Indian Heroes : Indian Entrepreneurs/BIOGRAPHIES

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MP Guru
Achievement: Chairman of the Bajaj Group

Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman of the Bajaj Group, which ranks among the top 10 business houses in India. The Bajaj Group has diversified interests ranging from automobiles, home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance. Rahul Bajaj is one of India's most distinguished business leaders and internationally respected for his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.
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Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard, St. Stephen's and Cathedral. He took over the reins of Bajaj Group in 1965. Under his stewardship, the turnover of the Bajaj Auto the flagship company has risen from Rs.72 million to Rs.46.16 billion. Rahul Bajaj created one of India's best companies in the difficult days of the licence-permit raj. He established factories at Akurdi and Waluj. In 1980s Bajaj Auto was top scooter producer in India and its Chetak brand had a 10-year waiting period.

The initiation of liberalization in India posed great challenges for Bajaj Auto. Liberalisation brought the threat of cheap imports and FDI from top companies like Honda. Rahul Bajaj became famous as the head of the Bombay Club, which opposed liberalization. The scooter sails plummeted as people were more interested in motorcycles and the rival Hero Honda was a pioneer in it.

The recession and stock market collapse of 2001 hit the company hard and it was predicted that the days of Bajaj Auto were numbered. However, Bajaj Auto re-invented itself, established a world-class factory in Chakan, invested in R&D and came up with Bajaj Pulsar Motorcycle. Bajaj Pulsar is currently a leader in its segment.

Recently, Rahul Bajaj was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
 

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MP Guru
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Born: September 16, 1954
Achievement: Founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd; Chosen as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Services in 1999

Ramalinga Raju is one of the pioneers of the Information Technology industry in India. He is the founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

Ramalinga Raju was born on September 16, 1954 in a family of farmers. He did his B. Com from Andhra Loyola College at Vijayawada and subsequently did his MBA from Ohio University, USA. Ramalinga Raju had a stint at Harvard too. He attended the Owner / President course at Harvard.

After returning to India in 1977, Ramalinga Raju moved away from the traditional agriculture business and set up a spinning and weaving mill named Sri Satyam. . Thereafter he shifted to the real estate business and started a construction company called Satyam Constructions. In 1987, Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam Computer Services along with one of his brothers-in-law, DVS Raju. The company went public in 1992. With the launch of Satyam Infoway (Sify) Satyam became one of the first to enter Indian internet service market. Today, Satyam has a global presence and serves 44 Fortune 500 and over 390 multinational corporations.

Ramalinga Raju has won several awards and honors. These include Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Services in 1999, Dataquest IT Man of the Year in 2000, and CNBC's Asian Business Leader - Corporate Citizen of the Year award in 2002.
 

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MP Guru
Born: December 28, 1937
Achievement: Honored with Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian awards in 2000.
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Ratan Tata is presently the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group. Ratan Naval Tata is also the Chairman of the major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices. He has taken Tata Group to new heights and under his leadership Group's revenues have grown manifold.

Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Bombay. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from Cornell University in 1962. Ratan Tata had a short stint with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, California, before returning to India in late 1962. He joined the Tata Group and was assigned to various companies before being appointed director-in-charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company (NELCO) in 1971. Ratan Tata was appointed Chairman of Tata Industries in 1981. He was assigned the task of transforming the company into a Group strategy think-tank, and a promoter of new ventures in high technology businesses.

In 1991, Ratan Tata took over the Chairmanship from JRD Tata. Under him Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed in the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors came up with Tata Indica, the first truly Indian car. The car was the brainchild of Ratan Tata.

Ratan Tata was honored with Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian awards in 2000. He was also conferred an honorary doctorate in business administration by Ohio State University, an honorary doctorate in technology by the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, and an honorary doctorate in science by the University of Warwick.
 

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MP Guru
Born: 1922
Achievement: Founder of Raunaq Group; Elected as a member of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris
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Raunaq Singh was one of the earliest entrepreneurs of independent India who made it big. He was the founder of Raunaq group. The Raunaq Group's major companies include Apollo Tyres Ltd, Bharat Gears Ltd, Bharat Steel Tubes Ltd, Raunaq International Ltd, Menarini Raunaq Pharma Ltd, and Raunaq Automotive Components Ltd.

