THE ENTREPRENEURS
WIPRO’S AZIM PREMJI TOPS HURUN PHILANTHROPY LIST OF 2020
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fter contributing a huge amount of over INR 7,904 crore to charity, the Founder-Chairman of Wipro, Azim Premji, has now reached at the top of the Hurun India and EdelGive India Philanthropy List of 2020. Besides, founder and chairman of HCL Technologies, Shiv Nadar, Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group and Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Group ranked second, third, fourth and fifth respectively in the same list. Born and brought up in Mumbai of city of India, this multitalented Indian business entrepreneur has served Wipro Limited as Chairman and has been guiding the company for almost 40 years. His incessant efforts and diversified knowledge finally brought him in the list of global leader in the software industry. Azim Premji, who is also known with his full name as Azim Hasham Premji, was born on July 24, 1945 and during the early 21st century; he became one of the wealthiest people of the world. Going back to his childhood, Premji’s his father had founded Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd in the same year he was born and produced vanaspati, a widely used hydrogenated shortening. But few years later when the colonial India was partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, Premji’s family who belonged
to a Muslim clan, chose to remain in India. Premji’s father, Mohamed Hashim Premji, died just before he could complete his Engineering Degree from Stanford University In the year 1966. However, Premji postponed his degree and returned to India to look after family business. Consequently, he began diversifying his business started delving into consumer products like: soap, shoes, and light bulbs, as well as hydraulic cylinders. In 1977, Premji renamed the company Wipro. Soon after the government of India asked IBM to quit the country, Premji took advantage of the situation and spread his business toward the business of computer. Among various other achievements of the company, Wipro has also been in news for its successful international partnerships in the 1980s to help it build computer hardware for sale in India. And, hence, this Indian business man built a reputation for hiring the best people and providing them with unparalleled training. This way Prem ji took full benefits of the country’s large pool of well-educated software developers who were willing to work for much less money than their American counterparts. The company completely focused on developing custom software for export, primarily to the United States. Wipro’s value skyrocketed during the
Premji’s his father had founded Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd in the same year he was born & produced vanaspati, a widely used hydrogenated shortening
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DAWN
June 2021
years 1990s and the company substantially increased in technology stocks. It was in 1999, when Premji officially completed his degree from Stanford University through a distance-learning arrangement. As such, in the 21st century, Premji became one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world. His reputation always remained that of a highly ethical entrepreneur whose operation served as a model for other Indian firms. However, the success of the company as well as its Chairman, was all about the way the company had spread its wing across the world and enticed the world market. By transforming Wipro into Information Technology powerhouse and establishing itself in the foreign markets Premji had boldly broken with tradition. It all happened only when majorities of Indian business tycoons were based on ownership of land and factories used to produce domestically consumed goods. In spite of being one of the wealthiest men in the world, Premji was always maintained normalcy like a common man, though he was well recognized for his human relations approach, lack of extravagance and charity in thought. This Indian businessman in the year 2001 established the nonprofit organization, Azim Premji Foundation. Through, this foundation he focused on improving the quality of elementary education in rural pockets on India. The foundation had however extended computer-aided education to more than 16,000 schools, with child-friendly content increasingly available in local languages by the end of the first decade of the 21st century.
