Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, January 28th.

Today on Forbes, this Italian entrepreneur became a billionaire investing in India.

Up next, space and AI.

On a sunny spring afternoon in Monaco, Felipe Girelli strikes a cheerful tone as he turns his laptop

around to show off a view of the Mediterranean from his office window. Speaking on a video call,

he says, quote, I've been living here for more than five years. It's a great base. He then rattles

off a list of cities, London, New York, Dubai, he often travels to for business.

Three months later, he speaks with Forbes again, this time from London. He says, quote,

After graduating from college in Rome, I left for Africa. Then he lists off more countries,

Guinea, Mali, where he first started working and engineering

on infrastructure projects.

The 45-year-old Girelli has had a peripatetic career.

He made a small fortune in real estate in Italy and North Africa in his late 20s and early

30s, then nearly lost it all in Egypt during the Arab Spring.

Later, he returned to Italy and reinvented himself, founding a firm that reduced energy then nearly lost it all in Egypt during the Arab Spring.

Later, he returned to Italy and reinvented himself, founding a firm that reduced energy costs for large companies.

But Girelli has India to thank for the lion's share of his estimated $1.5 billion fortune.

In January, 2003, Girelli closed the deal of a lifetime. Using the proceeds from the partial

sale of his energy efficiency firm and real estate investments, he picked up a 25% stake in India's

second largest oil refinery, located on the country's western coast, from Singapore-based

oil trading giant, Trafigura. When Trafigura and Russia's state-based oil trading giant Trafigura.

When Trafigura and Russia's state-owned oil company, Rosneft, first bought the refinery

...