Azim Premji is widely respected for both his business acumen and charitable giving, helping shape India’s IT industry while giving millions to improving education. He made headlines worldwide as the former chairman of Wipro.
He established the Azim Premji Foundation to enhance India’s public school system, as well as joining The Giving Pledge, a campaign by world’s richest people to donate most of their wealth to charitable causes.
1. Investing in India’s Future
Azim Premji has amassed an immense fortune through hard work and business acumen, earning his status as one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs. From small cooking oil company roots, Premji transformed Wipro Ltd. into one of the leading IT services companies worldwide with a market cap equaling Pakistan’s GDP. Furthermore, Premji has used his wealth to establish charitable initiatives like The Azim Premji Foundation that aim to provide educational opportunities for children living across India.
His commitment to philanthropy and leadership have earned him numerous honors, awards, and accolades, such as receiving the Padma Bhushan, which is India’s second highest civilian honor, and Business Week listing him among its 30 greatest entrepreneurs in the world. Furthermore, he was chosen as a keynote speaker at this year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
Premji has found immense success, yet remains grounded and values simplicity over extravagance. He drives a Toyota Corolla and often walks to work; insisting upon balance in life as “working with excellence is the best way to achieve sustainable growth”.
Premji is well-versed in how technology innovation can help better lives. He supports agile development methodologies and encourages his employees to take risks when creating new products. Furthermore, he believes there are untapped opportunities in the IT industry, so he stays abreast of new trends by reading as frequently as possible.
As founder and chairman of the Azim Premji Foundation, Premji has an ambitious long-term plan for improving educational opportunities in India. He has donated billions to this nonprofit and pledged most of his wealth before death – an initiative spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that urges the world’s richest individuals to donate most of their fortunes to charity.
The Foundation seeks to foster a more just, equitable, and humane society through investments in education, research, and innovation. In order to realize its goal of contributing towards building a more just society through investments in education, research, and innovation; high-impact interventions which have the ability to change lives for many while simultaneously addressing long-standing social problems are prioritized for funding by the Foundation.
2. Investing in Education
Azim Premji left an indelible legacy through his dedication to education, as evidenced by his philanthropy. In 2001, the Azim Premji Foundation was created in India to foster primary and secondary school education by providing grants to schools, governments, educational reform efforts and child-friendly content creation for local languages; offering teacher training sessions as well as encouraging use of technology in classrooms. Their mission is to help children become capable and compassionate adults that contribute positively towards building an India that accepts different viewpoints and cultures alike.
Asian Venture Philanthropy reports that family philanthropy for education has seen annual compounded annual growth of an average annual rate of 12 percent since 2010, driven by HNIs/affluent givers who make up an increasing portion of total family philanthropy giving. This growth demonstrates the critical nature of investing in quality education for poor and marginalised populations.
Education can lead to higher earnings; evidence supports this claim and shows a strong return on investment for education investments. When including social costs of schooling such as teachers’ salaries and infrastructure investments, social rate of return becomes evident.
Returns on investments can help inform policymaking decisions, including prioritizing public education investments and identifying any gaps in schooling. Furthermore, disaggregating education-wage differentials among different age groups identifies individuals who require targeted investments for additional support or funding.
Techpreneurs are uniquely equipped to make large scale philanthropic investments that will create significant and impactful change, given their capacity for taking riskier bets and drawing upon domain expertise to address systemic development issues rather than simply treat symptoms of problems. Their growing engagement in philanthropy creates an ecosystem which catalyses transformative changes towards creating an equitable and sustainable world for all.
3. Investing in Health
Indian healthcare sector is an exciting, dynamic market with great potential for high returns, driven by government initiatives to expand healthcare access and improve outcomes. Furthermore, industry changes such as data analytics and machine learning technologies offer healthcare companies an opportunity to reshape infrastructure to better suit local consumer demands.
India, commonly referred to as “the pharmacy of the world”, is one of the premier producers and exporters of generic medicines. With two-thirds of children worldwide receiving vaccines through India’s robust vaccine portfolio, its vaccination campaign plays a key role in combatting infectious diseases globally. Furthermore, India boasts a strong manufacturing base which gives the country an edge when producing medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Under Azim Premji’s direction, Wipro expanded from being a family-owned business founded in 1945 into a global enterprise with operations in over 25 countries. He established an impeccable record in ethical business practices and building high-performing teams; garnering him international renown. Furthermore, through the Azim Premji Foundation he made significant donations towards education and charitable causes.
Azim Premji’s charitable investments and leadership have won him multiple accolades and awards, such as India’s highest civilian honors (Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan). Despite his vast wealth, he remains committed to affordable healthcare by supporting several innovative healthcare startups despite this vast wealth. Furthermore, his family have invested in healthcare-specific private equity funds.
While India remains economically healthy, multidimensional inequalities persist across its landscape. Amid growing attacks against minorities, rationalists, and human rights defenders, philanthropy must play an active role. Unfortunately, timidity has pervaded this sector; only a handful of players support contentious causes or activists within India’s borders; furthermore, communities remain susceptible to external shocks without strong support networks for civil society in general. To strengthen India’s philanthropic ecosystem and ensure sustained support is given for these groups while amplifying their impact.
4. Investing in Culture
Philanthropy development in India is essential to reaching its ambitious goals of opening 100 million additional bank accounts, building world-class digital infrastructure, and reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. For this to occur successfully, however, an enabling environment must exist: one that provides guidance for giving, promotes giving as a behavior and facilitates capital flows.
One way of doing so is to recognize philanthropic role models and offer opportunities for them to mentor emerging philanthropists. A second strategy would be strengthening nonprofit capacity when managing philanthropic investments that often require both financial and operational rigor. Finally, improving cultural acceptance of philanthropy should also be prioritized.
Azim Premji has been an innovator in fostering an environment of excellence at Wipro. He was responsible for developing its value system which prioritizes ethics and respect for people, as well as creating the Azim Premji Foundation which supports non-profit organizations working on education and human development – his $15 billion donation making it one of the largest endowments globally.
The foundation’s broad philanthropic efforts focus on improving public education in India. Currently working with over 350,000 schools in seven Indian states and providing an endowment fund for non-profits working on nutrition, local governance and the well-being of vulnerable groups, its efforts encompass an endowment which also supports not-for-profits working on these areas.
Premji is both a philanthropist and chairman of Wipro Ltd, an information technology, consulting, and outsourcing company employing over 250,000 workers. He has unrevocably donated most of his wealth for charitable use through the Premji Foundation which now holds 66% economic ownership as of January 2023.
Wipro was established by Premji’s father as Western India Vegetable Products to produce hydrogenated cooking oil. When his father passed away in 1966, Premji left Stanford University to take over their family business – gradually transitioning it towards computer and software manufacturing and eventually changing to Wipro in 1977.
