Azim Premji

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian businessman, investor, and philanthropist who served as chairman of Wipro Limited for over five decades (1966-2019). Often called the "Czar of the Indian IT Industry," Premji transformed a small vegetable oil company into one of the world's leading information technology services companies. With a net worth of approximately $25 billion, he is among India's wealthiest people, but is equally famous for being one of the most generous philanthropists in the world. Born in Mumbai to a Gujarati Muslim family, Premji took over Wipro at age 21 after his father's death. The company was then a small vegetable oil manufacturer called Western India Vegetable Products. Under his leadership, Premji pivoted the company into the technology sector in the 1980s, making bold bets on software services when India's IT industry was still in its infancy. Wipro grew from a vegetable oil company to a $12 billion global IT services giant under Premji's guidance. The company provides IT consulting, software development, and business process outsourcing services to clients in over 60 countries. Premji is credited with building a culture of frugality, efficiency, and customer focus at Wipro. Perhaps more remarkable than his business success is Premji's extraordinary philanthropy. He has donated over $30 billion of his personal wealth — one of the largest philanthropic donations in history. The Azim Premji Foundation works to improve the quality of education in government schools across India, operating through the Azim Premji University, which focuses exclusively on teacher education and development studies. The foundation is one of the largest private foundations in India.