Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirubhai Ambani (Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani) was born on 28 December 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, India to Hirachand Gordhanbhai Ambani and Jamnaben in an Anavil Brahmin family of very moderate means. He is an Indian rags-to-riches business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in Mumbai.

Beginning of journey (will publish in detail soon)
Dhirubhai Ambani moved to Aden, Yemen when he was 16 years old. There he worked with A. Besse & Co. for a salary of Rs.300 for two years latter, A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products, and he was promoted to manage the company’s filling station at the port of Aden.

In 1962, Dhirubhai returned to India and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin with a capital of Rs.15,000.00. It was an export house dealing in import of polyester yarn and export of spices. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Ambani took his company (Reliance) public in 1977 and the rest is history. The Ambani brothers by 2007 was one of the richest families in the world

Over time, Dhirubhai diversified his business with the core specialization being in petrochemicals and additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.

Family
Dhirubhai Ambani was married to Kokilaben and had two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar.

Death
Dhirubhai Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 24, 2002 after he suffered a major stroke. He died on July 6, 2002, at around 11:50 P.M. IST. He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaonkar.

Achievements:
A few awards and key achievements of the to the visionary Dhirubhai Ambani:

Top Businessman’ in the ‘Best of India’ poll conducted by Zee News, August 2003
Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his outstanding contribution to Downstream Petroleum Industry in India, January 2003 by Petrotech Society conferred posthumously the
India’s Most Admired CEOs’ for the fourth consecutive year in the Business Barons - Taylor Nelson Sofres - Mode Survey, July 2002
Lifetime Achievement Award’ by India HRD Congress, February 2002
The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement’, August 2001
Man of the Century’ award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India, November 2000.
Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century’ award by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries), for his meticulous scripting of one of the most remarkable stories of business endeavour of the 20th century, March 2000
The most admired Indian of the millennium in the field of Business & Economics in ‘Legends - A Celebration of Excellence’ poll audited by Ernst & Young for Zee Network, January 2000.
‘Indian Businessman of the Century’ in Business Barons Global Multimedia Poll, December 1999
Most Admired Indian Business Leader’ by The Times of India, Indiatimes.com poll, July 1999
The only Indian industrialist in ‘Business Hall of Fame’ in Asiaweek, October 1998
Businessman of the Year 1993′, Business India, January 1994