The Proposal to restrict hiring holders of H1 visas for skilled workers will choke America of talent coming in and

could generate a trade war with countries such as India

The entrepreneur

Indian engineer and businessman Chairman of Wipro Transformed from vegetable oil company to leading IT services Richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 (Forbes)

About the Person (biodata)

Born July 24, 1945 Bombay Occupation Chairman of Wipro Achievement Padma Bhushan in 2005 Spouse Yasmeen Premji Children Rishad & Tariq
Early life

Initial education St. Mary's School, Mumbai Left E.E from Stanford University, California (fathers death - 1966) Took family business of hydrogenated cooking fats & diversified

Azim Hasham Premji's Value-Based Leadership In July 2007, Business Week nominated Azim Hasham Premji (Premji), the Chairman of Wipro, as one of the top 30 all time great entrepreneurs in the world. The case discusses the leadership qualities of Premji. Under his leadership, Wipro, a small vegetable oil company in the mid-1960s, was transformed into one of the leading IT services company by the early 2000s. Premji had established a strong value system in Wipro and believed that values not only helped in achieving success but also made that success more enduring and lasting. The case discusses in detail about the few leadership initiatives taken up in Wipro in order to develop leaders within the organization.

The turn around Took over Wipro at 21 years of age & transformed from soap to software Ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. known for modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth Greatest Entrepreneurs for Wipro emerging as companies PERSONALITY TRAITS Value-oriented person. Down-to-earth personality. High on action. Believes in professionalism. Prefers solitude to the spotlight worlds fastest growing

AZIM PREMJIS LIFE-AT A GLANCE

Born in the year of 1945 in Bombay. Bhora muslim by religion. He has completed his electronic engineering from Stanford University, USA.

AS A BUSINESS PERSONALITY HIS JOURNEY TOWARDS SUCESS He had took over the reign of his family run business at the young age of 21 in 1986. The biggest hurdle was to win the confidence of the shareholders.

Diversification of family run business into a large empire.

From vegetables oil business to one of the largest IT service provider and software behemoth.

About the person

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. 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.

About the person

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. 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.

About Wipro
Wipro Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides IT services worldwide. It offers software solutions, IT consulting, business process outsourcing services, and research and development services in the areas of hardware and software design. The company operates in three segments: Global IT Services and Products, India and Asia Pac IT Services and Products, and Consumer Care and Lighting. The Global IT Services and Products segment provides IT services to customers in the Americas, Europe, and Japan. The India and Asia Pac IT Services and Products segment operates in the Indian IT market and offers IT products and services to the companies in India, Asia-Pacific, and the

Middle East region. Consumer Care and Lighting segment engages in the manufacture and sale of consumer care and lighting products. The consumer care products include soaps and toiletries, baby products, talcum powders, and hydrogenated cooking oils. The lighting products include light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and luminaries. Wipro Limited was founded in 1945.The company is headquartered in Bangalore, India.

Wipro history detail

The company was established by Mohamed Hasham Premji in 1945. He was a leading rice merchant and commission agent in Bombay. When Mohammed Ali Jinnah set up the planning committee of the Muslim League (on the lines of the national planning committee of the Indian National Congress) in September 1944, he invited Hasham Premji to be a part of it. But Premji did not want to join the League formally for personal and business reasons. He was then assured by Jinnah that he could serve without publicly signing the Muslim League pledge. Jinnah reportedly sought out Premji once again when he was forming the first cabinet in Pakistan to serve as his finance minister. But Premji rejected the offer and decided to stay on in India and nurture his oil business

The person behind

About Wipro
Public BSE: 507685 NYSE: WIT IT Services 1945 M. H. Premji Bangalore, Karnataka India Azim Premji (Chairman) Girish Paranjpye (joint CEO) Suresh Vaswani (joint CEO) SA Sudarshan IT Consulting Business Process Outsourcing Product Engineering Solutions Technology Infrastructure Services US$ 4.98 billion (2009) US$ 0.82 billion (2009) US$ 5.38 billion (2009) 98,391 (As on 27 October, 2009) Wipro.com

Type Industry Founded Founder(s) Headquarters Key people

Services

Revenue Net income Total assets Employees Website

Style of Entrepreneurship
Leadership about enabling others and applied to all walks from family to corporation Built Wipro as a family owned company Grow outside approach where senior executives quit to become Entrepreneurs

Never believed in the media & never accessible for media personnel
Strong value system for making success more enduring and lasting.

UNcEASING QUEST FOR ExcELLENcE

He's the seventh richest Indian and the 60th richest man in the world. In fact, Azim1999-2005, Premji's secrets for success from Forbes has rated him as the richest person in India. He transformed a company that sold vegetable oil into one of the world's most recognized software companies. Humble by nature, 63-year-old Premji prefers to fly economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education.

Awards and Accolades

Richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 by Forbes.

Asia week magazine voted him among the 20 most powerful men in the world in 2000. Awarded an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of higher education in 2000. Business man of the year 2000 by Business India. Featured among the 100 most influential people in the world by Times magazine in 2004. Awarded Padma Bhushan in 2005 by Govt. of india. Member of the Prime ministers Advisory committee for information technology in india. Featured in the business week all-time top 30 entrepreneurs of the world in 2007.

It was a real pleasure to understand the person and the contribution that he has made for India