Azim Premji to Be Awarded the Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award 2013

LONDON, July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The Trustees of Asia House are delighted to announce that Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd (NYSE:WIT), a leading global information technology, consulting and outsourcing company, will receive the 2013 Asian Business Leaders Award at a gala evening in London on Monday 14 October.  

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130724/629910 )

The annual Asia House award recognises those individuals who embody the 'Servant Leader' - economic success and professional excellence accompanied by moral leadership and service to society. Azim Premji was selected to receive this year's award because of his impressive business credentials and his significant efforts to inspire a commitment in others to improving society.

Asia house is a centre of expertise on Asia and the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK.

Sir John Boyd, Chairman of Asia House, said:

"This year we are delighted to honour a business leader admired greatly by the Asia House community. Azim Premji has achieved tremendous success as a global business leader and demonstrated his deep commitment to both organisations and people, actively involved as he is in a wide range of social issues. He is a most deserving recipient of the Asian Business Leaders Award."

Previous recipients include Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group; Lubna Olayan, CEO of the Olayan Financing Company; Jack Ma, Chairman and Founder of Alibaba.com; Vikram Singh Mehta, Chairman of Shell India; and Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, UK Minister of State for Trade & Investment and former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings.

Corporate tables are available for the gala event at historic Banqueting House, the proceeds of which will support Asia House in delivering activities that promote a better understanding of the pan-Asia region through business, policy and culture. To discuss table sales and sponsorship, please contact Zoë Mosesson +44(0)20-7307-5431 zoe.mosesson@asiahouse.co.uk

Editor's Notes

About this year's winner

Azim Premji is the Chairman of Wipro, a position he has held since the late 1960s. Under his guidance, Wipro has diversified from a hydrogenated cooking fat company into an IT, BPO and R&D Services organisation with a presence in 57 countries.

In 2001 Mr Premji established the Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation with a vision of significantly contributing to improving quality and equity in school education in India.  Today it works with school systems of seven states covering over 300,000 schools.

A non-executive Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India, he is a member of the Prime Minister's Councils for National Integration and for Trade & Industry in India and also a member of the Indo-UK and the Indo-France CEOs' forum.

Azim Premji is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA. He is married with two children.

For a more comprehensive bio please click here: http://www.wipro.com/about-wipro/Wipro-Leadership-Team/

About Asia House

Asia House is a centre of expertise on Asia. Our mission is to bring the UK and Asia closer through our pioneering events on business, policy and culture. We are the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK, having built our reputation on our extensive network, our objectivity and our independence.

The Asia House Board of Trustees:

Sir John Boyd KCMG, Chairman
Vahid Alaghband, Balli Holdings
Victor Chu, First Eastern Investment Group
Zed Cama 
The Hon Apurv Bagri, Metdist Limited
Nick Butler, King's College London
Miles Celic, Prudential plc
Hussain Dawood, The Dawood Group 
Martin Dewhurst, McKinsey & Company
Tom Dodd, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Charles Haswell, HSBC
Richard Holmes, Standard Chartered Bank
Bridget Kendall, BBC
Sungjoo Kim, MCM Holdings
Beth McKillop, Victoria & Albert Museum
Dalip Pathak, Warburg Pincus International LLP
Andrew Roberts, Herbert Smith Freehills
Lord Wei of Shoreditch, House of Lords

Asia House is a non-profit, non-political organisation.  http://www.asiahouse.org

For media enquiries, please contact Su-Lin Allen su.lin-allen@asiahouse.co.uk +44(0)20-7307-5451.