Raunaq Singh was born in 1922. After initial struggle he went on to become a powerful figure in corporate India. At one point of time in his life he could afford only one paisa a day for meals and when he retired his group was employing 9000 people on his payroll.

Raunaq Singh was a great advocate of economic liberalization and globalization of the Indian business. He worked tirelessly to put the Indian industry on the global map. He held several key leadership positions in Industry & Trade Associations. These included President Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), President The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Chairman Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, and President Federation of Indian Export Organization.

Raunaq Singh won several awards for his entrepreneurship. He was often referred as "Mr. Exporter", because of his inclination for exports and export promotion for Indian Industry. Raunaq Singh also won international recognition for his entrepreneurial skills. was elected as a member of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris for a three-year term.

Raunaq Singh died on September 30, 2002.
 

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MP Guru
Achevement: Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), India's largest infotech conglomerate

Shiv Nadar is the Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), India's largest infotech conglomerate. He figures in the Forbes list of Indian billionaires.
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Originally hailing from Moolaipozhi Village,Trichendur,Tutocorin District, Tamil Nadu, Shiv Nadar moved to Delhi in 1968. He worked as an engineer with DCM Ltd. But the entrepreneur in Shiv Nadar wanted to set up his own business. Therefore, he along with six of his colleagues launched a firm making office products like copiers.

In late 1970s, when IBM quit India, Shiv Nadar's HCL stepped in to fill the vacuum. In 1982, HCL came out with its first computer. Today, HCL derives 80% of its revenue from computers and office equipment. HCL has also been spreading its global reach. Its Singapore subsidiary, Far East Computers, achieved a breakthrough in imaging technology, which, among other applications, enables computers to read handwritten tax returns.

HCL has adopted innovative practices to achieve growth. In the U.S, a software subsidiary, HCL America, has reaped huge dividends by taking advantage of global time zones. Every morning, the company's Chennai office receives software assignments from the U.S, just after work stops there for the night. A team of Indian engineers, with salaries much lower than those of their American counterparts, complete the jobs and send them back in the evening.

In a short span of time, Shiv Nadar has reached pinnacle of success by his hardwork, vision, and entrepreneurial spirit.
 

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MP Guru
Achievement: Founder of Zee TV, India's first private TV channel
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Subhash Chandra is the founder of Zee TV, India's first private TV channel. This onetime rice trader from Hissar, Haryana has today transformed into a media baron and his other interests include packaging, theme parks, lotteries and cinema multiplexes.

Subhash Chandra launched Zee Telefilms Limited in October 1992 as a content supplier for Zee TV - India's first Hindi satellite channel. Subash Chandra was the first in India who sought to harness the huge business potential of satellite television channels. Before the launch of Zee TV viewers in India were under the firm grip of Doordarshan, the state-controlled terrestrial network. It was Subhash Chandra's vision that helped give birth to the satellite TV industry in India and inspired others to follow suit.

After the launch of Zee TV, he commenced Siticable operations in 1995 and also started a joint venture with News Corp. In 1995, he launched two new channels, Zee News and Zee Cinema. In 2000, Zee TV became the first cable company in India to launch Internet over Cable services. In 2003, Zee TV became the first service provider in India to launch Direct to Home (DTH) services. In a short span of time Zee TV has become a big media and has give tough competition to international media moghuls such as Rupert Murdoch.

Subhash Chandra's meteoric rise in the past decade is somewhat similar to the rise of Dhirubhai Ambani in 1980s and 1990s.
 

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MP Guru
Achievement: Chairman of the Sahara Group

Subroto Roy, is the head of the $10bn (£5.5bn) Sahara Group. Sahara Group has interests in banking, aviation, media and housing.
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Subroto Roy began his journey in 1978, when he founded Sahara in 1978 with three workers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as a small deposits para-banking business. Today, the group has diversified into a giant business conglomerate with interests in housing, entertainment, media and aviation.

