Foreign-Born Job Creators

Sergey Brin

Google
Birthplace: Russia
U.S. Employees: 15,000

Since cofounding Google in 1998 with Larry Page, Brin has helped transform it from an intuitive algorithm to a search-engine startup to a media behemoth that now ranks among the most famous, admired—and valuable—companies in the world.

Wences Casares

Bling Nation
Birthplace: Argentina
U.S. Employees: 7

After founding Argentina’s first Internet service provider and turning around a failed brokerage, Casares, the son of a Patagonia sheep rancher, came to America to start Bling Nation, a mobile-payment startup based in Silicon Valley.

K. R. Sridhar

Bloom Energy
Birthplace: India
U.S. Employees: 1,000

Once an adviser to NASA, Sridhar came to the U.S. to pursue a doctorate at the University of Illinois and embraced the green-technology boom early. His Silicon Valley–based company uses fuel-cell technology to develop various forms of renewable and affordable energy.

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid

Iman Cosmetics
Birthplace: Somalia
U.S. Employees: 36

A fashion icon and former supermodel, Iman started her cosmetics line in 1994 after her career on the runway had ended. Since then, the company has gradually grown to become a $25 million business that caters primarily to women of color.