With the death of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Steve Jobs, there is a huge void in the tech world. So now there is talk of who might emerge to achieve comparable success as a business leader and innovator.

Some obvious candidates come to most people’s minds, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Jeff Bezos. They certainly are giants in their markets and have made a huge impact on the lives of millions of people worldwide.

Yet they still lack some key Jobsian qualities. For example, Zuckerberg and Bezos lead only one company apiece, whereas for a time Jobs ran both Apple and computer-animation studio Pixar. What’s more, neither Zuckerberg nor Bezos has pulled a miraculous comeback from the brink of disaster like Jobs did after he returned to Apple in 1997.

There is one person, however, who hasn’t gotten much media attention but actually has these qualities: Elon Musk.

Musk and Jobs actually demonstrated their talent for innovation at an early age. Musk got his first computer when he was 10 years old and wasted little time learning programming. He sold his first software for $500 — when he turned 12. It was a space game.

It was not until the mid-1990s, however, that Musk made his fortune. He started Zip2, a content publisher, which was sold for more than $300 million.

Musk then followed this up with PayPal, which he co-founded. At first, the company struggled. PayPal had to change its business model six times until Musk found the winning angle — providing online payment services.

Although PayPal grew quickly, the company almost imploded because of the exposure to credit card fraud. But somehow Musk was able to create a world-class security infrastructure and PayPal surged. By late 2002, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) had purchased the company for $1.5 billion.

While Musk easily could have retired, he instead invested a substantial amount of his wealth in and co-founded Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA). He firmly believed the future was bright for electric cars.

But again, it has been no easy feat to build the company. Keep in mind that by late 2008, Tesla nearly was out of money. Yet Musk was able to save the operation and, in June 2010, he even took the company public. It was the first public offering of a U.S. carmaker since Ford’s (NYSE:F) deal back in the 1950s.

Musk not only heads up Tesla, but he currently is CEO of SpaceX, a developer of space launch vehicles that Musk also founded. SpaceX’s vehicles have taken over the cargo transportation once handled by the U.S. space shuttle, and the company was able to snag a $1.6 billion contract from NASA. In a few years, SpaceX might be sending astronauts to the International Space Station.

True, when it comes to being the next Steve Jobs, Musk still has a long way to go. Tesla will need to demonstrate it can get customer adoption, and SpaceX will need to show it can provide low-cost space travel. But so far, Musk certainly has the right stuff.

Tom Taulli is the author of “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” You can also find him at Twitter account @ttaulli. He does not own a position in any of the stocks named here.