Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani / b. 1957 / Aden, Yemen / Businessman, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries
Note: Though born in Yemen, Ambani’s father (the founder of Reliance Industries) and mother were from the Indian state of Gujarat. The family returned to India in 1958, when the younger Ambani was only one-year-old. He was raised mostly in Mumbai (Bombay).
Ambani on Ambani
My first memories are of the early ’60s at Mount Road which was then an emerging area. We were a close-knit family and the four of us—Dipti, Nina, Anil, and I—were left to do what we wanted. There were boundaries, of course, but within those, we were not micro-managed. Things have changed so much now. When my kids, Isha and Akash, were in the third standard, we behaved as though it was our exam.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Our own childhood was totally different. I guess when you are left on your own, you find your true potential. I remember my father never came to our school even once. Nevertheless, he was hugely interested in our all-round development for which he did some amazing things.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
A third track running at that time, apart from academics and the fun stuff, was that my father shared with me his passion for business and entrepreneurship from very early on. Even when I was in high school, I used to spend long hours at office on weekends.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
So, these were the four components of my upbringing—the academic stuff where I was left to myself, Mahendrabhai [Vyas—one of Ambani’s teachers], my father’s passion for creating Reliance, and the last piece was his deep links with the family.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
It is easy to be with your kids and say “let’s do homework together.” But we try to do things, beyond doing lunches and dinners. I learnt that from my father. He was a big nature lover and during our school days, we went to different places every Sunday—we walked through the forest or had a bath in streams.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
I have turned into a big nature fan as well. . . . I can afford it more today. These childhood influences have shaped me into what I am today.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Even when I was doing chemical engineering, I was working almost full time for Reliance. I finished college at 2:30 pm and went straight to the office.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
When we started work on setting up a polyester filament yarn project, my chemical engineering and business school background helped me in organizing the work, creating reporting structures, motivating people. . . . [I]n all this, my father and Rasikbhai [Meswani—Ambani’s first boss] were two steps ahead of me.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
The first 200-odd people who built Patalganga [industrial park] with me are still around, running different businesses. It has gone into their psyche that we do things differently here. We have taken money from ordinary Indians and we are their trustees. When this is drilled into thousands of people, you automatically get performance.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
For me, this is a moment of re-dedication to the values, vision and goals of my father, teacher and mentor, Dhirubhai Ambani. To lead by love, by trust, and by example, I learnt these principles from him with humility.
Reported by Rahul Singhal in The Legacy Continues: Ambani Brothers: Life & Times of Mukesh Dhirajlal Ambani & Anil Dhirajlal Ambani (out of print) (2002).
[A] leader is only recognized when he can resolve all differences. My father had the veto power over all decisions and that veto power is mine. But in the last ten years, he never used his veto power. He would say, once you have fired you gun you no longer have the bullet with you. . . . My father’s biggest legacy was his leadership. He used to say, a leader must have followers. Respect can not be demanded . I have to get others to say what I want to say.
Reported by Rahul Singhal in The Legacy Continues: Ambani Brothers: Life & Times of Mukesh Dhirajlal Ambani & Anil Dhirajlal Ambani (out of print) (2002).
Business Philosophy
In the journey of an entrepreneur, the most important thing is self-belief and the ability to convert that belief into reality.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
One of my biggest obsessions today is that senior people must give bright 25-year-olds the opportunity to contribute meaningfully.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
In the journey of an entrepreneur, the most important thing is self-belief and the ability to convert that belief into reality.
Reported in “Always invest in businesses of the future and in talent,” Rediff News, January 17, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
India
As my father was privileged to have witnessed in 1947, independence of India from Britain, I was privileged to have seen in 1991 India embracing economic reforms that liberated our country’s entrepreneurial energies. These two transitions set India on the path of development and had a profound on the world both political economic terms.
Mukesh Ambani, “Making the Next Leap,” in McKinsey & Company, Inc., eds., Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower (2013).
