Be a kick butt entrepreneur

Need some inspiration for the New Year? These entrepreneurs overcame incredible odds to create and run successful businesses.

Kick-butt entrepreneurs
Kick-butt entrepreneurs
Clifton Taulbert chronicled his Uncle Cleve's entrepreneurial success in the book, "Who Owns the Ice House?" which sparked an online program featuring real-life entrepreneurs.

Not every successful entrepreneur came out of Wharton or Harvard. One named "Uncle Cleve" clawed his way to fortune in the segregated South helping keep food cold in the scorching Mississippi Delta. Cleve's story, and its entrepreneurial lessons, is documented by his nephew, Clifton Taulbert, in his book, "Who Owns the Icehouse? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur"

The book inspired The Kauffman Foundation to fund The Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, an online program featuring many entrepreneurs over adversity to carve out their success. Here are six.


By Kitt Walsh, contributing writer @CNNMoney - Last updated December 29 2011: 5:49 PM ET
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