Sahara Group presently runs a private airline, entertainment and news television channels, a newspaper, and claims to own some 33,000 acres of real estate across India. It also sponsors the Indian cricket and hockey teams and intends to move into life insurance, housing finance, consumer products, sportswear, and healthcare.

Sahara Group has come up with one of the most prestigious real estate projects in India, namely Amby Valley Project. The project boasts some of the biggest name in Indian entertainment and sports arena as well as some former international Olympic medal winners as its brand ambassadors. Sahara Airline was recently in news for its merger with Jet Airlines. But the deal fell through.

Sahara Group has a huge complex in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The complex is known as Sahara City. Subrato Roy is famous for his flamboyant lifestyle. The wedding of his two sons became talk of the town. The who's who of Indian elite attended it and its expenditure ran into hundreds of crores. Subroto Roy calls himself as the group's "chief guardian".
 

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MP Guru
Achievement: Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group, India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service provider; IT Man of the Year Award 2002 from Dataquest and CEO Of the Year, 2002 Award from World HRD Congress.
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Sunil Mittal can be called as originator of cellular phone revolution in India. He is the founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group and runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service.

Sunil Bharti Mittal's father was an M.P. Sunil did not followed his father's footsteps. After graduating from Punjab University in 1970s, he set up a small bicycle business in Ludhiana in partnership with his friend. By 1979, Sunil Mittal realized that his ambitions could not be fulfilled in Ludhiana, so he moved out to Mumbai from Ludhiana.

He spent a few years in Mumbai and in 1982, Sunil Mittal started a full-fledged business selling portable generators imported from Japan. This gave him a chance to acquaint himself with the nitty-gritty's of marketing and advertising. His business was running smoothly but later on the government banned the import of generators as two Indian companies were awarded licenses to manufacture generators locally.

In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. Gradually he expanded his business and by early 1990s, Sunil Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear.

In 1992, when the Indian government was awarding licenses for mobile phone services for the first time, Sunil Mittal clinched Delhi cellular license in collaboration with French telecom group Vivendi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal founded Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Soon, Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti Cellular Limited also rolled out India's first private national as well as international long-distance service under the brand name IndiaOne. In 2001, BCL entered into a joint venture with Singapore Telecom International for a $650-million submarine cable project, India's first ever undersea cable link connecting Chennai in India and Singapore.

Today, Sunil Mittal runs a successful empire with a market capitalization of approximately $ 2 billion and employing over 5,000 people. He has been honored with several awards. Sunil Bharti Mittal was chosen as one of the top entrepreneurs in the world for the year 2000 and amongst 'Stars Of Asia', by 'Business Week'. He also received IT Man of the Year Award 2002 from Dataquest and CEO Of the Year, 2002 Award (World HRD Congress).
 

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MP Guru
Achievement: Chairman of Suzlon Energy Ltd, Ranks among top 10 richest men of India.
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Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman of Suzlon Energy Ltd, a company dealing in wind energy. He is one of those first time entrepreneurs who saw potential in an inchoate idea, ventured into it, and made it big. Today, he ranks among top 10 richest men of India.

A commerce graduate and a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, Tulsi Tanti originally hails from Gujarat and is presently based in Pune, Maharashtra. Tulsi Tanti was earlier into textiles. He started his textile business in Gujarat. But he found that the prospects stunted due to infrastructural bottlenecks. The biggest of them all was the cost and unavailability of power, which formed a high proportion of operating expenses of textile industry.

In 1990, Tulsi Tanti invested in two windmills and realized its huge potential. In 1995, he formed Suzlon and gradually quit textiles. Suzlon Energy is the sixth largest wind energy company in the world and the largest in Asia. It is presently building what will be among the world's largest wind parks of its kind at 1,000 MW capacity.

Suzlon is currently concentrating on global expansion drive. It recently acquired Hansen Transmissions, a Belgian maker of wind-turbine gearboxes. Suzlon is also building a rotor-blade factory in Minnesota and has invested $60m in a factory in Tianjin, China. Tulsi Tanti is poised to make India a wind-power export hub.
 

