The Giver

My corporate journey beyond my native shores started in the year 2000 when Wipro opened its first office in 131, Euston Road, London – right next to the Travel Lodge, between the Kings Cross and Euston Tube stations. It was an old two-room split office where I shared the space with networks, servers, and another colleague. I had joined as Business Development Manager for the telecom group. Back then, the European telecom industry was experiencing a big turmoil with several mobile operators losing significant amounts of money. All this while, we were the new kid on the block trying to carve out a space in a fiercely competitive market. For the initial eight months, I struggled to fix meetings. I sought opportunities in vain when hardly a call was being accepted. My dial-up connection was groaning under the number emails sent for meetings without any luck!

During these years, Wipro has become the darling of the stock market, making our Chairman one of the richest persons in the world. His stature belies the genuinely down-to-earth person that he is. On one of his frequent travels to London to build business in the early years, I had an opportunity to take him to a possible prospect, NTL Incorporated – the cable operator from Hook in Hampshire, UK. I picked him from the President Hotel near Euston Square that morning and we waited at the reception for his car. After a while, he diplomatically asked me the time of the appointment and the train’s departure schedule. Oops! That’s when I realized that he was not expecting a car and we were both travelling by the Tube, followed by a taxi ride to NTL.

In the years to follow, I had many such travel interactions during our drives and plane rides. We have had breakfast at McDonald’s where we would order his favorite French fries with a smattering of tomato sauce, an omelet with a sprinkling of pepper with Jalapenos on the side at the Subway, or indulge his love for fish and chips at the street shops. We travelled by the tube or trains, and even walked at times. Soon, I started carrying cashews, almonds, or a Bombay Trail Mix, as he loved junk food that cost no more than a few pounds.

Humility is the true mark of greatness

Our Chairman never declined a meeting even if we did not get any business. In fact, he knocked on the doors of British Telecom for nine years. At every rejection, he came back with his gracious smile, correcting how Wipro is pronounced. The year 2001 saw one of the largest deals by Wipro with 186K Limited. I had to take him for a final deal signing with the board of management at Cliveden Hotel near Maidenhead in Berkshire. Knowing that he is particular about keeping it simple, I was reluctant to divulge the venue details as the vintage wine there costs ￡200 a glass. Every board member of the 186K came in a Rolls Royce or a Bentley, while we arrived in a typical London black cab. He would always enquire how much each dinner cost, and we always struggled to answer. As years went by, he started to ride in a Mercedes during his trips – not because he felt obliged, but he realized that he could make better use of his time reading for a meeting. He valued time more than money. In a recent interaction with him, I found him in his new Toyota Altis Hybrid car. When I enquired, he said that he is not comfortable riding a Mercedes.

Dale Register, the Chief Operating Officer of 186K Limited, went on to become the Chief Executive of British Telecom Global Services. In October 2003, he invited our Chairman and me for a dinner at Langan’s Brasserie, the famous Michelin starred restaurant partly owned by British actor Michael Caine in Mayfair, London. In our usual walk to the restaurant, Mr Premji realized that I was not carrying my coat. On enquiry, I said that I had left it at the office hoping that we would be taking a car ride. He quickly offered to give me his jacket. His humility knew no boundaries.

Creating wealth for the common man

Unsurprisingly, our Chairman deeply inspired those around him. One such gentleman, Mohammed Anwar Ahmed, 60 years of age, lives in the sleepy town of Amalner in district Jalgaon, Maharashtra. It is here that Western India Vegetable Products Ltd. (WIPRO) set up the company's first plant in 1947 to manufacture vegetable ghee, Vanaspati oil and refined oils. Later, when WIPRO Ltd. was listed on the stock exchange, many residents of Amalner who worked at the plant became shareholders of the company. One day, as Mohammed Anwar Ahmed sat sipping tea in a shop, a young stockbroker from Bombay (now Mumbai) named Satish Shah stopped by to ask a question that would change his life. Shah had come to Amalner to buy shares on behalf of his clients in Bombay. He explained to Mohammed how buying shares could make one a part owner in the company. Inspired, Mohammed bought 100 shares of Rs.100 face value, thus investing Rs.10,000 – half of all the money he had. The rest, he invested in starting a trading business. From then on, Mohammed thought of himself as part owner of WIPRO (and rightly so) and vowed never to sell a single share. Today, the shares are valued at Rs. 600 crore – roughly USD 100 million – grown through splits, stock dividends and price! Over the past 40 odd years, Wipro has regularly paid out dividends and increased them almost every year. Cumulatively, Mohammed received USD 25 million as dividends. He is now retired and donates freely to charity from the dividends he receives. His foreign-educated children often advise him to sell the shares, however, Mohammed has stuck to his vow.

