Mukesh Ambani - CMD, Reliance Industries Ltd.

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani – business tycoon, industry icon, respected leader… Many are the adjectives that can be associated with the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, India’s largest private sector company.

FAMILY
Born on April 19, 1957 in Yemen, Mukesh Ambani is the elder son of the legendary Dhirubhai Ambani. He grew up with 3 siblings, Anil, Dipti and Nina. The passion of their father was balanced by the softness and love of their mother, Kokilaben and the prudence and practicality of Mukesh Ambani’s wife, Nita. In subsequent years, daughter, Isha, and sons, Anant and Akash, were beloved additions to their home.

EDUCATION
Mukesh Ambani did his schooling from Abaay Morischa School, Mumbai and went on to earn a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from UDCT, Mumbai. His choice of education reflected his father’s philosophy of investing in businesses of the future.

To prove to the world that Mukesh Ambani could do whatever he put his mind to, he applied and got accepted by some of the top universities when he applied for their Master of Business Administration course. Eventually, he chose Stanford University as his alma mater, but his growing entrepreneurial instinct urged him to drop out and help his father with his polyester plant.

Even while pursuing the challenging chemical engineering course, Mukesh Ambani was actively involved in his father’s company. As soon as he joined the company formally in 1981, he became one of the main impetuses for the company’s gargantuan progress.

EMERGENCE OF THE ENTREPRENEUR
Reliance’s backward integration from textiles into polyester fibers and further into petrochemicals was Mukesh Ambani’s brainchild. Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat, which is now the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery, was directed under his watchful gaze. He was the force behind the creation of 51 new, world-class manufacturing facilities encompassing diverse technologies that increased its annual manufacturing capacity from less than a mission tons to over thirteen million tons. Currently, the refinery has a manufacturing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day.

Dhirubhai’s dream project, Reliance Infocomm, which is looked after by brother, Anil Ambani, after the company split in 2005, was also entrusted to Mukesh Ambani in its earlier stages.

Mukesh Ambani’s next strategy is to take a giant leap into the retail with stores across the country.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES
Mukesh Ambani’s popularity clearly shone forth in 2007, when he was selected as Businessman of the Year by a public poll conducted by NDTC. In the same year, he was presented the United States-India Business Council (USIBC) Leadership Award for Global Vision in Washington D.C., USA as well as the Chitralekha Person of the Year Award by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi. The same year also saw him recorded as India’s first trillionaire.

Rewinding his life, Mukesh Ambani was chosen as Economic Times Business Leader of the Year in 2006 and ranked 42nd among the World’s Most Respected Business Leaders and 2nd among the four Indian CEOs featured in a survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and published in the Financial Times, London in 2004.

He was also conferred with the World Communication Award for the Most Influential Person in Telecommunications by Total Telecom and chosen Telecom Man of the Year by Voice and Data magazine in 2004. He ranked 13 in Fortune Magazine’s Asia’s Power 25 list of the Most Powerful People in Business and topped the Power List published by India Today for the second consecutive year.

LOCAL KING
In spite of managing the country’s biggest private sector company, Reliance Industries Ltd., Mukesh Ambani’s sight is currently on the Indian market alone. His vision is clear – he wants to expand rapidly within the country and change the lives of its people for the better. However, his focus extends beyond merely size increase to value generation and upscaling.

The MODERN INDIAN PHILANTHROPIST
Mukesh Ambani is regarded as the ‘modern day philanthropist’, whose paragon actions have inspired and cultured a socially sound community today. As the saying goes, ‘A man’s true wealth here-after is derived by the good he does in this world’; Mukesh Ambani has persistently held social welfare through corporate social responsibility (CSR) and charitable deeds in high esteem. He believes in industrious innovations that transform society; and that unless a business has a larger purpose that serves the millions readily, sustainable growth is impracticable.
The Reliance Foundation, spearheaded by Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani, is one of India’s largest corporate run social organization that addresses social development imperatives of India; namely quality, formal and vocational education, affordable high-quality health care, meaningful rural development and urban renewal, and protection and promotion of India’s priceless heritage of arts and culture.