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MP Guru
November 26, 1921
Achievement: Known as the "father of the white revolution" in India; Winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award; Awarded with Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), and Padma Vibhushan (1999).

Dr. Verghese Kurien is better known as the "father of the white revolution" in India. He is also called as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the success of the largest dairy development program in the world, christened as Operation Flood. He was the chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) and his name was synonymous with the Amul brand.

Born on November 26, 1921 in Kozhikode, Kerala, Dr. Verghese Kurien graduated with Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940. Subsequently, he did his B.E.(Mechanical) from the Madras University and went to USA on a government scholarship to do his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. In between, he completed special studies in engineering at the Tata Iron and Steel Company Institute at Jamshedpur, Bihar, in February 1946 and underwent nine months of specialized training in dairy engineering at the National Dairy Research Institute of Bangalore.

Dr. Verghese Kurien returned from America in 1948 and joined the Dairy Department of the Government of India. In May 1949, he was posted as Dairy Engineer at the Government Research Creamery, a small milk-powder factory, in Anand, Gujarat. Around this time, the newly formed cooperative dairy, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited ((KDCMPUL), was engaged in battle of survival with the privately owned Polson Dairy, which was a giant in its field. Enthused by the challenge, Dr. Verghese Kurien left his government job and volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a processing plant. This led to the birth of AMUL and the rest is history.

In 1965, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) under the leadership of Dr. Verghese Kurien to replicate the success story of Amul throughout the country. In 1973, Dr. Kurien set up GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) to market the products produced by the dairies. Under Dr. Kurien's stewardship India became the as the largest producer of milk in the world,

During his illustrious career, Dr. Verghese Kurien won many accolades and awards. These include: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna Award (1986), Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation (1986), World Food Prize Laureate (1989), International Person of the Year(1993) by the World Dairy Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and Padma Vibhushan (1999).
 

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MP Guru
Achievement: Chairman of the United Beverages (UB) Group; Launched a new domestic airline called Kingfisher Airline; Rajya Sabha M.P.

Vijay Mallya is the Chairman of the United Beverages (UB) Group. He recently launched a new domestic airline called Kingfisher Airline which is making great waves. Vijay Mallya is famous for his flamboyant and flashy lifestyle.
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Vijay Mallya is the son of a famous industrialist Vittal Mallya. He assumed the Chairman of the UB Group in 1983 and took the company to great heights. Under his dynamic leadership the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies. During this process United Beverages acquired several companies abroad. The UB Group has diversified business interests ranging from alcoholic beverages to life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology and leisure.

In 2005, Vijay Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines. In a short span of time Kingfisher Airline has carved a niche for itself. It was the first airline in India to operate with all new aircrafts. Kingfisher Airlines is also the first Indian airline to order the Airbus A380.

Vijay Mallya has other interests too apart from business. He has won trophies in professional car racing circuits and is a keen yachtsman and aviator. Vijay Mallya has also won numerous trophies in horse racing including several prestigious Derbies.

In 2000, Vijay Mallya entered politics superceded Subramaniam Swamy as the president of Janata Party. Presently, he is a Rajya Sabha M.P.
 

bonddonraj

MP Guru
The steel tycoon, Laxmi Narayan Mitttal is a London based industrialist and a Forbes 100 billionaire. He is the richest Indian in the world and one of the richest persons in Britain. Such is the charisma of Mittal that his company is all set to become the world's largest producer of steel. Mittal holds steel assets in South Africa, Poland, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan.

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The foreign operations of the family business were passed on to Laxmi Narayan Mittal at an early age. Starting from Ispat Indo in Indonesia, Mittal has become the steel king of the world. By his vision and hard work, Mittal has built the moderate business of his family into a global steel giant, which spans across many countries. The companies of the LNM Ispat group include Ispat international NV, Ispat Karmet and Indo Ispat. From the core business of steel manufacturing, his group is now diversifying into shipping, coal, power and oil enterprises. The most fascinating thing about this man is that he is said to have a knack of buying sick and rusted steel companies and turning them into gold!
 

