Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian business tycoon, philanthropist and Indian business entrepreneur who served as chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as a world leader in the software industry. By the early 21st century, Premji had also become one of the world’s wealthiest people.
Background
Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business. Azim Premji took over the reins of family business in 1966 at the age of 21.
Education
In 1966, just before Premji was to complete his degree in engineering at Stanford University, his father died unexpectedly. Postponing his graduation, the son returned to India to take the reins of the family business and immediately began to diversify, delving into consumer products such as soap, shoes, and lightbulbs, as well as hydraulic cylinders.
Career
At the first annual general meeting of the company attended by Azeem Premji, a shareholder doubted Premji's ability to handle business at such a young age and publicly advised him to sell his shareholding and give it to a more mature management. This spurred Azim Premji and made him all the more determined to make Wipro a success story. And the rest is history. When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software. 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.
Politics
Premji is a Member of the Prime Minister's Councils for National Integration and for Trade and Industry in India. It is not clear which political party or philosophy, if any, Premji supports.
Views
Premji is known to live a modest, frugal lifestyle, where he reportedly flies economy class, prefers to stay at budget hotels instead of luxury hotels, drove a Ford Escort for eight years before upgrading to a Toyota Corolla and prefers to walk to work. He is often spotted wearing shirts with the company logo embellished on the pocket. At his son Rishad Premji's wedding, all guests were reportedly served food on paper plates.
Personality
Premji is known to be a straight forward person, expects competency from his employees and does not put up with lies, deception, bribery or corruption. In the late 1980s, a bureaucrat from a government-owned power utility asked for a bribe to supply power to Wipro's facilities. Premji not only refused to pay the bribe, he ended up spending 150 times the bribe money to build a captive power plant. His mantra has been "integrity is non-negotiable". He says, "Don't do anything that you're unwilling to have published in tomorrow's newspaper with your photograph next to it."
He is a Member of the Indo-UK and the Indo-France CEOs' forum.
In 2013, Premji signed the Giving Pledge, initiated by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, promising to donate the majority of his wealth to charity. He said, "I strongly believe that those of us, who are privileged to have wealth, should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged."
Premji has said that his sons may not inherit his Wipro empire and that they must first prove they are worthy. In a recent interview he said, "Rishad is not going to be the chief executive officer, that's not the career plan for him but, he would be representing ownership obviously."