Full Name: Anil Agarwal
Position: Founder and chairperson of Vedanta Resources
Main Activity of the Company: The mining and marketing of zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron-ore, aluminium and oil and gas, as well as the generation of electricity
Date and Place of Birth: January 24, 1954, Patna, India
Education: Miller High School, until the age of 15
First Job: Working for my father in Patna
Start of Own Enterprise: Scrap collection in Bombay
Value of Assets under Your Control: $40-billion
Number of People under Your Leadership: Vedanta employs 100 000 people directly and indirectly
Management Style: Ensuring that most of Vedanta’s wealth goes back into society to help women and children
Personal Best Achievement: Being able to recruit the best people
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother, Ved. The first three letters of my mother’s name form the first three letters of Vedanta, which is headquartered in London and has invested R50-billion in Africa, R21-billion of which has been invested in Southern Africa
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Warren Buffett
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: The Dalai Lama – he is my guru, and I want to meet him again and again. Of course, I would have loved to have met Mahatma Gandhi
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Warren Buffett
Philosophy of Life: Trust and empower
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Coming to South Africa
Hope for the Future: That every child under the age of seven and every exploited woman are taken care of
Favourite Reading: I do not read a lot, but, when I do, I love reading the Bhagavad Gita
Favourite TV Programme: Programmes on achievers
Favourite Food/Drink: Indian food (vegetarian) and Coca-Cola, but I try to restrict myself to one Coke a day – ha-ha
Favourite Music: I love local Hindi songs, and am also very fond of Indian classical music
Favourite Sport: Football
Hobbies: Watching movies, having fun with friends, taking my three-year-old granddaughter swimming
Car: I am driven to wherever I need to go
Pets: Two dogs
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Hypocrisy and negativity
Married: To Kiran
Children: Agnivesh and Priya
Clubs: Annabel’s Club, London, and other London clubs