Azim Premji

  b. 1945 | Indian entrepreneur

At The Bottom

— 1966

Premji knew that he could not refuse his late father's wishes.

Azam Premji was studying for summer school finals when the call came in from his mother, who delivered  devastating  news.  His father, she told the stunned young man, had just dropped dead, the victim of a massive heart attack at the age of 51.  Premji, who was set to begin his senior year as an electrical engineering major at Stanford University, immediately booked a flight back to Mumbai, India, where he had grown up as the son of a vegetable oil manufacturer.  Premji’s father had founded Western India Vegetable Products (“Wipro”) in 1947, and he had done well enough to provide a decent standard of living for his family.  He had, after all, been able to send Azim to an expensive and prestigious American university.  By the mid-1960s, however, his company was struggling to survive.  When Azim Premji returned for his father’s funeral, he learned — much to his distress — that his father had selected him as his successor.  Though he expected to return to Palo Alto to complete his studies, Premji knew that he could not refuse his late father’s wishes.  He had no choice but to stay in Mumbai for a while to see if anything might be done to save a dying business.