Indians are leading worldwide roles in some of the world’s largest businesses, from Google’s Sundar Pichai to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen to IBM’s Arvind Krishna. India boasts the world’s biggest expatriate and a massive source of IT expertise that serves some of the world’s most prestigious corporations.
People over social media went gaga on 29th November 2021, as one more hero joined this list. When former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey abruptly stepped down on Monday, he handed the reins to Parag Agrawal, a software engineer who has worked closely with Dorsey in establishing the company’s future.
Dorsey’s faith in Agrawal as CEO is “bone-deep,” the departing CEO said in an email to staff on Monday. “Given how completely he understands the firm and its requirements, he’s been my choice for some time,” Dorsey stated. Know more about this gentleman, in this article.
Parag Agrawal – Biography
Name
Parag Agrawal
Year of Birth
1981
Age
37 Year Old
Nationality
Indian, American
Education
B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay
Parag Agarwal was born in India in the year 1976. He graduated with honours from the Atomic Energy Central School (AECS). He then subsequently travelled to Mumbai to pursue his bachelor’s degree in engineering at the India Institute of Technology (IIT).
Recently IIT Bombay also recognized and valued its alumni for their contributions to the world of technology. He moved on to Stanford University to earn his Ph.D. degree after graduating from college. While at Stanford, Parag Agarwal interned at various technology giants like Microsoft, Yahoo, and AT&T Labs and gained good hands-on industry experience.
Parag Agrawal’s Family
Vinita Agrawal is Parag Agrawal’s wife. They have a daughter named Anamika Agrawal.
Parag Agrawal – Career
Parag Agrawal began working at Twitter in 2011 after working as a student for firms such as Microsoft, AT&T, and Yahoo. Initially, Parag Agarwal focused on advertising-related goods. He afterwards moved on to Artificial Intelligence. On March 8th, 2018, Parag Agarwal was named as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Twitter.
His early work as CTO focused on using artificial intelligence to improve the relevancy of tweets in the Twitter timeline. Parag Agarwal has been named the next CEO of Twitter, just ten years after joining the company.
Parag Agrawal – Salary and Net Worth
Parag’s net worth is estimated to be $3 million. He will be worth millions of dollars in no time thanks to the significant rise in his basic income and bonuses. Parag will get $1 million yearly remunerations and $12.5 million in stock compensation as CEO of Twitter, according to the company.
Parag Agrawal – Journey with Twitter
In an email to Twitter employees, Agrawal stated that the firm had less than 1,000 employees when he started. He wrote, “I’ve walked in your shoes, I’ve seen the ups and downs, difficulties and barriers, successes and blunders.”
As Twitter tries to shake off a reputation for being sluggish to develop, he’s focused on machine learning and other technological breakthroughs that have allowed it to bring out new features and products more swiftly.
The board of Twitter, according to sources, had been seeking a full-time CEO for the social media business for the past year. Jack Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 and served as its CEO until 2008 when he was fired. After former CEO Dick Costolo left in 2015, he returned to the firm as an executive.
Parag published a statement expressing his thanks.
“Thank you very much, Jack. I’m both honoured and humbled by this. And I appreciate your continuous mentoring and friendship ” – Parag Agrawal
Agrawal reflected on his experience at the firm, saying:
“Right now, the world is watching us much more than before. Let’s demonstrate Twitter’s full potential to the rest of the world “.
Parag Agrawal – The CEO of Twitter
At a time when Twitter is actively seeking new ways to expand its user base, Agarwal’s appointment comes at a fortunate moment for him. By the end of 2023, the company expects to have 315 million DAUs (Daily Active Users) and expect to have more than doubled its annual revenue. He takes over as CEO at a time when the corporation has been criticized by investors for failing to create a new monetisable product in years, prompting the announcement of the 2023 plan.
Parag Agrawal – Unknown Facts
Here are some amazing facts about Parag Agrawal:
He is a machine learning expert who has played a key role in Twitter’s adoption of the technology.
According to his thesis adviser, Parag was born in Mumbai and has a strong knowledge of mathematics as well as experience working with massive datasets.
According to a New York Times story citing Silicon Valley insiders, Parag is “quiet, courteous, profoundly technical, and passionate about an internet where power and control are given back to people,” exactly like Jack Dorsey.
At the 2001 International Physics Olympiad in Turkey, Agrawal received a gold medal.
Parag is an adventurer who loves to do skiing and hiking. Along with that, he is fond of trying new dishes and eating a variety of food.
Even though Parag lives in the US, he celebrates all the major Indian festivals like Holi and Diwali.
Bollywood’s famous singer Shreya Ghoshal is reportedly known to be Parag’s classmate.
Parag is an avid cricket lover and loves to watch cricket matches in the stadium.
As per unknown sources, Parag secured a 77thrank in his IIT JEE exams.
The promotion of Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s former Chief Technological Officer, underscores the importance of immigrants in the world’s leading technology organisations. He joins Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Adobe Inc.’s Shantanu Narayen, International Business Machines Corp.’s Arvind Krishna, and Alphabet Inc.’s Sundar Pichai as the highest-profile executives of Indian-origin in the United States.
