A lot of us would like to become fabulously rich as quickly as possible, and work tirelessly in this pursuit with hopes that our hard work and determination will soon be rewarded with a commensurate fortune to enjoy. However, today’s world has demonstrated that great wealth needs not come from years of hard work, education or determination. It can come rapidly from literally any innovation or stroke of luck that equates to substantial monetary value.

Take for instance Silly Bandz in the US, which are nothing more than uniquely shaped and coloured rubber bands that have bestowed a 15 million dollar (KES 1.26 billion) fortune on their creator, Robert Croak, or Java Jacket, the multi-million dollar company that manufactures paper coffee cup sleeves.

Here are three more stories that demonstrate that a great fortune can come almost in the blink of an eye:

David Choe

A graffiti artist, David Choe painted the walls of Facebook’s first headquarters in Palo Alto California back in 2005 and was offered payment for the job in either a few thousand dollars cash, or the equivalent in share options in the social network. Although he thought that the idea of Facebook was “ridiculous and pointless” at the time (New York Times), he nevertheless chose to be compensated in shares, and at the time of Facebook’s IPO in May this year, his stake in the company was worth an estimated 200 million dollars (KES 16.8 billion) based on the market value of Facebook shares. That’s 1.7 billion shillings more than what Kenya’s most profitable bank (KCB) made in the whole of last year.

Unknown millionaire

In 1989, a financial analyst based in Philadelphia bought an old countryside painting for 4 dollars (KES 336) at a flea market and began separating the frame from the actual painting because he liked the frame so much. While doing this, the frame collapsed in his hands leading him to discover a folded document which appeared to be a crisp but old copy if the United States Declaration of Independence. A subsequent appraisal authenticated the document as one of only 500 printed copies of the original Declaration, that were initially printed for distribution in 1776. The document fetched 2.42 million dollars (KES 203.3 million) in a 1991 auction, making the man who discovered the relic an instant millionaire.

Louise White

On Saturday 11^th February this year, Louise White, an 81 year old woman from New Port, Rhode Island in the United States bought tickets at a local grocery shop for a lottery game known as Powerball. That night, she copied down the winning ticket numbers which aired in the news. When she later checked the winning numbers against her tickets, they matched, instantly winning her 336 million dollars (KES 28.22 billion). This fortune would make her the second richest person in Kenya only after the Kenyatta family according to Forbes.