Azim Premji: A Tale of an Indian Business Tycoon, Net Worth,

Azim Premji, the brain behind Wipro Limited is an Indian businessman, engineer, and investor. Under the management and leadership of Premji, Wipro has since become the fourth-largest outsourcer. He is the founder of the Azim Premji Foundation, Azim Premji University, and Mission 10X. Besides being popular for his tech influence in India, he is also greatly associated with philanthropic acts as seen in his $2.2 billion donations to Azim Premji Foundation to support education in India amongst others.

Net worth

$6.2B as of May 27, 2020.

Early life and education

Azim Hashim Premji was born on July 24, 1945, to a Muslim family in Bombay, India.

He enrolled at Stanford University to get a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering but postponed his graduation at the news of his father’s untimely death in 1966 until 1999 when he officially completed his degree program.

Business Career

Muhammed, Premji’s father founded his cooking oil company, Western Indian Vegetable Products Limited. Following his father’s death in 1966, Premji returned home from Stanford to continue his late father’s business. Running his late father’s company opened him up to more ideas about doing business, with that, Premji diversified and expanded the company from just making hydrogenated oil products to other consumer goods such as bakery fats, toiletries, lightings, and hydraulic cylinders amidst other products. The company was officially renamed Wipro in 1977, and it entered into the computer market on the exit of IBM from India in 1979.

Getting into the computer market that Premji was able to do with the partnership and assistance of Sentinel Computer Corporation, an American company. Through Sentinel, Wipro made waves in India with the manufacturing of minicomputers though in recent times a large portion of the company’s income comes from its software products.

On July 30, 2019, Premji stepped down from the role of Wipro’s CEO and executive chairman and has been succeeded by his son Rishad Premji. Azim Premji still maintains his title as Wipro’s founder and a seat on the board. Without any reasonable doubt, Premji is certain that his son, Rishad would take Wipro to the next level of business it requires. In an interview about his decision, he stated that “I have great confidence and trust in Rishad’s leadership to steer Wipro in its next phase of growth as we move forward. Rishad’s contributions to Wipro so far include heading different strategies and multi-million dollar investments which have yielded a great increase for the company over time. According to Forbes, it’s been revealed that during Premji’s leadership and management of Wipro, the company has since generated a total revenue of $8.5 billion for the past 53 years.

Some of Premji’s earliest business strategies involved diversification and hiring the best team to execute a job. From the 1970s to date, India has had one of the finest software developers and programmers in the world. In Premji’s case, quite a number of software developers were willing to work with Wipro for at a reasonable amount Wipro was willing to offer. In exchange for good services, Premji ensured that the developers were duly provided with top-notch training. From manufacturing of minicomputers, Wipro’s company interest extending to developing custom software which were majorly exported to America. It wasn’t until 1999 that the first batch of Wipro custom ‘SuperGenius personal computers were out in the market. Computers. With its new line of business interest—technology, Wipro eventually included mobile hydraulic cylinders and industrial cylinders to its production list. This was in 1988, and by 1992 the company developed its hydraulic cylinder products fit for “construction equipment and truck tipping systems.”

In the late 1990s, Premji became one of the wealthiest tech entrepreneurs globally as a result of the increase in tech stocks in that period. Using the new opportunities that came with computer business, Premji partnered with a telecom company KPN to create the Wipro Net Limited, thereby making Wipro a legalized internet provider company in India. In that same year, 2000, the company launched the Wipro WAP Smart and Wipro OSS Smart.

Wipro became officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2000. Two years later it became the first Indian software tech company to be ISO 14001 certified. Following closely after the company’s tech business breakthrough was its extension to include a new line of business—the manufacturing of lighting products. And by 2011/12, Wipro further extended its business interest to oil and gas which involved signing an agreement with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). In respect to the agreement, Wipro had to employ “70,000 H- 1B visa professional workers in the United States.”

Wipro has since grown into a multi-million conglomerate that provides its customers with services such as information technology, digital strategy, outsourcing, consulting and business process. It has also made significant investments and purchases which has contributed to the growth of the company.

Other Interests

Despite his wealth status, Premji has maintained a remarkable level of modesty and has never failed to give back to his society. “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. He founded the Azim Premji Foundation in 2001. It is a non-profit organization intended to help the less privileged within and outside India. In 2010, it was reported that he transferred 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd to the Azim Premji trust mainly for the purpose of supporting education in India. He also pledged 34% of his Wipro stock worth $7.5 billion to support the foundation even more in March 2019.

In acknowledgment of the Bill Gates and Warren Buffet ‘Giving Pledge’, Premji pledged to give out half of his wealth for the betterment of the less privileged, in 2013. He became the first Indian to make a giving pledge. He has since donated at least half of his wealth to charity.