Dhirubhai Ambani was an Indian business magnate who founded Reliance Industries. He is one of the few to be selected in the ‘top 50 businessmen in Asia’ list of Sunday Times. His entrepreneurial efforts have made his family amongst the richest families of the world.
Ambani was born on 28th December 1932 in Gujarat, British India. The rags to riches story began when Ambani began his career in 1950s at a Yemeni firm. He had moved to Yemen at the age of 16, after completing his matriculation. He came to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business. After some time he went into textiles and opened a mill in Naroda industrial area in Ahmedabad. He established Reliance Industries in 1966. Today the company consists of more than 85,000 employees and is the provider of approximately 5 percent of India’s Central Government’s total tax revenue. Ambani is credited for building Reliance from scratch to become one of the biggest companies in the private sector. He diversified his business to include petrochemicals, information technology, telecommunications, power, energy, capital markets, infrastructure services, retail, logistics and textiles. He developed the brand Vimal; which is now a household name in India.
Dhirubhai Ambani revolutionized capital markets in the country by appealing to millions of retail investors to invest in the market which was previously controlled by financial organizations. Those who invested in the company earned millions. Reliance Industries was a stock market favorite. It was the first company in India that raised money in international markets and the first to be listed in the Forbes 500 list. Ambani created this vast business empire in only two decades. It was under his visionary management and guidance that the Reliance Industries turned out to be the biggest conglomerate in Indian history. There is no other Indian company that can match the growth rate of the Reliance Group. It is a living example of Ambani’s invincible willpower, perseverance and unrelenting dedication to his objectives.
The number of groundbreaking examples set by Dhirubhai Ambani are countless. He challenged conventional wisdom with his unique vision. He was the first Indian businessman to realize the importance of investors and learn the huge prospects of the capital markets. He won several accolades and titles in his life. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry called him the ‘Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century’. He was given the Dean’s Medal for ‘setting an outstanding example of leadership’ by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. According to a poll done by The Times of India, Ambani was the ‘greatest creator of wealth in the century’. He was given the ‘Man of the Century’ award by the Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World due to his huge contribution to the development of the Indian chemical industry. Ambani is a big inspiration for young entrepreneurs, developing companies and business leaders.
Ambani died on 6th July 2002 after going through a major stroke. After suffering a heart attack in 1986 he had given the Reliance Empire to his two sons Mukesh and Anil Ambani.
