Bangalore, India, is one of the world’s booming cities. Companies around the world are scrambling to set up telephone call centers, product development centers, and offices for their information technology (IT) activities in Bangalore. One of the city’s key service providers is Wipro Technologies, an Indian company that is now one of s the world’s largest IT firms. At the helm is Azim Premji, the man who turned the company from a million-dollar business into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse.
brooming：急成長の
scrable to X：Xしようと先を争う
set up：設立する
be at the helm：実権を握っている
(ref.) be at the wheel：支配権を握っている
turn X into Y：XをYに変える
powerhouse：最強の者
Premji, born in 1945, took over his father’s company at the early age of 21. At the time, Wipro had nothing to do with technology. In fact, it sold vegetable oils. Premji had not even graduated from university yet, but he had to win the confidence of the 10 company’s shareholders. He did this by diversifying the types of food products sold by the company. Later, seeing that IT was the way of the future, Premji steered the company to focus on computer software.
take over：引き継ぐ
have nothing to do with X：Xと無関係である
shareholder：株主
diversify：多角化する
Under Premji’s leadership, Wipro grew into a global IT leader, with some of the world’s largest companies as its clients. For instance, Wipro is a big player in the cell-phone market, developing software for clients such as Nokia and NEC. The company has put up very impressive numbers, with 32 percent revenue growth in the 2007-8 fiscal year and about 80,000 employees.
put up：公表する
fisical year：会計年
Besides his business ingenuity, Premji is known for his charity work. In 2001, he started the Azim Premji Foundation. This organization supports the improvement of schools in India. Its mission is to make a quality education available for all of India’s children. It has already helped more than 10,000 schools.
ingenuity：発明の才、創意
Azim Premji is proud not only of his company’s achievements but also of India’s economic growth. He encourages companies to reduce costs by looking to Indian firms for IT and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) services. Premji may be one of s the world’s richest men (no. 60 in 2008, according to Forbes magazine), but he is concerned for the future of his country. That future, in Premji’ eyes, starts with India’s children.
be concerned for X：(心配するがあまり)Xに関心がある
(ref.) be concerned about X：(心配するがあまり)Xに関心がある
(ref.) be concerned with X：(責任を感じて)Xに関心がある