The VALUE CREATOR

Mukesh Ambani run Reliance Industries Limited has been accorded with the second position in the list of world’s 10 biggest ’sustainable value creators’. By generating the largest shareholder value in terms of market capitalization, Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries Limited, both, are held as the finest corporate entities of the world today.

Mukesh Ambani has for long regarded ‘value-addition’ process as primal to any business establishment. He affirms that unless a business admits value; in regards to its products, services, work force, shareholders and end users, a business’s worth is futile. With the influx of this belief into tangible action at RIL, Mukesh Ambani’s conviction has been proven true as Reliance climbs high on prosperity charts, becoming India’s most trusted and value-rich brands today.

THE STORY WITH NO END
Mukesh Ambani dons a cap with many feathers, but he carries them with grace and panache. At 53 years, his sheer energy is enough to take one’s breath away. Having achieved so much, Mukesh Ambani remains hungry for more. So, he continues to create, continues to build and continues to shine brightly on India’s business horizon.

Born in the suburbs of Mumbai, as a child Nita Ambani was fond of Indian Classical dance and also aspired to become a professional classical dancer. Born into a middle class family where her father was a senior executive with Birla and mother, a homemaker, Nita Ambani grew up knowing that Chartered Accountancy was vastly preferred as a career option for her in the family. Nita Ambani went ahead and got a degree in teaching and interior designing. She got married to Mukesh Ambani, the Managing Director of Reliance Industries while she was in her 20s.

Nita Ambani currently plays the role of co-owner of Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians with aplomb. She is also the chairperson of Dhirubhai Ambani International School and is geared up to head the Reliance University in the near future.

Nita Ambani is the Chairperson of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School which was established in June 2003. The school runs on the lines of world class institutions and employs the best curriculum that aims to provide excellent and highly competitive education at the school level. The Dhirubhai Ambani International School is located in Mumbai and is one of the very few schools in India which offer the International Baccalaureate Program. Nita Ambani also spearheads the Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation, a non-profit organization which mainly aims at helping the under privileged lot an equal place in the society and in the corporate world. The foundation also works for the betterment of the educational and health facilities for the underprivileged in India.

An ardent supporter of Cricket, Nita Ambani also co-owns an Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians. Her passion for cricket came alive during Twenty20 tournaments when she was seen supporting the team throughout the tournament.

Nita Ambani’s presence cannot be overlooked when it comes to working for the under privileged. She has been working for the betterment of the living conditions of the deprived for a long time. She spearheads the project Drishti and also works as a social activist as a part of Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation. Nita Ambani has successfully managed to earn a place for the physically challenged in many corporate sector companies and other facilities in the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City located in Navi Mumbai. Nita Ambani is also associated with UNAIDS with a message to halt the spread of HIV epidemic in India.

Nita Ambani earned the Samaj Seva Vishwa Bhushan at the Bharat Nari Shakti award function. The award function was held on the occasion of International Women’s Day in 2005 which acknowledged her selfless service, leadership qualities and innovative ideas especially in the fields of health care and education.
Nita Ambani tied the knot with Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries Limited while in her 20s. Elder daughter-in-law to Dhirubhai Ambani and Kokilaben, Nita Ambani has three children with Mukesh Ambani, a daughter Isha and two sons Anant and Akash.

For all the Indian students who have ever dreamt of pursuing MBA from the prestigious Stanford School of Business, good news is on its way. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited along with the Stanford Graduate School of Business had announced the creation of Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship programme in 2008 to support Indian students with financial problems. This year also Stanford School of Business will offer scholarship to Indian nationals under MBS programme.

Under this scholarship programme started by the Reliance Industries Limited, Stanford will award five Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Fellowships every year to offer full financial support to the Indian students. This Reliance Dhirubhai scholarship will also cover expenses including travel, tuition and accommodation. This scholarship includes 100 per cent tuition cover along with all the expenses starting from applying till attending the MBA programme which is approximately $85,000 for a single student and $95,000 for a married student.

