Entrepreneurial fact file on Oprah Winfrey

All about Oprah: Born Orpah Gail Winfrey in Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States. Oprah Gail Winfrey was the richest African American of the 20th century, however Orpah wasn't born into a rich, or even middle class family. Orpah Gail Winfrey was born in an economically troubled neighborhood and raised by a single-teenaged mother in the city of Milwaukee. She lived in terrible conditions. During church, she would recite poems, and verses from the bible. Soon the church and the entire neighborhood knew she had a gift and was nicknamed, “The Little Speaker". This prompted her to become a woman with a strong perspective, which millions across the world would want to have insight on. This prepared her for The Oprah Winfrey Show. She had a tough upbringing and was sexually abused and assaulted and had a son who passed away at the age of 14. At the age of 17, Oprah won a public speaking contest, which then allowed her to receive a scholarship to Tennessee State University where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts. After being fired several times and choosing a job opportunity over school, Oprah finally found A.M Chicago and sent them tapes of her talking and they offered her the opportunity to have her own talk show.


Characteristics: Oprah has shown perseverance throughout the years and has desperately tried to stack the cards in her favor. Despite her tough upbringing, she tried her best in school and then later on pestered different talk shows for job opportunities. She is an independent head strong woman, who aimed to help other people and succeed at doing so. She’s vey studious and took her education seriously, she was the School President and she participated in various different debate and drama events.

Failures: In 2011, Oprah Winfrey launched a joint venture between Winfrey's Harpo and Discovery, OWN replaced Discovery Health in an attempt to attract a wider, more profitable audience. Its release in early 2011 marked a notable career achievement for the iconic television host. Discovery, whose brands include TLC and Animal Planet, invested $250 million into the 24-hour network, according to the Associated Press. Ratings still failed to meet forecasts with only 136,000 daily viewers over the course of the year. OWN premiered back on Jan. 1, 2011 to strong viewership with an average of 505,000 viewers. Unfortunately, one month later ratings plummeted to an average of just 135,000 with only 30 percent of those viewers in the targeted demographic of women ages 25 to 54. In an attempt to revamp the already struggling network, in March 2011 Discovery executive Peter Liguori replaced Christina Norman as CEO. In July 2011, Oprah took over as CEO and COO. So at the end of 2011, Oprah was forced to shut it down but despite her initial set back, she was determined to get it up and running again… Which she did!


Calculated Risk: Oprah has shown signs of not knowing how to calculate risk (she left university for a job which she was terrible at)! Although, she has made good calculated risks in the way in which she first developed her business. She started out working for a company who really liked her and gave her, her own segment and that then bloomed and flourished and once she saw it was a success she bought the rights to it from the company.

Why is she successful?: Oprah is successful because she is the world’s first black woman to have her own TV show! She is one of the richest women of the 21st century but she also has helped many people and starred in movies, radio productions and has her own magazine. She has been successful in everything she’s tried and even when she did fail, she tried and again and again!