Mukesh Ambani is a 52-year old Indian business mogul. He is the current chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited, the largest private sector conglomerate in terms of market value in India. He is also the biggest shareholder of the Fortune 500 company, owning 48% of the corporation’s stocks. Presently, he is the fourth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $30 billion as estimated by Forbes Magazine.
The Indian billionaire acquired the entrepreneurial spirit and industriousness that led him to business success from his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance Industries. Dhirubhai Ambani turned the organization into India’s most massive conglomerate. Mukesh Ambani has followed his father’s footsteps since high school, when he would spend most of his time in his father’s office during the weekends.
He attended college at the University Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai, where he took up chemical engineering. He also pursued a Masters in Business Administration at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.
Mukesh Ambani joined Reliance in 1981. After their father died, he and his younger brother Anil took over Reliance Industries and ran the company together until 2006. Differences in interests and disputes over company control led the brothers to divide the conglomerate’s assets and operations. Mukesh Ambani took over the oil, gas and petrochemicals businesses.
Since then, he has led Reliance Industries and helped turn it into India’s most valuable company. He pushed for expansion as the company diversified into several ventures, including petrochemicals, petroleum refining, oil and gas exploration and production. He led Reliance’s initiative to create the biggest grassroots petroleum refinery in the world located in Jamnagar, India. Reliance Industries became the only Indian company to be included in Forbes Magazine’s list of “world’s 100 most respected companies.”