For complete article, read in
http://businessweek.com/magazine/conten ... _mz046.htm
It is a very long and interesting article - several pages...
A CITIZEN OF WIPRO. If being budget-minded is a matter of principle with Premji, so is being secular. Premji is an Ismaili, perhaps Islam's most liberal branch, and he is keenly aware of the role he can play as an ambassador for a moderate, tolerant brand of Islam. Early this year, on a trip to the U.S., Premji was selected for a random search each time he boarded an airline flight. He doesn't blame the U.S. government for being singled out but says the experience still hurt. Nonetheless, he has resisted calls to take a more active role leading India's 120 million Muslims, even as they are targeted by increasingly powerful Hindu fundamentalists. "I see myself as an Indian first, and only after that as a member of any other kind of community -- Muslim or Bangalorean or Stanford alumni," he says.
Azim Premji
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... query=azim
THE ARCHITECTS OF A NEW EMPIRE: THIRD OF A FOUR-PART SERIES BY MARCUS GEE
THE WORLD'S SUBSIDIARY: Father of outsourcing pushes India into the 21st century
Headshot of Marcus Gee
MARCUS GEE
[email protected]
April 10, 2008
BANGLALORE -- On Aug. 11, 1966, Azim Premji got the phone call that would change his life. The 20-year-old was studying for summer exams at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., just two terms short of graduation. It was his mother on the line. His father, M.H. Premji, had died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of just 51.
Summoned home, he discovered himself in charge of the family business, a small vegetable oil concern called Western India Vegetable Products, Wipro for short. He found its methods primitive at best.
One of its lines was making cakes and shortening from peanut oil. Its buyers would test a farmer's peanuts by biting them to gauge how much oil they might yield, then make the farmer an offer. Mr. Premji, then just 20, had a better idea. Why not ask the farmer for a sample of his peanuts, weigh them to gauge their oil content, then strike a deal.
That simple step to upgrade methods and measure results laid the foundation for what Mr. Premji calls the Wipro Way. A cerebral, fastidious man who often seems more college professor than tycoon, he has built a $5-billion (U.S.) information-technology outsourcing company on a cult of continuous self-improvement.
Print Edition - Section Front
Section B Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail
In the process, he has helped invent an industry that is launching India into the 21st century. Once, when people imagined India, they pictured rajahs and beggars. Today, the icon of the new India is the bright young techie in his office cubicle in Bangalore.
Mr. Premji was one of the first to see an opportunity for India as more and more work shifted to computers and the cost of transmitting data among them dropped. Why not take repetitive work like writing software, maintaining computer systems, handling company payroll accounts or answering consumer complaints over the phone and export them to India, where a huge pool of educated, English-speaking workers could do it for a fraction of the cost?
Wipro, the industry's third-biggest player, has grown from 350 employees when Mr. Premji inherited it to 80,000 today. Mr. Premji, now a white-haired 61, is reckoned to be the fourth-richest Indian, trailing only steel maker Lakshmi Mittal and the industrialist Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil. According to the Forbes magazine billionaires list, his $17.1-billion fortune puts him at No. 21 in the ranks of the richest people in the world.
"We have been one of the pioneers in the global delivery model, which is really bringing to services what came to manufacturing 15 years back," Mr. Premji said in a recent interview in his Bangalore offices.
But after growing 30 per cent a year for 10 years, the good times may be ending for the Indian outsourcing industry. The rise in the value of India's currency, the rupee, is putting the industry at risk as the cost of farming out back-office work to India soars for American, European and Japanese firms. The cost of employing educated Indians has increased as big Indian firms compete for scarce talent.
Seeing India's vulnerability, other emerging countries from the Philippines to China to Eastern Europe are snapping up more of the outsourcing trade. At the same time, giants such as IBM and Accenture have opened bases in India to compete with Indian firms such as Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services on their home turf.
Mr. Premji is responding with the same determination to raise quality that led him to weigh peanuts in the 1960s. Wipro, he said, must move from low-cost provider of IT and back-office services to valued consultant and partner for its customers, helping them not just cut costs but manage and even reimagine how they do business.
When the outsourcing got started, the work was fairly straightforward. Big companies in North America or Europe that wanted their computer software upgraded or maintained hired Indian firms to do the grunt-work of programming and coding. End of transaction.
Today, instead of just making new software for a company's payroll department, Wipro will help redesign the payroll system, create new software for the task and even run the system from afar. It is helping deliver legal and accounting services, and is now moving into pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.
"It significantly expands our breadth of offering to the customer," Mr. Premji said. "Where we were working before with his left arm, we'll be working with his whole body."
To get closer to its customers, Wipro is stepping outside its Indian base and opening new offices in places as far flung as Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Romania and China. (In Canada, it has staff in Toronto, Windsor, Calgary and Ottawa). In January, it scored its biggest contract yet, a nine-year deal worth up to $600-million to handle business transformation for the Indian telecom company Aircel.
In his book on Wipro (pronounced whip-row), Bangalore Tiger, Businessweek reporter Steve Hamm said Wipro's transformation was like moving from an electrician to an architect. If anybody can accomplish such a protean feat, it is Mr. Premji.
He began transforming Wipro almost as soon as taking over in 1966. An engineering student at Stanford, he knew nothing about business, so he bought arm loads of business textbooks and stayed up late plowing through them. His first step was to diversify, moving beyond Wipro's vegetable oil products and laundry soaps to toilet soaps, then light bulbs.
"What struck me even then was his high degree of professionalism and ethical standard," said leading Indian banker K.V. Kamath, who sat on the Wipro board 20 years ago. Unlike many leaders of family businesses, who surrounded themselves with relatives and yes-men, "he went out and got people with qualifications in every field, whether it's accountancy or engineering or management."
His big break came in 1977 when the Indian government shut IBM out of India. Leaping into the gap, he had his engineers knock off an Indian version of a popular computer and launched Wipro onto the path to become India's leading seller of computers, scanners and printers. From there it was a natural step to outsourcing.
For Wipro, says Mr. Premji, the process of transformation never ends. Progress "is not a snapshot; it's like a movie."
You can't tell if you're improving unless you have something to measure yourself by, so Wipro measures everything - not just its earnings and productivity, but customer satisfaction, employee engagement, managers' performance and the results of its business rivals. It even measures the amount of food wasted in the company cafeteria.
Training is close to an obsession. New recruits - Wipro inducted about 20,000 last year - get between 12 and 21 weeks of full-time training before they start work. All employees get another 9-15 days a year - not just lunchtime seminars, but full-time classroom work. This comes on top of periodic, on-the-job training.
Mr. Premji has sent more than 7,000 Wiproites (as its employees call each other) to learn Six Sigma, a data-driven system developed by Motorola Inc. to improve processes by eliminating defects.
Under Mr. Premji's stern direction, the company was one of the first in India to refuse to give or accept bribes, a bold step in a country where payoffs were the grease of business life.
The company once fired a man who claimed expenses for a first-class train trip when he actually rode second, a difference of a few rupees. When the man's union called a strike and stayed off work for three months, Mr. Premji refused to back down.
To set a tone of modesty and discipline, Mr. Premji, a billionaire many times over, rides economy when taking flights around India and drives a four-year-old Toyota Corolla - purchased only when his nine-year-old Ford Escort gave out. He lives in a large but unostentatious bungalow on the leafy Bangalore campus, walking the few steps to his office, a bright penthouse with wood floors, a walkout patio and walls covered with Asian art. His only indulgence seems to be good tailoring. He favours pin stripes and formally cut suits. His swept back snow white hair has a distinctive blue rinse.
Unlike other Indian tycoons who have passed on their companies to their sons, he has no dynastic ambitions. When his son Rishad joined Wipro last year, the company said he would be taking a post "commensurate with his background and experience."
"I couldn't induct my son into top management without causing chaos in the company," said Mr. Premji, "because it's too professionalized."
These lessons seem to rub off on Wipro's employees. Bhavani Latha, 21, an electronics graduate, joined Wipro last year and now writes software for a Japanese consumer electronics form, and revels in the education she is getting. "I just want to excel at what I do," she said.
By the numbers
Name: Azim Premji, chairman and chief executive officer of Wipro Ltd.
Age: 62
Net worth: $17.1-billion (U.S.)
Residence: Bangalore
Main Industry: Information technology, outsourcing
Family: Married, two grown sons
Education: Studied engineering at Stanford University in California
Biography: Took over as head of Wipro at the age of 21 when his father died suddenly. Turned it from a $2-million company making hydrogenated cooking fat into a $5-billion multinational with a presence in 50 countries.
