Azim Hashim Premji (Gujarati: ???? ???????

) (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian bus

iness tycoon, philanthropist and the chairman of Wipro Limited, a group company
that holds Wipro Technologies, India's third largest software development compan
ies. According to Forbes, he is currently the third richest Indian with a person
al wealth of US$17 billion in 2010.[2][4]. In 2000, he was voted among the 20 mo
st powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He was also among the 50 richest peopl
e in the world from 2001 to 2003 according to Forbes.[2] In April 2004, he was r
ated among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. His as
sets include 74% of Wipro. Wipro Limited, which dealt in hydrogenated cooking fa
ts along with consumer products, grew from a company of US $2.5 million to a gia
nt of $1.4 billion under Premji's leadership. Wipro Technologies, one of its gro
up companies, is one of India's largest software companies and is ranked among t
he top 100 technology companies globally.[5]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Personal life
* 2 Honours and awards
* 3 Azim Premji Foundation
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links
[edit] Personal life
Premji was born in Karachi, Present day Pakistan, to a Gujarati Khoja, Shia Isma
ili Muslim family. His father M. H. Premji owned the Western India PROducts (whi
ch later became Wipro Ltd.) which made hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats. His
grandfather was the rice king of Burma. His father had declined an invitation f
rom Muhammed Ali Jinnah to go to Pakistan.[6] While he completed his initial edu
cation at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Premji was forced to leave his studies in e
lectrical engineering from Stanford University, California, USA at the age of 21
to take over the family business when his father, M.H. Premji, suddenly died in
1966. He has since after a gap of over thirty years completed his degree in Ele
ctrical Engineering.[7]
When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats
and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair
care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders. Thereaf
ter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software.[8] The Amalner-based van
aspathi manufacturing company, the Western India PROduct later became Wipro Prod
ucts Ltd, Wipro Technologies and Wipro Corporation. Under Premji s leadership Wipr
o embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. The Company b
egan manufacturing light bulbs with General Electric and other consumer products
including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc. In 1975, Wipro Fluid
Power business unit manufacturing hydraulic cylinders and truck tippers was sta
rted. But Premji s ambitions did not stop there. In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT
field, taking advantage of the expulsion of IBM from the Indian market in 1975.
Thus, Wipro became involved in manufacturing computer hardware, software develo
pment and related items, under a special license from Sentinel. As a result, the
$1.5 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few years to a
$662 million diversified, integrated corporation in services, medical systems, t
echnology products and consumer items with offices worldwide. The company s IT div
ision became the world's first to win SEI CMM level 5 and PCMM Level 5 (People C
apability Maturity Model) certification, the latest in quality standards. A larg
e percentage of the company s revenues are generated by the IT division. Wipro wor
ks with leading global companies, such as Alcatel, Nokia, Cisco, Ericsson and No
rtel and has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electric company.[7
]
Premji is married to Yasmeen, the couple have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Ri
shad is married to Aditi and is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of IT Busin
ess, Wipro Technologies.[9]
Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives
a Toyota Corolla and flies economy class, prefers to stay in company guest house
s rather than luxury hotels and even served food on paper plates at a lunch hono
uring his son's wedding.[10]
[edit] Honours and awards
Premji has been recognized by Business Week as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs
[11] for being responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world s fastest growin
g companies.
In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher
Education.
As on March 9, 2010, he was one of the wealthiest people in India, with a net wo
rth of $17 billion.[12]
He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), an honorary degree, from the Aliga
rh Muslim University on the 18th of June, 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocati
on Ceremony of the University.
In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University in Middle
town, Connecticut for his outstanding philanthropic work.[13] In 2005 the govern
ment of India honored him with the title of Padma Vibhushan for his outstanding
work in trade and commerce.
[edit] Azim Premji Foundation
The Azim Premji Foundation says it "Aims at making a tangible impact on identifi
ed social issues by working in active partnership with the Government and other
related sectors of society". The Foundation was set up with financial resources
contributed by Azim Premji.
Programmes of the Azim Premji Foundation focus on "creating effective and scalab
le models that significantly improve the quality of learning in the school and e
nsure satisfactory ownership by the community in the management of the school".
Azim Premji Foundation says it "dedicates itself to the cause of Universalizatio
n of Elementary Education in India"[citation needed]. The organisation has over
the years been instrumental in improving the quality of general education, parti
cularly in rural schools[citation needed].
Citing a technology initiative, the Foundation reported: "Think of a single PC w
ith three display terminals, three keyboards and three 'mouses', which can be si
multaneously used as if they are three independent computers"[citation needed].
Five new titles of educational CDs for Indian schools were produced earlier in 2
005. They are:
* Friendly Animals and Journey on the Clouds (English)
* Swatantra Divas
* Fun with Chinchoo in Mathematics
* Khel-Mel (Hindi), released in February 2005.
With these, the total number of master titles available is 70[citation needed].
There are now 68 titles in Karnataka, 42 for Andhra Pradesh, 35 for Tamil Nadu a
nd Pondicherry, 18 for Urdu medium schools, six for Orissa, 14 for Gujarat, 3 fo
r Punjab and 1 for Kerala.
This Foundation is also involved in computer-based assessment in Andhra Pradesh
(50,000 students took part in early 2005), a learning guarantee programme, and a
policy planning unit in Karnataka.
In December 2010, he pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education
in India. This would be done by transferring 213 million equity shares of Wipro
Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust.[14] Th
is donation is the first of its kind by any Indian billionaire.