Azim
Premji
The
name of Azim Premji
brings
two thoughts to mind. The owner/promoter of Wipro, one of the largest
IT
companies in the world. The man who has achieved the status of
“The
Richest Indian”. But what is important to mention is that this
legendary
person's lifestyle is simple. Most people who know Azim are aware that
he
avoids anything that is too much extravagance. He flies economy class,
avoids
staying in five star hotels, and prefers clothes, watches and cars that
are
made in India.
Azim
Premji was born on
July
24, 1945 in a wealthy business family when he was 21, he lost his
father. He
was studying Engineering at Stanford University, USA at that time. He
had to
rush back to India to deal with this heavy loss. He knew that it was
time for
him to enter the family business, as there was no one else to carry on
his
father's legacy. He joined "Wipro", his father's vegetable oil
business. Azim started off his career in Wipro with a simple Vision to
build an
organization on a foundation of Values.
This
was in 1966, when the
massive computer revolution was round the corner. Azim realized that
there was
a world of opportunities in the Information Technology field and
decided to
build his business empire in it. Azim Premji was rated the richest
person in
the country from 1999 to 2005 by Forbes. His wealth in 2006 was
estimated at
US$14.8 Billion. Under Azim Premji's leadership Wipro has metamorphosed
from a
Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in
providing
integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global
delivery
platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D
service
provider in the world.
This
status was however
not
achieved overnight. This happened over the years, with Azim and his
team
believing in delivering Value to the Customer through world-class
quality
Processes. This belief has driven Wipro's efforts on Quality. Azim
Premji often
says, "Quality is equal to Integrity both being
non-negotiable." When
it comes to Integrity there are many legendary stories about Azim
Premji.
At one
time, when Azim had
taken over his father's business and wanted to expand. He had o install
a
substation for his Vanaspati unit. He had to wait for 18 months to get
this
going as Wipro refused to bribe the concerned people. It took nearly 20
months
and cost the company dearly, but Azim preferred that to breaking his
values.
This speaks volumes for the man's attitude.
Azim's
focus on growing
the
business has not diminished over the years. He makes it a point to deal
directly with customers as much a possible. Azim has created an
extremely loyal
team and together he and his employees practice the values Wipro has
adopted -
Human Values, Integrity, Innovative Solutions and Values for Money.
Azim is
a visionary in
every
way, and this is reflected in a speech he gave in an International IT
Conference at Bangalore. He said in context of India succeeding as a
nation,
“We need a shared Vision that will ignite the imagination of all
the partners -
the Industry, the Government and the Educational Institutions. The
Industry
will have to bring in the entrepreneurial spirit, the Government will
have to
contribute the appropriate infrastructure and legal support and the
Educational
Institutions must build the talent base." The levels of success have
not
made Azim forget his social obligations. He is involved in various
activities
for the development of people, especially children in third world
countries.
In
2001, Azim established
the
Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization, which contributes to
quality
universal education for children. Azim has personally contributed
the
financial resources to this foundation. The current programs of the
Azim Premji
Foundation engage 1.8 million children under various programs. His
phenomenal
growth has been complemented by befitting awards. In 2000, he was voted
among
the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asia week. He was also among
the 50
richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 according to Forbes, a
leading
financial magazine. According to a2003 BBC report, he is "regarded as
an
Indian Bill Gates".
In
April 2004, he was
rated
among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In
2005,
Azim Premji was honoured with Padma Bhushan. He was awarded a Doctor of
Letters
(D.Litt.), an honorary degree, from the Aligarh Muslim University on
the 18th
of June, 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocation Ceremony of the
University. Despite
all the world media attention and noise, Azim, Premji has a sane head
on his
shoulders. He continues in the same way that he started off almost 40
years
ago. He believes in adding value to his employees through constant
training and
rewards and recognition programmes. Research and quality are still the
two
sacred words in the Wipro shop floor.
Azim
Premji's dream has come true, but he is not
resting on laurels. He has one more dream. He wants to take his company
Wipro,
and India to heights that no one has reached before. And no one has a
doubt
that he will achieve this too.