Financial results
for Wipro Ltd.
2007 profit
$3.75-billion
up 83 per cent from 2005
Market cap
$15.16-billion
Current value by market capitalization (on April 4, 2008)
The series
Tuesday: Anand Mahindra, the tractor maker who has John Deere on the run.
Yesterday: G.M. Rao, building a modern nation in an ancient land.
Stories and audio: ReportonBusiness.com
Tomorrow: Industrial magnate Ratan Tata shakes up the global auto market by launching the world's cheapest car.
THE ARCHITECTS OF A NEW EMPIRE: THIRD OF A FOUR-PART SERIES BY MARCUS GEE
THE WORLD'S SUBSIDIARY: Father of outsourcing pushes India into the 21st century
Headshot of Marcus Gee
MARCUS GEE
[email protected]
April 10, 2008
BANGLALORE -- On Aug. 11, 1966, Azim Premji got the phone call that would change his life. The 20-year-old was studying for summer exams at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., just two terms short of graduation. It was his mother on the line. His father, M.H. Premji, had died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of just 51.
Summoned home, he discovered himself in charge of the family business, a small vegetable oil concern called Western India Vegetable Products, Wipro for short. He found its methods primitive at best.
One of its lines was making cakes and shortening from peanut oil. Its buyers would test a farmer's peanuts by biting them to gauge how much oil they might yield, then make the farmer an offer. Mr. Premji, then just 20, had a better idea. Why not ask the farmer for a sample of his peanuts, weigh them to gauge their oil content, then strike a deal.
That simple step to upgrade methods and measure results laid the foundation for what Mr. Premji calls the Wipro Way. A cerebral, fastidious man who often seems more college professor than tycoon, he has built a $5-billion (U.S.) information-technology outsourcing company on a cult of continuous self-improvement.
Print Edition - Section Front
Section B Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail
In the process, he has helped invent an industry that is launching India into the 21st century. Once, when people imagined India, they pictured rajahs and beggars. Today, the icon of the new India is the bright young techie in his office cubicle in Bangalore.
Mr. Premji was one of the first to see an opportunity for India as more and more work shifted to computers and the cost of transmitting data among them dropped. Why not take repetitive work like writing software, maintaining computer systems, handling company payroll accounts or answering consumer complaints over the phone and export them to India, where a huge pool of educated, English-speaking workers could do it for a fraction of the cost?
Wipro, the industry's third-biggest player, has grown from 350 employees when Mr. Premji inherited it to 80,000 today. Mr. Premji, now a white-haired 61, is reckoned to be the fourth-richest Indian, trailing only steel maker Lakshmi Mittal and the industrialist Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil. According to the Forbes magazine billionaires list, his $17.1-billion fortune puts him at No. 21 in the ranks of the richest people in the world.
"We have been one of the pioneers in the global delivery model, which is really bringing to services what came to manufacturing 15 years back," Mr. Premji said in a recent interview in his Bangalore offices.
But after growing 30 per cent a year for 10 years, the good times may be ending for the Indian outsourcing industry. The rise in the value of India's currency, the rupee, is putting the industry at risk as the cost of farming out back-office work to India soars for American, European and Japanese firms. The cost of employing educated Indians has increased as big Indian firms compete for scarce talent.
Seeing India's vulnerability, other emerging countries from the Philippines to China to Eastern Europe are snapping up more of the outsourcing trade. At the same time, giants such as IBM and Accenture have opened bases in India to compete with Indian firms such as Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services on their home turf.
Mr. Premji is responding with the same determination to raise quality that led him to weigh peanuts in the 1960s. Wipro, he said, must move from low-cost provider of IT and back-office services to valued consultant and partner for its customers, helping them not just cut costs but manage and even reimagine how they do business.
When the outsourcing got started, the work was fairly straightforward. Big companies in North America or Europe that wanted their computer software upgraded or maintained hired Indian firms to do the grunt-work of programming and coding. End of transaction.
Today, instead of just making new software for a company's payroll department, Wipro will help redesign the payroll system, create new software for the task and even run the system from afar. It is helping deliver legal and accounting services, and is now moving into pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.
"It significantly expands our breadth of offering to the customer," Mr. Premji said. "Where we were working before with his left arm, we'll be working with his whole body."
To get closer to its customers, Wipro is stepping outside its Indian base and opening new offices in places as far flung as Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Romania and China. (In Canada, it has staff in Toronto, Windsor, Calgary and Ottawa). In January, it scored its biggest contract yet, a nine-year deal worth up to $600-million to handle business transformation for the Indian telecom company Aircel.
In his book on Wipro (pronounced whip-row), Bangalore Tiger, Businessweek reporter Steve Hamm said Wipro's transformation was like moving from an electrician to an architect. If anybody can accomplish such a protean feat, it is Mr. Premji.
He began transforming Wipro almost as soon as taking over in 1966. An engineering student at Stanford, he knew nothing about business, so he bought arm loads of business textbooks and stayed up late plowing through them. His first step was to diversify, moving beyond Wipro's vegetable oil products and laundry soaps to toilet soaps, then light bulbs.
"What struck me even then was his high degree of professionalism and ethical standard," said leading Indian banker K.V. Kamath, who sat on the Wipro board 20 years ago. Unlike many leaders of family businesses, who surrounded themselves with relatives and yes-men, "he went out and got people with qualifications in every field, whether it's accountancy or engineering or management."
His big break came in 1977 when the Indian government shut IBM out of India. Leaping into the gap, he had his engineers knock off an Indian version of a popular computer and launched Wipro onto the path to become India's leading seller of computers, scanners and printers. From there it was a natural step to outsourcing.
For Wipro, says Mr. Premji, the process of transformation never ends. Progress "is not a snapshot; it's like a movie."
You can't tell if you're improving unless you have something to measure yourself by, so Wipro measures everything - not just its earnings and productivity, but customer satisfaction, employee engagement, managers' performance and the results of its business rivals. It even measures the amount of food wasted in the company cafeteria.
Training is close to an obsession. New recruits - Wipro inducted about 20,000 last year - get between 12 and 21 weeks of full-time training before they start work. All employees get another 9-15 days a year - not just lunchtime seminars, but full-time classroom work. This comes on top of periodic, on-the-job training.
Mr. Premji has sent more than 7,000 Wiproites (as its employees call each other) to learn Six Sigma, a data-driven system developed by Motorola Inc. to improve processes by eliminating defects.
Under Mr. Premji's stern direction, the company was one of the first in India to refuse to give or accept bribes, a bold step in a country where payoffs were the grease of business life.
The company once fired a man who claimed expenses for a first-class train trip when he actually rode second, a difference of a few rupees. When the man's union called a strike and stayed off work for three months, Mr. Premji refused to back down.
To set a tone of modesty and discipline, Mr. Premji, a billionaire many times over, rides economy when taking flights around India and drives a four-year-old Toyota Corolla - purchased only when his nine-year-old Ford Escort gave out. He lives in a large but unostentatious bungalow on the leafy Bangalore campus, walking the few steps to his office, a bright penthouse with wood floors, a walkout patio and walls covered with Asian art. His only indulgence seems to be good tailoring. He favours pin stripes and formally cut suits. His swept back snow white hair has a distinctive blue rinse.
Unlike other Indian tycoons who have passed on their companies to their sons, he has no dynastic ambitions. When his son Rishad joined Wipro last year, the company said he would be taking a post "commensurate with his background and experience."
"I couldn't induct my son into top management without causing chaos in the company," said Mr. Premji, "because it's too professionalized."
These lessons seem to rub off on Wipro's employees. Bhavani Latha, 21, an electronics graduate, joined Wipro last year and now writes software for a Japanese consumer electronics form, and revels in the education she is getting. "I just want to excel at what I do," she said.
By the numbers
Name: Azim Premji, chairman and chief executive officer of Wipro Ltd.
Age: 62
Net worth: $17.1-billion (U.S.)
Residence: Bangalore
Main Industry: Information technology, outsourcing
Family: Married, two grown sons
Education: Studied engineering at Stanford University in California
Biography: Took over as head of Wipro at the age of 21 when his father died suddenly. Turned it from a $2-million company making hydrogenated cooking fat into a $5-billion multinational with a presence in 50 countries.
Financial results
for Wipro Ltd.
