Beate Uhse, who died in 2001 at age 81, built Europe's largest erotic goods empire from humble beginnings. The German entrepreneur started by selling birth control pamphlets from a bicycle as a destitute war widow before expanding into what became Beate Uhse A.G., a publicly traded company with $100 million in annual revenues by 2000.

Her business journey began in post-war Germany when selling contraceptives to unmarried people was illegal. Undeterred by legal challenges, Uhse built her company through mail-order catalogs and eventually opened her first shop in Flensburg in 1962. The business grew to include boutiques, cinemas, a mail-order house, and a film studio, employing 1,000 people and operating from Poland to Portugal.

Uhse's frank approach to sexuality and business acumen helped her gain acceptance in German society. In 1999, her company's symbol crossed the Frankfurt stock exchange board, marking a milestone for an industry once shunned by conservatives and feminists alike. Her legacy includes a three-story sex museum in Berlin housing over 3,000 objects and a business that challenged Germany's staid attitudes toward sexuality, transforming what was once taboo into a legitimate commercial enterprise.