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Who is Sunil Bharti Mittal: A Story of Sheer Dedication and Commitment

Who is Sunil Bharti Mittal

Who is Sunil Bharti Mittal ? He is better known as the “Telecom tycoon of India,” is a multicrore businessman with varied interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, agriculture, and food. His business venture under the brand name Airtel now serves 500 million+ customers across South Asia & Africa. He has been well known to be a leader for bringing in the global trade & investments in India.

Who is Sunil Bharti Mittal: Making Crankshafts to Transforming the Telecom Sector

Ranked as the 10th richest person in India by Forbes, his entrepreneurial ventures began at 18. He started his first business as the producer of crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers with an initial capital of ₹20,000. Later, he and his brothers began Bharti Overseas Trading Company- an import business that used to import Electric Power Generators to Japan, which was later banned.

Then, he introduced the concept of push buttons in India. In the early 1990s, he started working on fax machines, cordless phones, and other telecom gear. Back then, there were no push-button phones in India, just rotary dials with no redial. The people of India were quite fascinated with this new concept, and these phones were introduced in India by the name of ‘Mitbrau.’

His company, Bharti cellular network, became the first to cross 2 million subscribers in 1997 and revolutionized the Mobile network services in India. Since then, it has continuously strived to impact people’s lives globally by providing connectivity and digital empowerment.

Serving the Nation: Contributions toward the Education sector

As someone who truly believes in giving back to society in the best way possible, he has made innumerable contributions to India’s Education Sector.

His effort was to accommodate a fund called the Bharti Foundation, which is responsible for building schools in villages, providing them with free education and free books, uniforms, and midday meals.
His Foundation’s flagship program covers 254 schools in six states, serving around 45,000 children.
The Bharti Foundation’s other educational incentives include “Satya Bharti Abhiyan” for sanitation serving underprivileged children.
He has also been a part of Harvard Business School, as a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors, and also part of the Governing body of ISB.
He is also a Trustee member of “Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation.”

Spearheaded the Global Businesses in India

Sunil Bharti Mittal was the one who led the Global trade & collaborations in India, and he has served as the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade & Industry. He has partnered with innumerable global partners, including Singtel, Softbank, AXA, Del Monte, and many others.

He is serving many International bodies as a member of the union or a member. These are some of the notable organizations or groups he is serving:

The International Business Council of the World Economic Forum
The Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations
The Board of Commissioners of the International Telecommunication Union/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development
The Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Board of the Qatar Foundation Endowment
The India-UK, India-US, India-Japan, and India-Sweden CEO Forums
The India-Africa Business Council and the India-Sri Lanka CEO Forum

Awards and Accolades

He has received many recognitions at the local and global levels. These include:

Padma Bhushan
Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award
GSM Association’s prestigious Chairman’s Award, Europe
Asian Businessman of the Year
Business leader of the yea
Philanthropist of the Year Award (2010)

Revolutionizing telecom sector: An inspiration to all

From being on the Top list of Forbes to standing out in the top 25 philanthropists, he has been the jack-of-all-trades. He is a model of sheer dedication and hard work due to his constant will to do something and make a change. He was the first to recognize the power of the telecom sector and the transformation it can bring to India. From recognizing this and making Airtel one of the biggest Telecom companies, he has an inspiring story that gives us all a lot of learnings.

Amit Khurana