2007 profit
$3.75-billion
up 83 per cent from 2005
Market cap
$15.16-billion
Current value by market capitalization (on April 4, 2008)
The series
Tuesday: Anand Mahindra, the tractor maker who has John Deere on the run.
Yesterday: G.M. Rao, building a modern nation in an ancient land.
Stories and audio: ReportonBusiness.com
Tomorrow: Industrial magnate Ratan Tata shakes up the global auto market by launching the world's cheapest car.
Last edited by Admin on Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Azim Premji receives Padma Vibhushan award
May 21, 2011 by ismailimail Leave a Comment
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, ITCChairman Y C Deveshwar and ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar are among 12 industry leaders who have been conferred with the Padma civilian awards this year.
While Premji (65) is the only industrialist who has been conferred the nation”s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan this year, eight others have been awarded the Padma Bhushan. Three others, including a non-resident Indian have been conferred the Padma Shri.
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... ilimail%29
May 21, 2011 by ismailimail Leave a Comment
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, ITCChairman Y C Deveshwar and ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar are among 12 industry leaders who have been conferred with the Padma civilian awards this year.
While Premji (65) is the only industrialist who has been conferred the nation”s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan this year, eight others have been awarded the Padma Bhushan. Three others, including a non-resident Indian have been conferred the Padma Shri.
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... ilimail%29
Azim Premji to start 1300 free school in India.
Azim Premji to start two free schools in every district
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 1319932319
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 1319932319
Wealth must have definitive social purpose: Azim Premji
TNN Oct 4, 2011, 05.44AM IST
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... foundation
Philanthropist and Wipro chairman Azim Premji addressed the Young Presidents Organization in Mumbai recently on the 'The evolving role of business in society and philanthropy'. He spoke of how his maternal grandfather, a general practitioner, was a big influence on him as a child though he had never met him. How the grandfather in the early 1900s would call on poor patients at home and most often treat them free. How he would sometimes leave money for them under the pillow. How the patients would sometimes, after they got well, pay him in kind: vegetables or eggs.
"My maternal grandfather never became a wealthy man. But he was a very happy and satisfied man. He saw himself as someone whose role was to serve society and he did it to the best of his ability," said Premji. Using such personal experiences, he made five points in his talk.
TNN Oct 4, 2011, 05.44AM IST
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... foundation
Philanthropist and Wipro chairman Azim Premji addressed the Young Presidents Organization in Mumbai recently on the 'The evolving role of business in society and philanthropy'. He spoke of how his maternal grandfather, a general practitioner, was a big influence on him as a child though he had never met him. How the grandfather in the early 1900s would call on poor patients at home and most often treat them free. How he would sometimes leave money for them under the pillow. How the patients would sometimes, after they got well, pay him in kind: vegetables or eggs.
"My maternal grandfather never became a wealthy man. But he was a very happy and satisfied man. He saw himself as someone whose role was to serve society and he did it to the best of his ability," said Premji. Using such personal experiences, he made five points in his talk.
Giving back: Eight innovative philanthropists around the world
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a ... s-of-India
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a ... s-of-India
siliconindia.com/news/business/2014-Indian-Philanthropists-Azim-Premji-Tops-The-List-nid-177277-cid-3.html
2014 Indian Philanthropists, Azim Premji Tops The List
By SiliconIndia | Monday, 05 January 2015, 03:43 Hrs
BENGALURU: A simple act of kindness creates an endless ripple that comes back to you. Earning millions of rupees is not that great a deed in today’s fast growing business world. But to have a heart to give back as much as possible to the less privileged people whose only strife in life is to earn their daily bread. In India there is no lack of such under privileged people who are in need of a basic living; what we lack here is those who have no heart to spend a penny for them. Against all odds here we have some great minds who also have the great heart to spare a share of their income for a better society.
The Shangai based Hurun Research Institute ranked a list of Indian Philanthropists according to the amount of donations in one year period. The following are some well known philanthropists who are in the Hurun Institute’s ‘India Philanthropy List’:
Azim Premji:
Azim Premji , chief of Bengaluru based multinational Wipro topped the list. Azim Premji A huge sum of 12, 316 crores of his personal foundation went into the Azim Premji’s foundation which is mainly engaged in giving to the bodies working for education. In fact almost four-fifths of the donations made by the members in the list goes for education, which makes it the most favored cause of donation. In 2014, Azim Premji was ranked 4 in ‘India Rich List’ with an own fortune of 86, 100 crores. Apparently Premji gave as much as six times more than the person who is followed by him in the list. Premji topped this list even in 2013.
2014 Indian Philanthropists, Azim Premji Tops The List
By SiliconIndia | Monday, 05 January 2015, 03:43 Hrs
BENGALURU: A simple act of kindness creates an endless ripple that comes back to you. Earning millions of rupees is not that great a deed in today’s fast growing business world. But to have a heart to give back as much as possible to the less privileged people whose only strife in life is to earn their daily bread. In India there is no lack of such under privileged people who are in need of a basic living; what we lack here is those who have no heart to spend a penny for them. Against all odds here we have some great minds who also have the great heart to spare a share of their income for a better society.
The Shangai based Hurun Research Institute ranked a list of Indian Philanthropists according to the amount of donations in one year period. The following are some well known philanthropists who are in the Hurun Institute’s ‘India Philanthropy List’:
Azim Premji:
Azim Premji , chief of Bengaluru based multinational Wipro topped the list. Azim Premji A huge sum of 12, 316 crores of his personal foundation went into the Azim Premji’s foundation which is mainly engaged in giving to the bodies working for education. In fact almost four-fifths of the donations made by the members in the list goes for education, which makes it the most favored cause of donation. In 2014, Azim Premji was ranked 4 in ‘India Rich List’ with an own fortune of 86, 100 crores. Apparently Premji gave as much as six times more than the person who is followed by him in the list. Premji topped this list even in 2013.
Narendra Modi is CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2014
Winners across Politics, Sports, Entertainment, Business, Public Service and Global Indian categories were also announced
http://www.bestmediainfo.com/2015/03/na ... year-2014/
Azim Premji: For launching the Azim Premji Philanthropic initiative in 2014 to fund non-profit organisations working in key areas like nutrition, disabilities and governance
Winners across Politics, Sports, Entertainment, Business, Public Service and Global Indian categories were also announced
http://www.bestmediainfo.com/2015/03/na ... year-2014/
Azim Premji: For launching the Azim Premji Philanthropic initiative in 2014 to fund non-profit organisations working in key areas like nutrition, disabilities and governance
As received
She is the CEO of Calgary-based ATCO Ltd., one of Canada’s largest conglomerates with assets in the energy, pipeline, utilities, manufacturing and logistics sectors.
He is the chairman of Wipro Ltd., a Bangalore, India-based information technology (IT) services giant. He’s also one of the world’s wealthiest tycoons with an estimated net worth of some $19.1 billion US.
When ATCO’s Nancy Southern and Wipro’s Azim Premji crossed paths a couple of years ago at a meeting of the Geneva- based World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the conversation proved timely for both.
ATCO had been mulling the possible sale of its Edmonton-based IT services unit, ATCO I-Tek, which wasn’t considered part of its core business.
Meanwhile, Wipro had long been eager to establish a bigger presence in Canada, where it was still a relatively unknown player despite its massive global footprint.
With 140,000 employees on six continents and a market cap of more than $33 billion US — equal to the market value of Canada’s five largest technology companies — Wipro is a behemoth.
After two years of talks, ATCO and Wipro struck a deal last August when Wipro paid $210 million to acquire the assets of ATCO I-Tek, including its 450 Alberta employees and its assets in Australia.
As part of the deal, Wipro will provide IT services to ATCO for the next 10 years, giving it a base from which to grow its revenues and customers across Western Canada.
Enter Brian Allatt, an affable Scot from Edinburgh who spent a quarter century with IBM and consulting giant Accenture before joining Wipro in 2006. He moved to Edmonton last summer to assume the top job at Wipro Solutions Canada and says the company is ready to make some noise
“Our objective is to use this as a development centre and to really grow our business across all sectors, but primarily driven by the oil and gas and utilities sectors — once oil and gas picks up again,” he said.
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Ltd., has twice been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
“We have closed some additional business since we moved here with some of the engineering and construction firms, including Stantec. We’re developing a suite of Oracle (software) applications with them here in Edmonton.”
Wipro has also just cut a sizable contract with a non-energy client in Calgary, though the details won’t be announced for another two or three weeks, he said.