The performance of Reliance shows an amazing trend when mapped against time. The inflection point was 1991. We grew exponentially, eventually becoming India’s biggest private enterprise, on the basis of freedom to compete against the best in the world.
Mukesh Ambani, “Making the Next Leap,” in McKinsey & Company, Inc., eds., Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower (2013).
I believe India today is potentially poised for another even more stupendous leap on its upward trajectory. India’s relative weight in the global economy and in world affairs in general, is bound to grow for many reasons. By 2030, India is projected to overtake China as the most populous country in the world, with the third largest economy in US dollar terms. Furthermore India is a very young nation with nearly two thirds of its population below the age of thirty-five.
Mukesh Ambani, “Making the Next Leap,” in McKinsey & Company, Inc., eds., Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower (2013).
I am very bullish on India because it is really the aspiration of a billion people and ours is a county where all the billion count. There are some countries in the world where one person counts, there are some where the Politburo or 12 people count.
Reported in “Aspiration of countrymen to ensure growth: Mukesh Ambani,” Hindustan Times, February 10, 2013.
I dream of India becoming one of four most powerful economies of the world. I believe this dream can be made a reality within our life times.
Reported by Rahul Singhal in The Legacy Continues: Ambani Brothers: Life & Times of Mukesh Dhirajlal Ambani & Anil Dhirajlal Ambani (out of print) (2002).
Reliance Industries
In the ’80s, when I came in, the ground rules were made clear to me. ‘Build this business from scratch, without taking anyone from Reliance.’ That forced you to be very disciplined. I looked around and figured out in three months that this industry runs on heroes.
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Even the managers. It was all a feudal style of management. If we had accepted that style, we would not have grown. It was simply not a scalable model. Of course, the easiest thing would have been to follow it. But we had a disruptive style of management. So we said, “we don’t want people carrying their wisdom in notebooks as if it is some kind of secretive operation.”
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
We were clear that we had to be internationally competitive and were passionate about building competencies that were the best in the world even when the tariffs were very high. It was an obsession with me to beat the Taiwanese and the Koreans who dominated the polyester business in the ’70s.
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
My reference points were US companies. We were hugely influenced by large US chemical companies, especially DuPont. It was a very open company and we could take advantage of their learnings. The US is also a very open society. I could to go the US Association of Chemical Engineers and get the standards, data, etc.
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
I was very focussed on building various competencies in Reliance and we were not ready to do two things at the same time. It was a big risk for us to get into IT, especially because it was hugely effort-intensive. In my language, I said we have too much soap on our body and we need to take a bath in the chemicals business.
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Then, we stumbled on human and plant biotech. We were fortunate to have some good people and decided that Reliance can build this business over 5–10 years without any great revenue pressures. In the mainstream business, there was telecom or what I call infocom.
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
We got into telecom in the ’90s by bidding for cellular licences. But I felt that the real value is in the convergence of information and communication; pure communication will not deliver a sustainable value; that is why we called ourselves infocomm. It was learning a whole new domain. We brought in experts from the outside but we essentially did it with proven Reliance people
Reported in “Mukesh Ambani on how Reliance was built,” Rediff News, January 18, 2007; accessible at rediff.com.
Technology
I am a big believer that technology shapes mankind.
Reported in “5 things you may not know about Mukesh Ambani,” Profit NDTV, October 15, 2012; accessible at ndtv.com.
[The] Internet: the biggest discovery after [the] printing press.
Reported in “5 things you may not know about Mukesh Ambani,” Profit NDTV, October 15, 2012; accessible at ndtv.com.
Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of self-reliance can be attained by making use of Internet and technology.
Reported in “5 things you may not know about Mukesh Ambani,” Profit NDTV, October 15, 2012; accessible at ndtv.com.
Broadband and digital services will no longer be a luxury item—a scarce commodity—to be rationed amongst the privileged few,
Reported in “Ambani bets on 4G broadband in India, but risks abound,” CNBC, June 23, 2013.