A Swiss honour for Azim Premji

He is counted among the richest people in the planet, but business tycoon and philanthropist Azim Premji is known for his simplicity and humility. Premji was conferred with the Swiss Ambassador's Award for inspirational and socially responsible leadership on Wednesday. Addressing a select gathering at the Swiss Consulate's event on Wednesday, he credited his stupendous success to "just being at the right place at the right time, and a little bit of luck".

The visionary spoke about his passion for educating young children and how his Azim Premji Foundation is scaling operations to provide primary education for lakhs of children across the country.
Swiss Ambassador Dr Linus von Castelmur, referring to Premji as one of the beacons of India's corporate world, emphasized that the Wipro chairman had maintained values such as tolerance, honesty, modesty, ethical and social responsible behaviour while reaching entrepreneurial heights.

Speaking on the occasion, fellow industrialist Jamshyd Godrej shared stories of his humility, even as a visibly embarrassed Premji smiled through the praise. "One evening we had Azim over at our Mandwa home for dinner. When we went to see him off at the gate, there was no sign of his car," recounted Godrej, adding that Premji, who stayed nearby, had hired an auto-rickshaw to ferry him for the evening.

Premji is the fifth Indian to be conferred with the Swiss Ambassador's Award, joining the likes of Yash Chopra, Ratan Tata, Glenn Saldanha and RV Kanoria.