“Our long-term plans are to really grow our business across all industries, with Edmonton as our Western Canada operational hub. Right now this operation is larger than the one we have in Mississauga (where Wipro has about 200 staff), so Edmonton may become our Canadian headquarters.”
Wipro’s corporate history reads like a Hollywood script. Founded by Premji’s father Muhammed Hashim Premji in 1945, its initial focus was on selling vegetable oil.
When the family patriarch died in 1966, young Azim Premji, then a 21-year-old engineering student at Stanford, was called home to take over the business. He spent the next decade and a half expanding into other consumer and industrial products.
Wipro’s transformation into an IT services powerhouse really began in 1980, when the Indian government curbed the activities of big foreign players like IBM in a bid to kick-start a domestic IT industry.
Premji, smelling opportunity, refocused Wipro as an IT player and the company jumped in with both feet, riding the global outsourcing trend to spectacular growth in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
“Wipro and some other companies (such as Infosys) managed to really establish themselves as major IT forces,” says Allatt. “And when India liberalized again, it gave Wipro the opportunity to really extend its reach outside India.”
Today, a large percentage of Wipro’s revenues are generated across Europe, the United States and other foreign markets. Its customers include many of the world’s top companies and it works closely with major software vendors like Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, SAP and EMC.
Premji, widely lauded as India’s software king, has twice been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine.
In 2012, he became the first Indian businessman to support the Giving Pledge — a plan begun by U.S. tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that requires signatories to contribute the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
While it once benefited mainly from outsourcing, Allatt said Wipro’s current focus is on helping clients do business in more productive and innovative ways by using analytics and big data to guide strategic decision-making.
She is the CEO of Calgary-based ATCO Ltd., one of Canada’s largest conglomerates with assets in the energy, pipeline, utilities, manufacturing and logistics sectors.
He is the chairman of Wipro Ltd., a Bangalore, India-based information technology (IT) services giant. He’s also one of the world’s wealthiest tycoons with an estimated net worth of some $19.1 billion US.
When ATCO’s Nancy Southern and Wipro’s Azim Premji crossed paths a couple of years ago at a meeting of the Geneva- based World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the conversation proved timely for both.
ATCO had been mulling the possible sale of its Edmonton-based IT services unit, ATCO I-Tek, which wasn’t considered part of its core business.
Meanwhile, Wipro had long been eager to establish a bigger presence in Canada, where it was still a relatively unknown player despite its massive global footprint.
With 140,000 employees on six continents and a market cap of more than $33 billion US — equal to the market value of Canada’s five largest technology companies — Wipro is a behemoth.
After two years of talks, ATCO and Wipro struck a deal last August when Wipro paid $210 million to acquire the assets of ATCO I-Tek, including its 450 Alberta employees and its assets in Australia.
As part of the deal, Wipro will provide IT services to ATCO for the next 10 years, giving it a base from which to grow its revenues and customers across Western Canada.
Enter Brian Allatt, an affable Scot from Edinburgh who spent a quarter century with IBM and consulting giant Accenture before joining Wipro in 2006. He moved to Edmonton last summer to assume the top job at Wipro Solutions Canada and says the company is ready to make some noise
“Our objective is to use this as a development centre and to really grow our business across all sectors, but primarily driven by the oil and gas and utilities sectors — once oil and gas picks up again,” he said.
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Ltd., has twice been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
“We have closed some additional business since we moved here with some of the engineering and construction firms, including Stantec. We’re developing a suite of Oracle (software) applications with them here in Edmonton.”
Wipro has also just cut a sizable contract with a non-energy client in Calgary, though the details won’t be announced for another two or three weeks, he said.
“Our long-term plans are to really grow our business across all industries, with Edmonton as our Western Canada operational hub. Right now this operation is larger than the one we have in Mississauga (where Wipro has about 200 staff), so Edmonton may become our Canadian headquarters.”
Wipro’s corporate history reads like a Hollywood script. Founded by Premji’s father Muhammed Hashim Premji in 1945, its initial focus was on selling vegetable oil.
When the family patriarch died in 1966, young Azim Premji, then a 21-year-old engineering student at Stanford, was called home to take over the business. He spent the next decade and a half expanding into other consumer and industrial products.
Wipro’s transformation into an IT services powerhouse really began in 1980, when the Indian government curbed the activities of big foreign players like IBM in a bid to kick-start a domestic IT industry.
Premji, smelling opportunity, refocused Wipro as an IT player and the company jumped in with both feet, riding the global outsourcing trend to spectacular growth in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
“Wipro and some other companies (such as Infosys) managed to really establish themselves as major IT forces,” says Allatt. “And when India liberalized again, it gave Wipro the opportunity to really extend its reach outside India.”
Today, a large percentage of Wipro’s revenues are generated across Europe, the United States and other foreign markets. Its customers include many of the world’s top companies and it works closely with major software vendors like Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, SAP and EMC.
Premji, widely lauded as India’s software king, has twice been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine.
In 2012, he became the first Indian businessman to support the Giving Pledge — a plan begun by U.S. tycoons Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that requires signatories to contribute the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
While it once benefited mainly from outsourcing, Allatt said Wipro’s current focus is on helping clients do business in more productive and innovative ways by using analytics and big data to guide strategic decision-making.
Indian Billionaire Azim Premji's Donation To His Charitable Foundation Rises To $21 Billion
Tech tycoon Azim Premji just cemented his position as one of the world’s most large-hearted billionaires. The billionaire announced Wednesday that he has donated $21 billion to his education-focused charitable arm, the Azim Premji Foundation, The donation includes a 67% stake in his IT outsourcer, Wipro, worth $15 billion, plus assets including his stakes in consumer business Wipro Enterprises and PremjiInvest, his family office.
Premji had recently hinted to Forbes that he was planning to give away more, saying “ To whom much has been given, much should be expected.” After today’s announcement, Premji’s fortune, which was $22.6 billion, placing him at No.36 among the world’s billionaires, has reduced by 80% to $4.4 billion. Along with his family, he now owns a 7% stake in Wipro.
“ It’s an awesome gesture, “ says biotech billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Premji’s close friend and fellow Bangalore resident. “Azim has taken Indian philanthropy to another level. ” Mazumdar-Shaw, who's donated $30 million to date, has committed to giving away much more; like Premji, she's signed the Giving Pledge and has pledged to donate 75% of her wealth.
Anu Aga, another billionaire noted for her charitable activities, calls Premji “ a role model for all of us. I wish more people would follow his example.”
As per Bain & Company’s recently released India Philanthropy Report 2019, while private philanthropic capital has grown 15% between 2014 and 2018, it’s still “punching below its full potential” and the ultra-rich in India need to step up more.
Premji, who has often said that he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, as well as his mother’s decades-long involvement with a children’s charitable hospital in Mumbai, began his philanthropic journey in 2001, when he set up his eponymous foundation with an initial endowment of Wipro shares worth $125 million. He followed that up with subsequent donations of more than $4 billion. His latest gift will help the foundation scale up its activities several-fold, discloses its CEO Anurag Behar, a Wipro veteran who took charge in 2010.
The foundation-funded Azim Premji University, which today has 1,300 students, who are being trained to work mainly in the social sector, is set to expand with a bigger campus and another university in Madhya Pradesh state. Another core program is the foundation’s involvement with more than 200,000 public schools across several states, which Behar says will be expanded to several others. While the foundation doesn’t run any schools, it deploys a 1,600-strong field force to help them upgrade their curriculum, train teachers and the like.
In 2014, the foundation widened its scope when it began giving multi-year grants to non-profits engaged in tackling a range of societal issues such as women who face domestic violence, malnourishment in children and suicides among marginal farmers. Behar envisages a five-fold increase in such grants over the next 5 years.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenka ... faee532920
Tech tycoon Azim Premji just cemented his position as one of the world’s most large-hearted billionaires. The billionaire announced Wednesday that he has donated $21 billion to his education-focused charitable arm, the Azim Premji Foundation, The donation includes a 67% stake in his IT outsourcer, Wipro, worth $15 billion, plus assets including his stakes in consumer business Wipro Enterprises and PremjiInvest, his family office.
Premji had recently hinted to Forbes that he was planning to give away more, saying “ To whom much has been given, much should be expected.” After today’s announcement, Premji’s fortune, which was $22.6 billion, placing him at No.36 among the world’s billionaires, has reduced by 80% to $4.4 billion. Along with his family, he now owns a 7% stake in Wipro.