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MP Guru
CorporateDramas.com, an innovative genre in business publishing and movie media, is the brainchild of the young, charismatic and vivacious Ms. Kanan Bhatt.
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Kanan alternates her stay between Washington DC and Mumbai. Kanan's romance with the corporate world dates back to her childhood. With her gorgeous looks, Kanan could have opted for a glamorous career as a model or an actress but she wanted to pursue a more cerebral profession that would add value to the industry and the society. Instead of Hollywood or Bollywood, she headed for the Corporate Woods.



For Kanan Bhatt corporate world is the most fascinating of all places
According to Kanan, "The corporate world is the most fascinating of all places - the largest structured congregation in society where people from different backgrounds, upbringing, nationalities, cultures, races, religions, genders, habits & temperaments come together to seemingly fulfill a common corporate mission; each with his or her own individual agenda, at times harmonious and at other times disjoint. While we try to term the time we spend here as the professional work life and many of us try to keep it separate from our personal lives, little do we realize that this is just a myth to fool our own minds. It is humanly impossible to compartmentalize the two. Majority of us carry forward our personal idiosyncrasies into our professional worlds and our professional baggage into our personal space, making each more challenging than the other, sometimes exhilarating and exasperating at other times. CorporateDramas.com is a realty and fiction series that gives a voice to this plethora of emotions."

After Bachelors in Engineering and an MBA from premier institutes, Kanan went on to manage complex technology businesses across the globe. For someone so young and spirited, she displays a much versatile and wiser disposition on life, achievement and values.


Kanan attributes her strength and confidence to a higher power that she says has always lighted her path. Her faith in the good old values of Karma combined with qualities of integrity and intelligence provide her with clarity in thought and action that is sometimes hard to find even in veterans. However, she does not take full credit for her success and is quick to add how fortunate she has been to have wonderful parents who have motivated her and given her the freedom to pursue her dreams.

Raised in the vibrant city of Mumbai, in a family of professionals and industrialists, Kanan nurtured a desire to create value through conviction and perseverance. Kanan struck out as a sharp, focused and witty kid. She believed in working smart, not just hard and was an aviator at school and college without being categorized as a nerd.

Despite her successful and illustrious career and her global exposure across Europe, the US and India, Kanan seems to exude a down to earth personality with an ebullient and bright charm.

Being single on the personal front, Kanan finds time to catch up with creative and entrepreneurial endeavors. She also likes chess, tennis, music, movies, networking and keeping fit.

"As an active and passive participant of the corporate world, it has been interesting to observe, analyze, experience and understand the vagaries of this world that make and mar destinies, where companies bloom and wither; icons are built and busted and products are taken from cradle to grave," says Kanan

Kanan's book "The Mist" drives home the age old theory of the power of purpose. Amidst sensational success and glittering glory, it awakens the corporate conscience to create heroes with social responsibility and emphasizes the importance of ethics in business and in life.

Her other fictional masterpiece "The Power of Weakness" exposes us to the negative powers lurking in corporate corridors that if left unchecked, can shake the very foundations of Business and the fabric of society.

The CorporateDramas.com series of books will appeal to all stakeholders and spectators of this corporate world -Senior management, operational managers, functional specialists, legal counselors, auditors and financiers, stock market analysts, vendors and the engineering, management and other graduating student population who will be spending majority of their adult life in the concrete, corporate jungle.
 

bonddonraj

MP Guru
The India born Venture Capitalist, Vinod Khosla is one of the most influential persons of the Silicon Valley. Vinod Khosla is in Forbes magazine's list of America's richest 400 people. Vinod Khosla is a world renowned venture capitalist. Vinod is revolutionizing communications.
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He rose into fame at the age of 27 when he co-founded the Sun Microsystems with a German student Andreas Bechtolsheim, who was a multi millionaire. Khosla ran the Sun Microsystems until 1984. In 1986, he joined in Kleiner Perkins as a general Partner. Vinod Khosla was among the first venture capitalist to visualize that a combination of internet technology and fiber optics could make communications so fast, cheap and easy.