Our Chairman’s frugality and minimalism never faded. His generosity and sharing never ended. This ensured a two-decade long debt-free balance sheet and a culture of integrity and operational excellence across the organization. Several investors benefitted greatly as Wipro created wealth of billions of dollars and generated huge employment globally. The wealth continues to be shared with employees making Wipro one of the very few corporations that have consistently done so over the last two decades.

Greatness is not measured by what you have, but by what you give

In a capitalist society where public services are being privatized, value-driven education is the need of the hour. The only way societies flourish is when we have moral prosperity – wealth earned through rightful means. Moral prosperity generates peace, tranquility and harmonious living.

In the year 2001, our Chairman had the distinct vision to identify education as the force to effect social change and decided to donate half of his wealth towards the cause. The impact is little understood and may not be felt in the near term, or even in our lifetime. But, I can safely say that it will transform a large part of the world in the long run. The Azim Premji University is set up by the foundation to contribute to human development thru education. Today 40% of Wipro is owned by the Azim Premji foundation. The spirit of public service has spread its wings to the entire 170,000 employees of Wipro . The employees formed their own community to serve the community through Wipro cares.

For example, in Romania, Wipro cares identified the lack of literacy in rural areas of Bucharest. Today, the volunteers of the organization are working hard to encourage children to join schools. From Tampa to Boston to Dallas, the Wipro cares is providing textbooks and promoting science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM) in schools. Several fellowships are being provided for teachers to equip themselves better.

Azim Premji University – Narratives of human goodness

In India too, from training teachers, building research around societal problems, running a university exclusively focused on education, and removing the obstacles for achieving 100% literacy, the Foundation is creating tremendous impact. The Azim Premji Foundation’s direct fieldwork currently serves seven states and over 300,000 schools.

Marthe Derkzen, a visiting Ph.D. student from Vrije University, Amsterdam hosted a two-day photo exhibition titled, “Living at the margins of Bengaluru’s lakes: Untold stories of change, loss and hope” at the Metro Art Center in Bengaluru, India. Supported by the Azim Premji University, the exhibition received funding from USAID, and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. The idea to design a photography exhibition evolved from research on how residents of low-income settlements next to the city’s lakes depend on the ecological and environmental services provided by lakes. The exhibition effectively generated awareness on how their lives are impacted by lake pollution and degradation.

In another incident, Haffiz Samnani, as a part of ‘Pahal’ – a student’s initiative for social welfare activities, has been working in the Vimochana Nagar slum, a few minutes away from the University campus. He narrates his experience: “Last week, while returning from the slum at night, we met a 95-year-old man. We started calling the old man Taatha, which means grandfather in Telugu – one of the Indian languages. Taatha lived alone and one of his sons had made arrangements with a neighbor for his food. He had not bathed for days and had a long beard. We accompanied him to his house, which was filthy and dilapidated. We immediately offered to clean Taatha’s house.

The next day, we were stunned to see Taatha. He was well-dressed and clean-shaven and almost impossible to recognize! Now, we are part of Taatha’s family and he shares amazing stories of his youth with us. The work that my colleagues have done, starting from the day they cleaned up Taatha’s room, has had a deep impact his life.”

The stories abound and the Azim Premji Foundation’s impact is immense. As I was writing this, I realized the amount of research and publication by the Foundation is phenomenal – be it photo exhibitions, video content, or spreading awareness through magazines. It has touched the lives of many in profound ways.

The moral inheritance

Having taken up the reins of the organization at a very early age and the hours of work he puts in, it is natural that his time with family got less attention. In one of the frank interviews, he admitted that if there is anything he could change in his life, it would be spending more time with his children in their formative years. In an era where family values are diminishing, the Chairman has nurtured a great family. A family that supports and participates in his generosity wholeheartedly. The inheritance is shown in the way both his children emulate the father in simplicity, integrity and, more importantly, in giving. The family is enriched by such moral inheritance.

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The Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy

The frugal giver has not only generously given wealth to shareholders, to employees and to the society at large, but also made sure that it is spent right so that both impact and change are visible.

The Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy, as posted in their website, bestowed by the Carnegie family of institutions since 2001, seeks to inspire a culture of giving by recognizing outstanding philanthropists who reflect the values of Andrew Carnegie and his philosophy of giving — that the surplus wealth of the few should be administered “for the good of the people.” Having amassed what was one of the greatest fortunes of his time, Carnegie’s philosophy of giving was underpinned by the belief that with wealth comes responsibility. As he so eloquently put it, “Wealth is not to feed our egos, but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves.”

Today, on October 2nd, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who championed the movement for nonviolent freedom for India from the British, the giver — our Chairman of Wipro Ltd., Mr Azim H Premji is being conferred the Prestigious Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. And, when the entire board and senior leadership team of Wipro Ltd. decided to felicitate and honor him, he quipped that the smiles on the faces of people in the room around him are more important than the award.

His generosity and humility never fades and it will be handed down to future generations. The entire Wipro family, every Indian, or any citizen of the world who believes in moral prosperity, wholeheartedly salutes the giver!

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