“ It’s an awesome gesture, “ says biotech billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Premji’s close friend and fellow Bangalore resident. “Azim has taken Indian philanthropy to another level. ” Mazumdar-Shaw, who's donated $30 million to date, has committed to giving away much more; like Premji, she's signed the Giving Pledge and has pledged to donate 75% of her wealth.
Anu Aga, another billionaire noted for her charitable activities, calls Premji “ a role model for all of us. I wish more people would follow his example.”
As per Bain & Company’s recently released India Philanthropy Report 2019, while private philanthropic capital has grown 15% between 2014 and 2018, it’s still “punching below its full potential” and the ultra-rich in India need to step up more.
Premji, who has often said that he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, as well as his mother’s decades-long involvement with a children’s charitable hospital in Mumbai, began his philanthropic journey in 2001, when he set up his eponymous foundation with an initial endowment of Wipro shares worth $125 million. He followed that up with subsequent donations of more than $4 billion. His latest gift will help the foundation scale up its activities several-fold, discloses its CEO Anurag Behar, a Wipro veteran who took charge in 2010.
The foundation-funded Azim Premji University, which today has 1,300 students, who are being trained to work mainly in the social sector, is set to expand with a bigger campus and another university in Madhya Pradesh state. Another core program is the foundation’s involvement with more than 200,000 public schools across several states, which Behar says will be expanded to several others. While the foundation doesn’t run any schools, it deploys a 1,600-strong field force to help them upgrade their curriculum, train teachers and the like.
In 2014, the foundation widened its scope when it began giving multi-year grants to non-profits engaged in tackling a range of societal issues such as women who face domestic violence, malnourishment in children and suicides among marginal farmers. Behar envisages a five-fold increase in such grants over the next 5 years.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenka ... faee532920
-
swamidada_1
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:21 pm
Monday, Mar 18, 2019
India needs more Azim Premjis
Philanthrocapitalism is a good idea in India — there are far too many problems for the State to address, not just in terms of resources, but also attention and expertise.
EDITORIALS Updated: Mar 18, 2019
Hindustan Times
Philanthropy,Philanthrocapitalism,azim premji
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro. His decision to give away more of his wealth has once again brought the focus on Philanthrocapitalism (Aniruddha Chowdhury)
Azim Premji’s decision to give away more of his wealth — he has now given away $21 billion to his foundation, making it the largest in Asia and the fifth largest in the world — has once again brought the focus on Philanthrocapitalism (yes that’s a real word).
One of the biggest supporters of Philanthrocapitalism is the man who wrote the seminal book on the concept, Mathew Bishop. He sees the super rich as so-called “hyper agents” who have what it takes to do “essential things better than anyone else”.
The best example of the concept is the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates and his friend, legendary investor, Warren Buffet, are also the inventors of the Giving Pledge, where the super wealthy promise to give away at least half their wealth. There are currently around 190 billionaires who have promised to give away roughly $360 billion. Among the Indians who have signed the pledge are Azim Premji, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Supporters of the concept believe that philanthropy can solve the world’s biggest problems.
There are opponents as well. One such is Linsey McGoey, a Canadian sociologist who believes that foundations that give a lot aren’t always accountable and that they sometimes work towards reinforcing the same existing inequalities they set out to remove.
The truth, as it usually does, probably lies in the middle, although in a country such as India, it doesn’t make sense to question any sort of giving.
Back when CK Prahalad’s theory of core competence was all the vogue, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu argued that diversification was actually a smart strategy in emerging markets where there were institutional and infrastructural gaps. That’s perhaps the same reason why Philanthrocapitalism is a good idea in India — there are far too many problems for the State to address, not just in terms of resources, but also attention and expertise.
India needs more people like Mr Premji
hindustantimes.com/editorials/india-needs-more-azim-premjis/story-dToIP3vsOeGdYXHEuYreHL.html
India needs more Azim Premjis
Philanthrocapitalism is a good idea in India — there are far too many problems for the State to address, not just in terms of resources, but also attention and expertise.
EDITORIALS Updated: Mar 18, 2019
Hindustan Times
Philanthropy,Philanthrocapitalism,azim premji
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro. His decision to give away more of his wealth has once again brought the focus on Philanthrocapitalism (Aniruddha Chowdhury)
Azim Premji’s decision to give away more of his wealth — he has now given away $21 billion to his foundation, making it the largest in Asia and the fifth largest in the world — has once again brought the focus on Philanthrocapitalism (yes that’s a real word).
One of the biggest supporters of Philanthrocapitalism is the man who wrote the seminal book on the concept, Mathew Bishop. He sees the super rich as so-called “hyper agents” who have what it takes to do “essential things better than anyone else”.
The best example of the concept is the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates and his friend, legendary investor, Warren Buffet, are also the inventors of the Giving Pledge, where the super wealthy promise to give away at least half their wealth. There are currently around 190 billionaires who have promised to give away roughly $360 billion. Among the Indians who have signed the pledge are Azim Premji, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Supporters of the concept believe that philanthropy can solve the world’s biggest problems.
There are opponents as well. One such is Linsey McGoey, a Canadian sociologist who believes that foundations that give a lot aren’t always accountable and that they sometimes work towards reinforcing the same existing inequalities they set out to remove.
The truth, as it usually does, probably lies in the middle, although in a country such as India, it doesn’t make sense to question any sort of giving.
Back when CK Prahalad’s theory of core competence was all the vogue, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu argued that diversification was actually a smart strategy in emerging markets where there were institutional and infrastructural gaps. That’s perhaps the same reason why Philanthrocapitalism is a good idea in India — there are far too many problems for the State to address, not just in terms of resources, but also attention and expertise.
India needs more people like Mr Premji
hindustantimes.com/editorials/india-needs-more-azim-premjis/story-dToIP3vsOeGdYXHEuYreHL.html
-
swamidada_1
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:21 pm
Azim Premji makes most generous donation in Indian history, guess how much is it
His foundation works directly in education and supports over 150 other non-profits serving under-privileged and marginalized Indians through multi-year financial grants.
INDIA Updated: Mar 14, 2019
Saritha Rai
Bloomberg
Azim Premji,Wipro,Azim Premji University
The shares held by entities controlled by Premji have been irrevocably renounced and earmarked to the Azim Premji Foundation.(REUTERS)
Azim Premji, the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Wipro Ltd., will give a further 34 percent of shares in the company worth $7.5 billion to support philanthropic activities, the most generous donation in Indian history.
The shares held by entities controlled by Premji have been irrevocably renounced and earmarked to the Azim Premji Foundation, the foundation said in a statement on Wednesday.
“With this action, the total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Mr. Premji is $21 billion, which includes 67% of economic ownership of Wipro.”
His foundation works directly in education and supports over 150 other non-profits serving under-privileged and marginalized Indians through multi-year financial grants. The foundation set up the Azim Premji University to develop professionals in education and related human development domains, offer degree and education programs, and conduct research.
The foundation will scale up significantly in the coming years, it said in the statement. The team working in education will scale from the current 1,600 people and grant-making activities will triple. The Bengaluru-based university will expand to 5,000 students with over 400 faculty members. The foundation intends to set up another university in northern India.
Ultra-rich Indians, those with a net worth of over $50 million, are less charitable than they were five years ago, the Mint newspaper reported last week, with Premji being the exception. The 73-year-old Bengaluru-based billionaire is India’s second-richest man and ranks 51 in Bloomberg’s list of global billionaires.
hindustantimes.com/india-news/azim-premji-donates-shares-worth-7-5-billion-to-charity/story-BVS9R1wOTOEyrcPAi3Vw1M.html
His foundation works directly in education and supports over 150 other non-profits serving under-privileged and marginalized Indians through multi-year financial grants.
INDIA Updated: Mar 14, 2019
Saritha Rai
Bloomberg
Azim Premji,Wipro,Azim Premji University
The shares held by entities controlled by Premji have been irrevocably renounced and earmarked to the Azim Premji Foundation.(REUTERS)
Azim Premji, the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Wipro Ltd., will give a further 34 percent of shares in the company worth $7.5 billion to support philanthropic activities, the most generous donation in Indian history.
The shares held by entities controlled by Premji have been irrevocably renounced and earmarked to the Azim Premji Foundation, the foundation said in a statement on Wednesday.
“With this action, the total value of the philanthropic endowment corpus contributed by Mr. Premji is $21 billion, which includes 67% of economic ownership of Wipro.”
His foundation works directly in education and supports over 150 other non-profits serving under-privileged and marginalized Indians through multi-year financial grants. The foundation set up the Azim Premji University to develop professionals in education and related human development domains, offer degree and education programs, and conduct research.