Agrawal has kept a quiet profile thus far, concentrating his knowledge in product development and market research. Before becoming CTO, he was recognised as Twitter’s first notable engineer for his contributions to audience growth and revenue. Now that he’s the CEO, he’ll have to navigate a friendlier path with India if he wants to achieve his ambitions of growing Twitter’s reach.
FAQs
Who is the wife of Parag Agrawal?
Parag is married to Vineeta Agrawal.
What is the age of Parag Agrawal?
Parag Agrawal was born on 21 May 1984. He is 38 years old.
What is the net worth of Parag Agrawal?
The net worth of Parag Agrawal is $3 million.
When was Parag Agrawal appointed as the CEO of Twitter?
Parag Agrawal was appointed as the CEO of Twitter in November 2021.
The top ranking executive of a company is called as CEO (chief executive officer). They have so many responsibilities. It includes making important decisions of the company, management of all operations of the company, management of the resources of the company, etc. The public face of a company is CEO.
There is a common thread that connects the famous multi-billion dollar companies. The current CEOs of these companies are mostly from south Asian countries, mainly from India. South Asians secured the most number of C-level leadership positions in the tech industry. Many of these south Asians are born and raised in their home countries before moving to the Western countries.
The Indians are playing an important role in changing the way of technology works. The world’s two largest technology companies are headed by Indian origin CEO’s. We can add more names to the list. Being a leader in the most important companies in the world and playing an important role in growth are not an easy task.
In large companies, CEOs generally manage only the highest level of strategic decisions, which affect the overall growth of the company. In small businesses, CEOs are often involved in daily operations. If you think that some of the best CEO’s in the world are international, you will be surprised to hear so many names from India.
Sundar Pichai
CEO: Google
Sundar Pichai – CEO of Google
Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google. He was born in Tamil Nadu, India on 10 June, 1972. He took a degree in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. After that, he moved to US. He completed his MS in material sciences and engineering from Stanford University and he attained his MBA from Wharton University.
He was awarded the titles named “Siebel scholar and Palmer scholar” from there. On August 10, 2015, Sundar Pichai was selected as CEO of Google. He played an important role in the development and launch of the Google Chrome web browser. He was the product head for projects related to Google drive, Google map, and Android. That helped him to grow in his career.
Satya Nadella
CEO: Microsoft
Satya Nadella – CEO of Microsoft
Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft. He was born in Hyderabad, India on 12 August 1967. Hewas selected as CEO of Microsoft on February 4, 2014.He completed his degree in electronics and communication engineering from the Manipal institute of technology. He completed his master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
He attained his MBA from the University of Chicago. After that, he worked as a technology staff at a company named “Sun Microsystems”. In 1992, he joined the Microsoft. Satya Nadella headed in some major projects at Microsoft, which including cloud computing and developing one of the world’s largest cloud cluster infrastructure.
Shantanu Narayen is the CEO of Adobe systems. He was born in Hyderabad, India on 1963. He took his degree in electronics and communication engineering from University College of Engineering, Osmania University. After that he completed his MBA from Haas School of business, University of California.
He earned his master’s degree in computer science from Bowling green state university, Ohio. His career started at Apple. After that, he worked in Silicon graphics. He co-founded a digital photo sharing company named “Pictra”. In 1998, he joined the Adobe Systems. He promoted as CEO of the company, in 2007. Also, he got the Padma Shri award in 2019.
George Kurian
CEO: NetApp
George Kurian – CEO of NetApp
George Kurian is the president and CEO of NetApp. It is a storage and data management company. He was born in Kerala, India. He completed his engineering from IIT Madras. He attained bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and earned MBA from Stanford University.
He started his career at Oracle in 1996. Later, he promoted as the senior vice president of Oracle’s server technologies. Also he served as vice president of Application Networking and Switching Technology Group at Cisco Systems. In 2011, he joined the Netapp. He became the CEO of the company in June 2015.
Nikesh Arora
CEO: Palo Alto Networks
Nikesh Arora – CEO of Palo Alto Networks
Nikesh Arora is the CEO of Palo Alto Networks. He was born in Uttar Pradesh, India on 9 February 1968. He completed his degree in Electrical engineering from IIT Varanasi. After that, he completed his MBA from Northeastern University. Also he earned a master’s degree in finance from Boston College.
He worked at Google. Also, he served as a president of a company named SoftBank Group. He resigned from there on 21 June 2016. In June 2018, he joined the Palo Alto Networks. Presently, he serves as the chairman and CEO of the company.
Rajeev Suri is the ex-CEO of Nokia. He was born in New Delhi, India on 10 October 1967. He has Singapore citizenship. He completed his degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, India. He served for multi-national companies in Nigeria and India. In 1995, he joined the Nokia. He played an important role in transformation of the company. He became the CEO of the company on 29 April 2014.
