Businessman
NAME – Azim Hashem Premji
PROFESSION – Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
BORN – 24/07/1945
PLACE OF BIRTH – Bombay , Bombay presidency , British India
FATHER’S NAME – Mohammed Hashem Premji
MOTHER’S NAME – N/A
SPOUSE – Yasmeen Premji
SIBLINGS – N/A
CHILDREN – 2
EDUCATION – Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
COMPANIES –
- Wipro ltd
- Wipro Consumer Care and Lightening
- Azim Premji foundation (NGO)
AWARDS – Padma Bhushan in 2005
Padma Vibhushan in 2011
BACKGROUND –
Azim Hashem Premji is a famous business tycoon of India, also known as Czar of IT industry and he has also got international recognition as a philanthropist. He is a former chairman of Wipro ltd and a non-executive member of board in the company now. He is a Shia Muslim with roots from Kutch , Gujarat but he was born and brought up in Bombay by his father who was also the renowned industrialist of India.
Premji left his studies at Stanford in the mid after the sudden demise of his father and took charge of the brain child of his father, Western Indian Vegetables Products, whose original product was sunflower oil. He expanded the business to other ranges of products such as toiletries, hydraulic cylinders, and baby care later. He has entered in the IT sector in 1980s to diversify his business and renamed his company as Wipro ltd. His company is now an IT giant of India with the approximate net worth of 559 billion in INR in fiscal year 2020.
He is also an esteemed philanthropist. Inspired from his mother, he has started a NGO called Azim Premji Foundation and has also signed up for The Giving pledge campaign started by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. In 2020 he was titled as’ Most Generous Indian’ as he topped the list of EdelGive Hurun India philanthropy list 2020.
CAREER TIMELINE –
1966 – He became chairman of the Western Indian Vegetables Pvt ltd.
1980 – He entered in the IT and computing industry and renamed the company to Wipro ltd.
1986 – 1992 – He joint ventured with a US giant General Electric healthcare unit and entered into the health industry.
2001 – He started his Non-profit organization Azim Premji Foundation with a vision to improve the education in elementary schools of rural India.
2004 – First time listed in TIME magazine among 100 most influential people.
2009 – He got honorary doctorate from Weslyn University, Connecticut
2018 – He was conferred with Knight of the Legion of Honor
2019 – Forbes listed him in Heroes of philanthropy list of 30 altruists.
June 2019 – He stepped down from the chairman position of Wipro.
CONTROVERSY – A case was filed against Wipro for implementation of NRC in the association without obtaining the mandatory license from the labor commissioner of Assam and government of Assam blamed the company for the disappearance of data from the official site of state government.