The foundation will scale up significantly in the coming years, it said in the statement. The team working in education will scale from the current 1,600 people and grant-making activities will triple. The Bengaluru-based university will expand to 5,000 students with over 400 faculty members. The foundation intends to set up another university in northern India.
Ultra-rich Indians, those with a net worth of over $50 million, are less charitable than they were five years ago, the Mint newspaper reported last week, with Premji being the exception. The 73-year-old Bengaluru-based billionaire is India’s second-richest man and ranks 51 in Bloomberg’s list of global billionaires.
hindustantimes.com/india-news/azim-premji-donates-shares-worth-7-5-billion-to-charity/story-BVS9R1wOTOEyrcPAi3Vw1M.html
Azim Premji, India Has Its Own Andrew Carnegie
https://www.outlookindia.com/blog/story ... ated-/4099
In Azim Premji, India Has Its Own Andrew Carnegie, The Man Who Donated 90% Of His Wealth
Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people.We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Aakar Patel
09 June 2019
The idea that the wealthy individual must give away their money to society and not die rich comes from Andrew Carnegie. He was an American entrepreneur, a self-made man who built a steel empire, and had begun giving away his money from the age of 35.
He died 100 years ago, in 1919, and by that time had given away 90% of his total wealth.
Thirty years before that, in 1889 when Carnegie was in his mid-50s, he wrote a work called The Gospel Of Wealth. In it, he explained why the best use of surplus wealth was to plough it back into society. He discouraged extravagance and self-indulgence by the wealthy and encouraged the government to increase its taxes on the dead.
Before the 19th century, the only people wealthy were aristocrats who held large tracts of land on which they received rent or tax (the Queen of England still owns and taxes parts of London). There were a few merchants, of course, but not many, and most of the wealth was held as land.
The idea of charity during the time was unknown, though the church took a cut of the income of all who could give. This was called a tithe and was often 10% of income. Some form of this survives even today. The Indian Shia communities of Dawoodi Bohras and Ismaili Khojas give a percentage of their annual income to their religious heads, the Syedna and the Aga Khan, who then spend the money, often on charitable things like hospitals and schools.
Hindus also give money to temples, but a lot of it is given as gold, which cannot be used. I am currently in Kerala and visited the Padmanabhswamy in Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the wealthiest temples in India, though most of its riches are held as a precious metal.
It is on this culture that Azim Premji has left his mark. He retired as chairman of Wipro this week and is one of the world’s greatest philanthropists. Premji has given away about one and a half lakh crore rupees of his wealth. Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.
To put it into context, it can fund India’s health budget and education budget. The sum he has given away represents Premji’s life’s work. He began at the age of 21 and took charge of a small company making oil (Wipro stands for ‘Western India Vegetable Products Ltd). He expanded it over the decades, most notably in the information technology space. This is where most of the wealth was produced.
Premji began giving away and pledging his money as he was making it. This ensured that there were professionals who had experience in the sector and were handed control of his money and asked to give it away on his behalf.
This makes Premji highly unusual, especially in India. Our wealthy like opulence, such as palatial houses, yachts, private jets and fleets of flashy cars. The rest of us in the middle class enjoy this spectacle and we call it Page 3 culture.
Premji, even as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has led a modest life. This modesty was visible again when he wrote his letter to Wipro staff announcing his departure.
Most of the letter from the beginning is devoted to introducing the new chairman and new managing director. His own mention comes at the bottom and is typically understated.
There is no reference at all to his own achievements. I do not know of another resignation letter that is like it. Especially from an individual who has such achievements to his name.
As Indians, we don't have many good role models for individual behaviour. Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people. We like loud and charismatic individuals, who behave like movie stars.
We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Few things in the modern era make me proud to be a Gujarati. But Premji’s life is definitely one of them. We can all look at it as an example and say: “This is what the human being is capable of.”
In Azim Premji, India Has Its Own Andrew Carnegie, The Man Who Donated 90% Of His Wealth
Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people.We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Aakar Patel
09 June 2019
The idea that the wealthy individual must give away their money to society and not die rich comes from Andrew Carnegie. He was an American entrepreneur, a self-made man who built a steel empire, and had begun giving away his money from the age of 35.
He died 100 years ago, in 1919, and by that time had given away 90% of his total wealth.
Thirty years before that, in 1889 when Carnegie was in his mid-50s, he wrote a work called The Gospel Of Wealth. In it, he explained why the best use of surplus wealth was to plough it back into society. He discouraged extravagance and self-indulgence by the wealthy and encouraged the government to increase its taxes on the dead.
Before the 19th century, the only people wealthy were aristocrats who held large tracts of land on which they received rent or tax (the Queen of England still owns and taxes parts of London). There were a few merchants, of course, but not many, and most of the wealth was held as land.
The idea of charity during the time was unknown, though the church took a cut of the income of all who could give. This was called a tithe and was often 10% of income. Some form of this survives even today. The Indian Shia communities of Dawoodi Bohras and Ismaili Khojas give a percentage of their annual income to their religious heads, the Syedna and the Aga Khan, who then spend the money, often on charitable things like hospitals and schools.
Hindus also give money to temples, but a lot of it is given as gold, which cannot be used. I am currently in Kerala and visited the Padmanabhswamy in Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the wealthiest temples in India, though most of its riches are held as a precious metal.
It is on this culture that Azim Premji has left his mark. He retired as chairman of Wipro this week and is one of the world’s greatest philanthropists. Premji has given away about one and a half lakh crore rupees of his wealth. Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.
To put it into context, it can fund India’s health budget and education budget. The sum he has given away represents Premji’s life’s work. He began at the age of 21 and took charge of a small company making oil (Wipro stands for ‘Western India Vegetable Products Ltd). He expanded it over the decades, most notably in the information technology space. This is where most of the wealth was produced.
Premji began giving away and pledging his money as he was making it. This ensured that there were professionals who had experience in the sector and were handed control of his money and asked to give it away on his behalf.
This makes Premji highly unusual, especially in India. Our wealthy like opulence, such as palatial houses, yachts, private jets and fleets of flashy cars. The rest of us in the middle class enjoy this spectacle and we call it Page 3 culture.
Premji, even as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has led a modest life. This modesty was visible again when he wrote his letter to Wipro staff announcing his departure.
Most of the letter from the beginning is devoted to introducing the new chairman and new managing director. His own mention comes at the bottom and is typically understated.
There is no reference at all to his own achievements. I do not know of another resignation letter that is like it. Especially from an individual who has such achievements to his name.
As Indians, we don't have many good role models for individual behaviour. Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people. We like loud and charismatic individuals, who behave like movie stars.
We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Few things in the modern era make me proud to be a Gujarati. But Premji’s life is definitely one of them. We can all look at it as an example and say: “This is what the human being is capable of.”
Azim Premji is a philanthropist role model
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion ... model.html
Opinion, Op Ed
Aakar Patel
Aakar Patel is Executive Director of Amnesty International India. A former editor, Patel is a senior columnist and a translator of Urdu and Gujarati works.
Azim Premji is a philanthropist role model
Published Jun 9, 2019, 3:26 am IST
The idea that the wealthy individual must give away their money to society and not die rich comes from Andrew Carnegie. He was an American entrepreneur, a self-made man who built a steel empire, and had begun giving away his money from the age of 35.
He died 100 years ago, in 1919, and by that time had given away 90 per cent of his total wealth.
Thirty years before that, in 1889, when Carnegie was in his mid-50s, he wrote a work called The Gospel Of Wealth. In it he explained why the best use of surplus wealth was to plough it back into society. He discouraged extravagance and self-indulgence by the wealthy and encouraged the government to increase its taxes on the dead.
Before the 19th century, the only people wealthy were aristocrats who held large tracts of land on which they received rent or tax (the Queen of England still owns and taxes parts of London). There were a few merchants of course, but not many, and most wealth was held as land.
The idea of charity in that period was unknown though the Church took a cut of the income of all who could give. This was called a tithe and was often 10 per cent of the income. Some form of this survives even today. The Indian Shia communities of Dawoodi Bohras and Ismaili Khojas give a percentage of their annual income to their religious heads, the Syedna and the Aga Khan, who then spend the money, often on charitable things like hospitals and schools.
Hindus also give money to temples but a lot of it is given as gold, which cannot be used. I am currently in Kerala and visited the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the wealthiest temples in India though most of its riches are held as precious metal.
