Azim Hasham Premji, CEO and Chairman of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India was born on July 24, 1945; he finished his schooling from St. Mary School, I.C.S.E in Mazgaon, Mumbai and his undergraduate electronic engineering from Stanford University, USA. He is married to Yasmeen Premji; has 2 children - Rishad and Tariq and presently lives in Bangalore, India.
He joined Wipro at the age of 21, immediately after his father's sudden demise with a vision to build an organization on the foundation of values. And the rest is a history; he never looked back after that. Forbes rated him as the richest Indian from 1999 to 2005; as of October 6, 2007 he has wealth worth of $13.6billion. The total revenue from I.T, BPO and R$D Services accounts to nearly $5 billion and Wipro has a presence in over 50 countries; it was the first Indian Company to embrace Six Sigma, the first Software Services Company in the world to achieve SEI CMM Level 5 and it also became the world's first organization to achieve PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model). His objective in life is, "We believe this combination of excellence in operations and strong execution of our strategy is critical to achieve our vision. We will continue to focus on both in future as well."
He has once shared some tips for success:
• Have the courage to think big.
• Never compromise on fundamental values, no matter what the situation.
• Build up self-confidence, always look ahead.
• Always have the best around you, even if they are better than you are.
• Have an obsessive commitment to quality.
• Play to win.
• Leave the rest to the force beyond.
Some of his renowned honors and recognitions are as follows:-
• He was awarded "Business Man of the Year 2000" by Business India.
• Forbes rated him as one of ten people globally, who have the most "power to effect change" in March 2003.
• Fortune in August 2003 ranked him as one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US.
• Business Week in October 2003 featured him on their cover with the sobriquet "India's Tech King".
• "Business Leader of the Year 2004" by the Economic Times.
• Financial Times included him in the list of top 25 billionaires in November 2004.
• Time listed him in April 2004 as one amongst 100 most influential people in the world.
Azim Premji had set up Azim Premji Foundation with a focus to provide financial resources to the weaker section of the society and says that, "it aims at marketing a tangible impact on identified social issues by working in active partnership with the government and other related sectors of society". It focuses on "creating effective and scalable models that significantly improve the quantity of leaning in the school and ensure satisfactory ownership by the community in the management of the school".