Who is Azim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian business tycoon, engineer, investor, and philanthropist. He is the chairperson of Wipro Limited.
He is known as Czar of the Indian IT Industries. Asiaweek voted him among the 20 most powerful men in the world in 2010. In 2004 and 2011 he was listed among 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine.
He was regularly listed among the 500 Most Influential Muslims of the world for years. As of October 2019, he is the tenth richest person in India with an estimated net worth of US$7.2 billion.
He agreed to give away at least half of his wealth by signing The Giving Pledge in 2013. For that, he started with a $2.2 billion donations to Azim Premji Foundation for education in India.
Early Life and Education:
Azim Premji was born on 24th July 1945 in a Muslim family in Bombay India. His father was a noted businessperson and known as Rice King of Burma.
Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah invited him to settle in Pakistan but he chose to live in India.
Premji has done Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. His wife’s name is Yasmeen.
They have two children named Rishad and Tariq. Rishad is currently Chief Strategy Officer of IT Business, Wipro.
Career:
He incorporated Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd, at Jalgaon district Maharashtra in 1945.
He manufactured cooking oil named Sunflower Vanaspati and a laundry soap called 787. At the age of 21 after the death of his father, he took charge of Wipro (called Western Indian Vegetable Products at that time).
Later he diversified the company to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient bade toiletries, baby toiletries, lighting products, etc. Later he focused on soaps to software.
Recognition:
He has been recognized as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs for being responsible for making Wipro as the world’s fastest-growing company.
He was honored doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in 2000. He was awarded Lakshya Business Visionary by the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai in 2006.
Even he was an honorary-awarded doctorate by Wesleyan University in Middletown for his philanthropic work. Mysore University also conferred an honorary doctorate on him.
Biography of Sundar Pichai
The government of India honored him with the title of Padma Bhushan for his outstanding work in trade and commerce in 2005.
He was honored with Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award by the Government of India in 2011.
In April 2017, India Today magazine ranked him 9th in India’s most 50 powerful people. Premji was cited by Forbs magazine as one of the ‘Heroes of Philanthropy list of 30 altruists’ in the Asia Pacific region in December 2019.
Azim Premji Foundation:
He founded Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization in 2001. He donated US$2 billion for improving school education in India in December 2010.
That was the largest of its kind in India. In March 2019, he pledged an additional 34% of Wipro stock held by him to the foundation.
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The foundation has warned against fraud emails, which claim to be from the foundation.
| Full name | Azim Hashim Premji |
| Born | 24 July 1945, Mumbai |
| Education | St. Mary’s School, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Stanford University |
| Spouse | Yasmeen Premji |
| Net worth | 620 crores USD |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan, CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Outstanding Achievement, IET Faraday Medal |