.

• In 2003, he launched the energy drink ‘5 Hour Energy’ which was manufactured by his company ‘Living Essentials LLC’ (then named Innovations Ventures LLC). Its sales reached $1 billion in 2012.

• Later, Manoj invested in many new ventures to create additional funds and entities. Those ventures include ‘MicroDose Life Sciences,’ ‘Stage 2 Innovations LLC,’ ‘ETC Capital LLC,’ ‘Plymouth Real Estate Holdings LLC,’ and ‘Oakland Energy and Water Ventures.’

• He financed a film distribution company, ‘Bleecker Street,’ based in New York in 2014.

• In 2015, a documentary on Manoj Bhargava was made by the name ‘Billions in Change.’

• He signed the Giving Pledge campaign in 2015, according to which he donated 99% of his wealth to the cause of philanthropy. This campaign was founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

• Manoj is an innovator and focuses on three sectors for his innovations. They are electricity, water, and health.

• He has 10 business buildings on 25 acres in Farmington Hills in Michigan, U.S.A.. He spends most of his time in one of these buildings known as the ‘Stage 2 Innovations’ invention shop. Here, he works to create practical solutions to make life in rural areas easier.

• In 2015, he invented a stationary bicycle named ‘Hans Free Electric’ that generates free electricity to support a poor household. In 2016, Manoj pledged to distribute 10,000 of these to rural homes and villages in India.

• Manoj has invented two rainmaker filtration units that can provide clean and affordable rainwater for drinking and agriculture usage. He also invented a special chair that can improve blood flow.

• He believes that experience teaches a person more than a professional degree. The turning point in Manoj’s life was in the first year of college when he left it midway and decided not to run behind what was fashionable but rather create something that added value to life.

• In an interview, he said the three requirements to success are common sense, a sense of urgency, and experience. He believes that if a person has the first two, then one must have the attitude to face the failures and start fresh as there are going to be 99% of failures.

• Manoj Bhargava’s company MBX Wyoming Inc. purchased 90% of Freelancer Television Broadcasting in 2022. This included television network ‘NewsNet’ and television stations ‘WMNN-LD’ and ‘WXII-LD.’

• He created intracellular hydration drinks that boast a sugar and sodium-free formula and are made from reverse-osmosis technology for HANS Premium water. In 2023, he launched hydration drink brands like True Hydration, Cellular Hydration, and Natural Glow Hydration to bring this drink to the market.

• In August 2023, he acquired a majority share in ‘The Arena Group’ owned by Ross Levinsohn. It owns several magazine brands.

• Manoj Bhargava has founded two foundations – the Hans Foundation and the Rural India Supporting Trust.

• He plans to leave nothing from his wealth to his son.