Subhash Chandra- Zee Telefilms

Achievements: Chairman of Godrej Group

Adi Godrej is one of the icons of Indian Industry. He is the chairman of Godrej Group. .Adi Godrej was born in a business family. His father's name was Burjorji Godrej and his mother's name was Jai Godrej. More than a century age, the Godrej's were into manufacturing locks and vegetable-based soaps. The Godrej products were among the first indigenously manufactured products to displace entrenched foreign brands.

Adi Godrej left India at the age of 17 to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Though he planned to study mechanical engineering but he later on switched to management. After his return to India, Adi Godrej joined the family business. He modernized and systematized management structures and implemented process improvements. Adi Godrej took the Godrej Group to great height during controlled economy era.

After the liberalization process, Adi Godrej restructured company's policies to meet the challenges of globalisation. In the early 2000s, the Group completed a 10-year restructuring process through which each business became a stand-alone company with a CEO/COO from outside the Godrej family.

Under Adi Godrej's leadership, the group is also involved in philanthropic activities. Godrej is major supporter of the World Wildlife Fund in India, it has developed a green business campus in the Vikhroli township of Mumbai, which includes a 150-acre mangrove forest and a school for the children of company employees.

Adi Godrej-Chairman Godrej Group

Achievements: Chairman of Godrej Group

Adi Godrej is one of the icons of Indian Industry. He is the chairman of Godrej Group. .Adi Godrej was born in a business family. His father's name was Burjorji Godrej and his mother's name was Jai Godrej. More than a century age, the Godrej's were into manufacturing locks and vegetable-based soaps. The Godrej products were among the first indigenously manufactured products to displace entrenched foreign brands.

Adi Godrej left India at the age of 17 to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Though he planned to study mechanical engineering but he later on switched to management. After his return to India, Adi Godrej joined the family business. He modernized and systematized management structures and implemented process improvements. Adi Godrej took the Godrej Group to great height during controlled economy era.

After the liberalization process, Adi Godrej restructured company's policies to meet the challenges of globalisation. In the early 2000s, the Group completed a 10-year restructuring process through which each business became a stand-alone company with a CEO/COO from outside the Godrej family.

Under Adi Godrej's leadership, the group is also involved in philanthropic activities. Godrej is major supporter of the World Wildlife Fund in India, it has developed a green business campus in the Vikhroli township of Mumbai, which includes a 150-acre mangrove forest and a school for the children of company employees.

Dhirubhai Ambani-Reliance

Born: December 28, 1932
Died: July 6, 2002
Achievements: Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company. Created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list

Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.

Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December 28, 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling "bhajias" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends.

After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company.

Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionised capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. His efforts helped create an 'equity cult' in the Indian capital market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.

In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high credit-taking in international markets limited only by India's sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of wealth in the century".

Dhirubhai Ambani died on July 6, 2002, at Mumbai.

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett


He is a known as the most successful investor who single-handedly turned the fortune of his small company and made it a giant investment vehicle. Forbes lists him as one of the richest man in the world and is often referred to as ‘Oracle of Omaha’. Warren Buffett’s life is an extraordinary story of determination, will power and the right vision of success. For the billionaire that he is, Buffett leads a very simple lifestyle, lives in a house he bought ages back and dresses up in normal clothes instead of big brand names. He contributed a huge sum of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in order to improve living conditions of poor people.

Warren Buffett was born on August 30th, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. Since a very young age, he displayed a keen interest and extraordinary talent in numbers and at the mere age of 11, he started buying shares in the stock market. Buffett brought three shares of Cities Service at $38 for himself and his older sister. The shares rebounded to $40 after falling to almost $27 and that was the time he sold them. However, after some time, the value rose to $200. He learnt one of the most important lessons of investment through this experience - Patience is a Virtue.

He graduated from high school but never wanted to go to college as such. On persistence from his father, he enrolled himself into the Wharton Business School. He stayed there for two years and then moved back home and got transferred to the University of Nebraska, teaching students twice his age. He tried to get into Harvard Business School, but got rejected because they thought he was too young! He moved to do a Master’s in Economics at Columbia University and there he found his mentor - Benjamin Graham.

After working here and there for sometime, he was offered to work for Benjamin Graham as a security analyst. His fortune rose to $140,000. Thereafter, he began his own company, ‘Buffet Partnership’ and increased his capital wealth to $300,000 by the end of the year. At that time, Berkshire Hathaway was a small textile company in which he had invested. This company was liquidated after sometime but the name was retained and was turned into an investment business.

Buffett became the chairman of the company and with time and persistence he tuned the small textile company into a giant investment vehicle that it is today. Buffett leads a very simple life considering his status. He absolutely loves Coca-Cola and burgers and is an ardent player of the game Bridge. Buffett is a very generous man and has donated huge sums of his fortune to many helpful foundations, the biggest sum going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Checkout his time line as given below.

Warren Buffett Time Line
1930 - August 30th, Warren Buffett born in Nebraska, Omaha USA
1943 - Filed his first income tax return at the mere age of 13, deducting his bicycle as a work expense for $35
1945 - Spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine. Owned three more machines from profits within months
1949 - Initiated into the Alpha Sigma Fraternity while pursuing his under-graduation at Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania
1950 - Enrolled at Columbia Business School when he learnt that two famous analysts, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd taught there
1951 - Graduated from Columbia and tried to work with Graham for free but was rejected. Worked as a stockbroker for sometime and also took night classes for students in the University of Nebraska
1952 - Got married to Susan Thompson
1954 - Had their first child Howard Graham Buffett. Entered a partnership with Benjamin Graham and worked for a salary of $12,000 p.a.
1956 - Graham retires, ends partnership. Buffet saves over $140,000 and returns to Omaha and starts an investment partnership, Buffett Associates, Ltd.
1960 - Business grew; buffet had seven partnerships operating the entire year. 11 doctors agree to invest $10,000 each into his partnership.
1962 - Buffett’s partnership had in excess of $7,178,500 out of which $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett. Merges all partnerships into one. Discovers Berkshire Hathaway
1965 - Buffett’s partnerships begin to purchase Berkshire shares aggressively. Takes control of Berkshire Hathaway and names a new President (Ken Chace) to run the company.
1967 - Berkshire pays out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.
1969 - Buffet liquidates partnership and transfers the assets to his partners, including the shares of Berkshire
1973 - Berkshire begins to acquire stocks in Washington Post Company
1979 - Berkshire acquires stocks in ABC. Buffett’s net worth rocketed to $140 million. The year ended at $1310 in share trading sending his net worth to $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time
1988 - Buys stock in Coca-Cola for $1.02 billion, which turns out to be one of the most lucrative investments
2004 - Susan, his wife, dies
2006 - Buffet announced to give away 80% of his total fortune to five foundations, the largest contribution going to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
2007 - Buffett announced he is looking for a younger successor to run his business. Lou Simpson was chosen by Buffett for the role, though he is only six years younger!
2008 - Forbes announces Buffett as the richest man in the world