It is on this culture that Azim Premji has left his mark. He retired as chairman of Wipro this week and is one of the world’s greatest philanthropists. Mr Premji has given away about one-and-a-half lakh crore rupees of his wealth. Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.
To put it into context, it can fund India’s health budget and education budget. The sum he has given away represents Mr Premji’s life’s work. He began at the age of 21 and took charge of a small company making oil (Wipro stands for Western India Vegetable Products Ltd). He expanded it over the decades, most notably into the information technology space. This is where most of the wealth was produced.
Mr Premji began giving away and pledging his money as he was making it. This ensured that there were professionals who had experience in the sector that were handed control of his money and asked to give it away on his behalf.
This makes Mr Premji highly unusual, especially in India. Our wealthy like opulence, such as palatial houses, yachts, private jets and fleets of flashy cars. The rest of us in the middle class enjoy this spectacle and we call it Page Three culture.
Mr Premji, even as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has led a modest life. This modesty was visible again when he wrote his letter to Wipro staff announcing his departure.
Most of the letter from the beginning is devoted to introducing the new chairman and the new managing director. His own mention comes at the bottom and is typically understated. There is no reference at all to his own achievements. I do not know of another resignation letter that is like it, especially from an individual who has such achievements to his name.
As Indians we do not have many good role models for individual behaviour. Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people. We like loud and charismatic individuals who behave like movie stars.
We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Few things in the modern era make me proud to be a Gujarati. But Mr Premji’s life is definitely one of them. We can all look at it as an example and say: “This is what the human being is capable of.”
Opinion, Op Ed
Aakar Patel
Aakar Patel is Executive Director of Amnesty International India. A former editor, Patel is a senior columnist and a translator of Urdu and Gujarati works.
Azim Premji is a philanthropist role model
Published Jun 9, 2019, 3:26 am IST
The idea that the wealthy individual must give away their money to society and not die rich comes from Andrew Carnegie. He was an American entrepreneur, a self-made man who built a steel empire, and had begun giving away his money from the age of 35.
He died 100 years ago, in 1919, and by that time had given away 90 per cent of his total wealth.
Thirty years before that, in 1889, when Carnegie was in his mid-50s, he wrote a work called The Gospel Of Wealth. In it he explained why the best use of surplus wealth was to plough it back into society. He discouraged extravagance and self-indulgence by the wealthy and encouraged the government to increase its taxes on the dead.
Before the 19th century, the only people wealthy were aristocrats who held large tracts of land on which they received rent or tax (the Queen of England still owns and taxes parts of London). There were a few merchants of course, but not many, and most wealth was held as land.
The idea of charity in that period was unknown though the Church took a cut of the income of all who could give. This was called a tithe and was often 10 per cent of the income. Some form of this survives even today. The Indian Shia communities of Dawoodi Bohras and Ismaili Khojas give a percentage of their annual income to their religious heads, the Syedna and the Aga Khan, who then spend the money, often on charitable things like hospitals and schools.
Hindus also give money to temples but a lot of it is given as gold, which cannot be used. I am currently in Kerala and visited the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the wealthiest temples in India though most of its riches are held as precious metal.
It is on this culture that Azim Premji has left his mark. He retired as chairman of Wipro this week and is one of the world’s greatest philanthropists. Mr Premji has given away about one-and-a-half lakh crore rupees of his wealth. Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.
To put it into context, it can fund India’s health budget and education budget. The sum he has given away represents Mr Premji’s life’s work. He began at the age of 21 and took charge of a small company making oil (Wipro stands for Western India Vegetable Products Ltd). He expanded it over the decades, most notably into the information technology space. This is where most of the wealth was produced.
Mr Premji began giving away and pledging his money as he was making it. This ensured that there were professionals who had experience in the sector that were handed control of his money and asked to give it away on his behalf.
This makes Mr Premji highly unusual, especially in India. Our wealthy like opulence, such as palatial houses, yachts, private jets and fleets of flashy cars. The rest of us in the middle class enjoy this spectacle and we call it Page Three culture.
Mr Premji, even as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, has led a modest life. This modesty was visible again when he wrote his letter to Wipro staff announcing his departure.
Most of the letter from the beginning is devoted to introducing the new chairman and the new managing director. His own mention comes at the bottom and is typically understated. There is no reference at all to his own achievements. I do not know of another resignation letter that is like it, especially from an individual who has such achievements to his name.
As Indians we do not have many good role models for individual behaviour. Our leader has worn a suit with his name written on it in gold, and this has not offended most people. We like loud and charismatic individuals who behave like movie stars.
We must note that it is in this environment that a billionaire has chosen to do what nobody has done before him and done it with modesty and dignity.
Few things in the modern era make me proud to be a Gujarati. But Mr Premji’s life is definitely one of them. We can all look at it as an example and say: “This is what the human being is capable of.”
Forbes Asia names Azim Premji Asia's most generous philanthropist
Forbes Asia announced its annual Heroes of Philanthropy list of 30 altruists in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Jack Ma, Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her husband John Shaw and tech entrepreneur Atul Nishar
Azim Premji made history this year as Asia’s most generous philanthropist, giving away shares worth $7.6 billion in his tech firm Wipro to his education-centred Azim Premji Foundation. Forbes Asia announced its annual Heroes of Philanthropy list on Wednesday, highlighting 30 outstanding altruists in the Asia-Pacific region.
The list includes billionaires, entrepreneurs and celebrities across the region who are committed to solving some of the most pressing issues facing the Asia-Pacific. The full list can be found here and in the December issue of Forbes Asia.
Premji retired in July as Wipro’s executive chairman after more than five decades at the helm, and said he would focus more on philanthropy. On the Forbes India Rich List 2019, Premji consequently saw his net worth fall from $21 billion in 2018 to $7.2 billion, and his rank slipped from No. 2 in 2018 to No. 17 this year. The first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, his total lifetime giving now stands at $21 billion.
To select the honorees, Forbes Asia sifted through dozens of candidates, reviewing their monetary contributions, the depth of their involvement and the reach of their philanthropic efforts. The goal is to highlight those giving their own money, not their company’s (unless they are the majority owners of a privately-held firm). The focus is on individuals who provide the capital and are personally committed to achieving a long-term vision. As always, the list features new entries, unless there has been a significant development in a previous honoree’s philanthropy that justifies a relisting. The final selection is unranked and all are considered equally honored on the list.
Also on the list is China’s Jack Ma, who recently stepped down as executive chairman of internet giant Alibaba to devote more time to philanthropy. Since 2014, the Jack Ma Foundation has distributed or pledged at least $300 million to various initiatives in Africa, Australia, China and the Middle East. A former teacher, Ma has a special interest in improving education in rural and impoverished areas of China. Ma also says he hopes to do more to support women’s causes. He is featured on the cover of the December issue of Forbes Asia.
Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her husband John Shaw also feature on the list; they donated $7.5 million to the University of Glasgow in July, the largest single donation the university has received. The couple also pledged $2 million recently to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to establish the Mazumdar-Shaw International Clinical Fellowships. Mazumdar-Shaw, who signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, has also given $3.5 million to Krea University, a new liberal arts university in southern India.
Hexaware Technologies founder-chairman Atul Nishar, makes an appearance too, for giving $1.5 million to a centre for leadership at the Avasara Academy, a girl’s school near Mumbai that provides free education to underprivileged students. After selling his stake in software services firm Hexaware Technologies in 2013 to Barings Private Equity Asia for $200 million, Nishar has donated roughly $1.5 million annually to various causes.
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http://www.forbesindia.com/article/spec ... st/56443/1
Forbes Asia announced its annual Heroes of Philanthropy list of 30 altruists in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Jack Ma, Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her husband John Shaw and tech entrepreneur Atul Nishar
Azim Premji made history this year as Asia’s most generous philanthropist, giving away shares worth $7.6 billion in his tech firm Wipro to his education-centred Azim Premji Foundation. Forbes Asia announced its annual Heroes of Philanthropy list on Wednesday, highlighting 30 outstanding altruists in the Asia-Pacific region.
The list includes billionaires, entrepreneurs and celebrities across the region who are committed to solving some of the most pressing issues facing the Asia-Pacific. The full list can be found here and in the December issue of Forbes Asia.
Premji retired in July as Wipro’s executive chairman after more than five decades at the helm, and said he would focus more on philanthropy. On the Forbes India Rich List 2019, Premji consequently saw his net worth fall from $21 billion in 2018 to $7.2 billion, and his rank slipped from No. 2 in 2018 to No. 17 this year. The first Indian to sign the Giving Pledge, his total lifetime giving now stands at $21 billion.