As a visionary, Khosla has played important role in starting and helping companies that are involved in the field of multimedia, semiconductors, video games, Internet software and computer networking. The biggest virtue of Khosla is that he doesn't just spread cash, but nurtures and supports beginners. Vinod Khosla has won accolades and admiration because of his ability to visualize business opportunities in right perspective. Khosla is not satisfied only in planning but takes active part in the implementation part as well. Vinod Khosla was instrumental in creation of Cerent Corp, juniper Networks, Viant, Extreme Networks, Lightera etc. Vinod Khosla is also one of the founding fathers of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

Background
Vinod Khosla was born in New Delhi in a family of army officers. He earned a B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. He attempted to start his own company but the venture failed. Vinod Khosla then went to the United States and earned his M. S. degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Carnegie Mellon and later did M B A from the Stanford University in 1979. Khosla was a big dreamer and ambitious from the very beginning. At the Stanford, Khosla found a business idea and partners from the Stanford Club. They founded a computer aided and design company- Daisy Systems. Vinod deeply believes in closeness of family and lives in Woodside, CA with his wife and four daughters.
 

bonddonraj

MP Guru


India born Rajiv Gupta is presently the GM of Hewlett Packard. Ever since his childhood, Rajiv Gupta aspired to do something which would have positive impact on the lives of the people. He wanted to something which could change the world for betterment
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. This dream of Rajeev Gupta could finally be in reach, Itanium, his dream, is coming to a reality. Rajiv Gupta had a chance to use his compiler know-how and expertise in new ways - the Itanium family architecture demands the highest level of interface between the compiler and the hardware and he had a unique opportunity to help found an instruction set that was based definitely on these principles.

Rajiv studied at the IIT Kharagpur, India, for his bachelor's degree. Thereafter Rajeev got one of the prestigious places at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). At the Caltech, Rajiv earned his PhD, in a little less than a year, studying compilers and the methods to optimize them. Rajiv is an academic eccentric; he has a knack of working to get the desired, single mindedly.
 

manjotdullat

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
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Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born on 23 March 1953 in Bangalore) is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. In 2004, she became India’s richest woman.

She was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore. After obtaining a B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, she joined the Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master brewer in 1975 to become India's first woman Brew master. Her father encouraged her in this profession, as he himself was a master brewer in India. Her professional career started with the position of trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. During 1975-77, she worked in technical positions in Kolkata and Vadodara. In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland.


Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs. 10,000/- in her garage in 1978. The initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans was turned down by banks on three counts – biotechnology was then a new word, the company lacked assets, and (most importantly) women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. On account of the last reason, she faced problems in recruiting as well. Over the years, the company grew under her stewardship and is today the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India. In 2004, Biocon went for an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has held several honorary and advisory positions. A partial list is as follows: -

Chairperson and Mission Leader of CII's (Confederation of Indian industry) National Task Force on Biotechnology
Member, The Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India.
Board member, BVGH (Bio-Ventures for Global Health)
Member, Board of Science Foundation, Ireland
Member, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore
Chairperson, Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology Member, * Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology
Vice-President, Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka (AWAKE)
 

manjotdullat

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
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Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born on 23 March 1953 in Bangalore) is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. In 2004, she became India’s richest woman.

She was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore. After obtaining a B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, she joined the Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master brewer in 1975 to become India's first woman Brew master. Her father encouraged her in this profession, as he himself was a master brewer in India. Her professional career started with the position of trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. During 1975-77, she worked in technical positions in Kolkata and Vadodara. In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland.


Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs. 10,000/- in her garage in 1978. The initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans was turned down by banks on three counts – biotechnology was then a new word, the company lacked assets, and (most importantly) women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. On account of the last reason, she faced problems in recruiting as well. Over the years, the company grew under her stewardship and is today the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India. In 2004, Biocon went for an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has held several honorary and advisory positions. A partial list is as follows: -

Chairperson and Mission Leader of CII's (Confederation of Indian industry) National Task Force on Biotechnology
Member, The Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India.
Board member, BVGH (Bio-Ventures for Global Health)
Member, Board of Science Foundation, Ireland
Member, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore
Chairperson, Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology Member, * Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology
Vice-President, Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka (AWAKE
 
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