Manoj Bhargava

Manoj Bhargava is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and CEO of Living Essentials.  Born in Lucknow, India, Bhargava moved to the United States in 1967 at the age of 14. He grew up in Philadelphia and attended Princeton University for one year before dropping out and focusing the remainder of his education on spiritual studies in India and the United States.

In 1990, Bhargava founded a plastics company that he grew to $20 million.  He used the money from the sale of that company to start Living Essentials, which became an overwhelming success with the introduction of 5-Hour ENERGY^® in 2004.

Bhargava has committed to giving away 99% of his $4 billion dollar net worth and signed the well-known Giving Pledge in 2012. He now focuses most of his time on creating solutions to the world’s biggest problems at Stage 2 Innovations, his invention shop in Farmington Hills, MI, as well supporting the Hans Foundation, one of the largest charitable organizations in India.

Located just outside of Detroit, Stage 2 focuses three essential areas of life: water, energy and health.  Stage 2’s inventions include devices that create fresh water for drinking and agriculture; expense-free and pollution-free electricity generators that power homes, schools, and businesses; farming techniques that enhance crop yields, crop quality as well as farmer income; and healthcare solutions that actually address the main causes of disease.

The work of Stage 2 Innovations is featured in the latest “Billions in Change” film, which is available for viewing at www.BillionsInChange.com.

Bhargava’s approach is simple.  He wants to invent things that make a difference in peoples’ lives, and the inventions that really matter are the ones that will help the poorer half of the world.