To select the honorees, Forbes Asia sifted through dozens of candidates, reviewing their monetary contributions, the depth of their involvement and the reach of their philanthropic efforts. The goal is to highlight those giving their own money, not their company’s (unless they are the majority owners of a privately-held firm). The focus is on individuals who provide the capital and are personally committed to achieving a long-term vision. As always, the list features new entries, unless there has been a significant development in a previous honoree’s philanthropy that justifies a relisting. The final selection is unranked and all are considered equally honored on the list.
Also on the list is China’s Jack Ma, who recently stepped down as executive chairman of internet giant Alibaba to devote more time to philanthropy. Since 2014, the Jack Ma Foundation has distributed or pledged at least $300 million to various initiatives in Africa, Australia, China and the Middle East. A former teacher, Ma has a special interest in improving education in rural and impoverished areas of China. Ma also says he hopes to do more to support women’s causes. He is featured on the cover of the December issue of Forbes Asia.
Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her husband John Shaw also feature on the list; they donated $7.5 million to the University of Glasgow in July, the largest single donation the university has received. The couple also pledged $2 million recently to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to establish the Mazumdar-Shaw International Clinical Fellowships. Mazumdar-Shaw, who signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, has also given $3.5 million to Krea University, a new liberal arts university in southern India.
Hexaware Technologies founder-chairman Atul Nishar, makes an appearance too, for giving $1.5 million to a centre for leadership at the Avasara Academy, a girl’s school near Mumbai that provides free education to underprivileged students. After selling his stake in software services firm Hexaware Technologies in 2013 to Barings Private Equity Asia for $200 million, Nishar has donated roughly $1.5 million annually to various causes.
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http://www.forbesindia.com/article/spec ... st/56443/1
Billionaire Tracker: Actions The World’s Wealthiest Are Taking In Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic
Azim Premji: The Indian tech magnate has committed $132 million through his foundation to the Prime Minister’s emergency fund. The Azim Premji Foundation also announced on April 1 that its 1,600 employees would collaborate with government and healthcare workers. Premji’s software developer Wipro Limited has pledged another $13.2 million and Wipro Enterprises Limited has committed $3.3 million.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleycucc ... effe0a7e69
Azim Premji: The Indian tech magnate has committed $132 million through his foundation to the Prime Minister’s emergency fund. The Azim Premji Foundation also announced on April 1 that its 1,600 employees would collaborate with government and healthcare workers. Premji’s software developer Wipro Limited has pledged another $13.2 million and Wipro Enterprises Limited has committed $3.3 million.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleycucc ... effe0a7e69
Azim Premji Is World's 3rd Biggest Donor Towards COVID-19
https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/soc ... 13298.html
Azim Premji Is World's 3rd Biggest Donor Towards COVID-19 Relief Funds, Behind Bill Gates
Shreya Chauhan
Updated on May 15, 2020, 12:31 IST
Many Indian Entrepreneurs have come forward to contribute towards efforts to fight COVID-19, in the country.
One of the biggest contributors among them is Wipro’s founder Azim Premji. One of India’s leading business tycoons, Premji is known for his philanthropic nature.
Reuters
According to the Forbes list of top 10 private donations, Azim Premji has become the world's third biggest private donor to help fight the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
He is the only Indian in the top 10, which primarily consists of US billionaires.
At the beginning of April itself, Azim Premji pledged Rs 1,125 crore towards the fight against COVID-19. The money was donated with the intention of helping the medical and service fraternity - who are at the frontline of the battle against the pandemic - and people belonging to economically backwards sections of society.
Reuters
Of this Rs 1,125 crore ($132 million), the Azim Premji Foundation has donated a total of Rs 1000 crores, Wipro has reportedly donated Rs 100 crore, and Wipro Enterprises has committed Rs 25 crore to help the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Forbes’ data, 77 billionaires had donated to various causes that have to do with coronavirus relief by April end.
Topping the list is Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, who has donated $1 billion (Rs 7,549 crore) to fight against the pandemic.
The second biggest billionaire donor to succeed India's Azim Premji is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, along with Melinda Gates - together they have donated $255 million (approximately Rs 1,925 crore)
Azim Premji Is World's 3rd Biggest Donor Towards COVID-19 Relief Funds, Behind Bill Gates
Shreya Chauhan
Updated on May 15, 2020, 12:31 IST
Many Indian Entrepreneurs have come forward to contribute towards efforts to fight COVID-19, in the country.
One of the biggest contributors among them is Wipro’s founder Azim Premji. One of India’s leading business tycoons, Premji is known for his philanthropic nature.
Reuters
According to the Forbes list of top 10 private donations, Azim Premji has become the world's third biggest private donor to help fight the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
He is the only Indian in the top 10, which primarily consists of US billionaires.
At the beginning of April itself, Azim Premji pledged Rs 1,125 crore towards the fight against COVID-19. The money was donated with the intention of helping the medical and service fraternity - who are at the frontline of the battle against the pandemic - and people belonging to economically backwards sections of society.
Reuters
Of this Rs 1,125 crore ($132 million), the Azim Premji Foundation has donated a total of Rs 1000 crores, Wipro has reportedly donated Rs 100 crore, and Wipro Enterprises has committed Rs 25 crore to help the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Forbes’ data, 77 billionaires had donated to various causes that have to do with coronavirus relief by April end.
Topping the list is Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, who has donated $1 billion (Rs 7,549 crore) to fight against the pandemic.
The second biggest billionaire donor to succeed India's Azim Premji is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, along with Melinda Gates - together they have donated $255 million (approximately Rs 1,925 crore)
Azim Premji turns 77!
Azim Premji turns 77! Interesting facts to know about Asia's top philanthropist
Asia's top philanthropist
One of Asia's top philanthropists, also known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry, Azim Premji, the founder of tech major Wipro, is celebrating his 77th birthday today. Born on July 24, 1945, Premji is known for his generosity. The billionaire has donated a huge portion of his life’s earnings in charity. Here is a look at some of the interesting facts about the business magnate.
Most generous
Forbes Asia has named the business magnate as Asia's most generous philanthropist in 2019. Premji donated his shares worth $7.6 billion in Wipro to Azim Premji Foundation which focuses on improving education quality in India.
When Premji's father got invitation from Pakistan
In 1947, after India and Pakistan got separated. Premji's father Muhammad Hashim Premji got an invitation from Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan , to shift to the country (Pakistan). Premji's father denied and chose to remain in India.
College dropout at 21
Premji was pursuing a degree in engineering at Stanford University when he had to dropout of the college after his father, Muhammad Hashim Premji, passed away. He returned to India and took over the family business. He, later on, completed his education after more than 30 years.
Humble lifestyle
Despite being one of the richests in country, Premji has not shown interest in Luxurious. The business magnate prefers economy class travel. He doesn't own expensive cars and prefers staying in the company's guest houses during business trips. He also likes to have food from the company's canteen, according to media reports.
Family
Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen Premji with two children Rishad Premji and Tariq Premji.
Photos at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 093329.cms
Asia's top philanthropist
One of Asia's top philanthropists, also known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry, Azim Premji, the founder of tech major Wipro, is celebrating his 77th birthday today. Born on July 24, 1945, Premji is known for his generosity. The billionaire has donated a huge portion of his life’s earnings in charity. Here is a look at some of the interesting facts about the business magnate.
Most generous
Forbes Asia has named the business magnate as Asia's most generous philanthropist in 2019. Premji donated his shares worth $7.6 billion in Wipro to Azim Premji Foundation which focuses on improving education quality in India.
When Premji's father got invitation from Pakistan
In 1947, after India and Pakistan got separated. Premji's father Muhammad Hashim Premji got an invitation from Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan , to shift to the country (Pakistan). Premji's father denied and chose to remain in India.
College dropout at 21
Premji was pursuing a degree in engineering at Stanford University when he had to dropout of the college after his father, Muhammad Hashim Premji, passed away. He returned to India and took over the family business. He, later on, completed his education after more than 30 years.
Humble lifestyle
Despite being one of the richests in country, Premji has not shown interest in Luxurious. The business magnate prefers economy class travel. He doesn't own expensive cars and prefers staying in the company's guest houses during business trips. He also likes to have food from the company's canteen, according to media reports.
Family
Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen Premji with two children Rishad Premji and Tariq Premji.
Photos at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 093329.cms