The students eligible for applying for Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship should be citizens of India and are required to sit for a test where the aspirant needs to write a 250 word article on ‘ How do you aspire to shape your country’s future?’ Once the scholarship is awarded to the students for MBA degree, Reliance Industries want the students to return to India within two years of graduating from the Stanford School of Business and work here for the next two years and serve their own country.

Since India is a fast growing economy, good management talent is required and for this, such tie ups will surely help India to grow fast in both national and international market. The finalists are selected on the basis of merit, commitment to develop India and the financial needs. After a good academic performance in a year, the scholarship is automatically renewed for the next year also. The Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows are bound to return to India and work here for minimum two years in public or private sector.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business receives funds from various individuals, corporations and foundations every year with a number of fellowship programmes. Private companies and other organizations offer grants, scholarship and funds to MBA students. If the student is availing of the funds from the scholarship programme, then the Stanford business school does not approve of any kind of educational loans. Some other fellowship programmes offered at the Stanford include Siebel Scholars Programme, GSB Internship Programme, Social Innovation Fellowship and Entrepreneurial Summer Programme. The last date for submitting applications is June 1,2010.

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-industries-scholarship-to-stanford/

It may have been more than half a decade since the man behind India’s largest private sector company, Dhirubhai Ambani, had passed away; however, the legacy built by him has been carried on through Reliance Industries and his elder son Mukesh Ambani. Mukesh Ambani has not only taken over the reigns and responsibilities of Reliance Industries Limited but has also been quintessential in making the company a global entity. While Dhirubhai Ambani has been referred to as the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur, Mukesh Ambani has been ranked as one of the world’s most respected business leaders and conferred various awards for his leadership skills.

Dhirubhai Ambani began his entrepreneurship journey at the age of 16 when he moved to Yemen, while Mukesh Ambani decided to join his father’s business at the age of 24. Dhirubhai Ambani’s single minded determination and vision took Reliance from a regular textile business to the conglomerate it is today. He is also credited of having shaped India’s equity culture by introducing innovative instruments like the convertible debentures to the then financial institution dominated market.

Mukesh Ambani too has made contributions that have not only helped shaped the future of Reliance Industries, but also helped shape the future of the energy sector in India. Following his father’s footsteps of “dare to dream and learn to excel”, Mukesh Ambani was the brain behind Reliance’s key strategy of backward integration. This key strategy helped Reliance Industries foray from textiles into polyester fibres and further petrochemicals. Following Mukesh Ambani’s backward integration strategy, Reliance also ventured into the production of biopharmaceuticals with Reliance Life Sciences after identifying bio-fuels as an alternative energy source.

Mukesh Ambani can also be credited of being the brain behind the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar as well as leading Reliance Industries in the retail sector with Reliance Retail. While Dhirubhai Ambani was the first Indian to be awarded the Dean’s medal by the Wharton School, Mukesh Ambani too has been bestowed by a Dean’s medal by the University of Pennsylvania for his visionary leadership in the application of engineering and technological advancements for the betterment of mankind.

While Dhirubhai Ambani was voted as the “Greatest Creator of Wealth in the Centuries” in 2000, Mukesh Ambani ranked fifth amongst the top performing CEOs in the world according to the Harvard Business review conducted for January-February 2010. While Dhirubhai Ambani won the Economic Times Lifetime Achievement Award for corporate excellence in 2001, Mukesh Ambani was honored by the “ET Business Leader of the Year Award” by the Economic Times in the year 2006. Also while Dhirubhai Ambani was named the “Man of the 20th Century” by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mukesh Ambani has been ranked number eight on the Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Powerful Billionaires”. The dream that was started by Dhirubhai Ambani with an initial investment of Rs.50,000 has been taken forth by Mukesh Ambani to make him the wealthiest person in India. Therefore, the adage “Like father, like son” is probably the most appropriate description for the father-son duo of Reliance Industries.

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-the-torch-bearer/