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram
CEO: Sehat Kahani
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram – CEO and Co-founder of Sehat Kahani
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram is CEO and co-founder of the company named “Sehat Kahani”. The services of the company focus on health awareness, primary health care consultation, and health counselling. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan. She completed her MBBS in 2010 from DOW University of Health Sciences.
Later, she earned a master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from The Aga Khan University of Health Sciences. She is the first women in Pakistan to win the Rolex award.
Raj Fernando
CEO: Workstorm.com
Raj Fernando – CEO and Chairman of Workstorm.com
Raj Fernando is the CEO and Chairman of Workstorm.com. He is a Sri Lankan descent American businessman. He was born on 8 July 1971. He completed his bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Beloit College. He found a company named “Chopper Trading” in 2002 and he became CEO of the company.
Fernando’s contributions helped the company to become one of the main participants on world’s largest global exchanges. But in 2015, he sold the company. He launched an internet startup named “Workstorm.com” in 2016. Now he serves as the CEO of the company.
The South Asian cultures encourage debate, communication, and argumentation. Also, the mainstream American culture encourages assertive communication too. According to a study by MIT, South Asians are more likely to achieve leadership roles in American organizations. The research focused on the three key aspects of prejudice, motivation, and assertiveness.
The research proposed that the cultural differences around assertiveness and the willingness to engage in the debate may be strong contributing factors in what resonates with American company leadership expectations.
This is a good trait that is seen in South Asian peoples. Because of this type of trait and culture, there is a high chance of people from Asia succeeding in leadership roles. We can expect more such leaders to take up leadership positions in big multi-national organizations.
These CEOs are not from the same background. It includes from poverty to the middle class. Most of them were born and raised in different places. They left the home countries to attain higher education in other countries, yet they all have the same instincts, values and traits. Anyway, climbing the ladder of success is not an easy task. So, this completes our list of top Asian CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
FAQ
How many Fortune 500 companies have Indians as there CEOs?
38 CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies are Indians.
What is the number of Asian American CEOs in the fortune 500 companies?
5.6% of total CEOs in fortune 500 Companies are found to be Asian American.
Who is the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company?
Katharine Graham is the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Which is Number 1 in the Fortune 500?
Walmart is ranked no. 1 in Fortune 500 Companies.
What is the number of Asian Americans in professional workforce?
Asian Americans made up about 13% of the professional workforce.
The global economy has always been positively impacted by the introduction of startup companies, which has paved the way for the growing importance of their establishment among different countries.
This has made the governments of the respective countries come forward to encourage their growth and rapid development, along with apt regulation. This startup growth has been witnessed across different sectors of the industry in India, which is at par with the rest of the world. India is one of the leading countries in terms of its startups. The government of India recognized 14,000 new startups in 2021 and 44 of them have also joined the coveted club of unicorns. The funding that is pouring in India today had never been seen earlier. Along with helping the companies turn unicorns and steering them forward to the next level, this funding is also helping the Indian entrepreneurs grow like never before.
Here are some of the successful richest founders in India.
Byju Raveendran is the Founder and CEO of one of the most prominent EdTech startups in India Byju’s. The veteran Indian entrepreneur was born in 1981 at Azhikode, Kerala. He did his schooling from a Malayalam medium school, where his mother “Shobhanavalli” and father “Raveendran” were mathematics and physics teachers respectively. After schooling, he pursued B. Tech from the Government College of Engineering, Kannur.
Then after completing his graduation in the year 2003, he started working as a service engineer at a reputed MNC. After two years, he quit his job and started helping people prepare for the CAT examination. In 2007, he commenced the test preparation business “Byju’s classes” which was a success. This motivated him, thereby leading him to launch his startup Byju’s alongside his wife in 2011.
With the rapid growth of the smartphone industry in India, he launched what we know today as “Byju’s – The learning app”. Within three years, the app got success at both national as well as international levels, as the app expanded its operation to English-speaking countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, etc.
Byju’s app adheres to a freemium operation model, primarily aimed at preparing Indian students aspiring to clear examinations such as CAT, IAS, IIT-JEE, NEET, etc. It also helps to provide teaching assistance and facilities to the students of classes 3-12.
The company overall gained so much success that it even bagged the recognition of being the shirt sponsor of the Indian cricket team, as announced in July 2019, replacing Oppo, who were the earlier sponsors. The deal allows Byju’s name to be printed on the team’s jerseys between September 5, 2019 – March 31, 2022. With over 100 million users and 6.5 million paid subscribers, along with a net worth of approximately 16.5 billion dollars, Byju’s is ranked among the top 5 national internet companies.
Net worth
The combined wealth of Byju Raveendran and his family (brother Riju Raveendran and spouse, Divya Gokulnath) stood at $3.22 bn (Rs 24300 crore), as per IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021. The personal net worth of Byju Raveendran was last reported to be $1.7 bn in 2020. His company, Byju’s is also a market leader in terms of valuation. With a valuation of $21 bn, the Raveendran-led edtech company is the second most valued startup in India and the most valued edtech startup in the world, as per December 2021 reports.
Thus, from his journey, we can learn that the passion for learning and imparting education o others, coupled with an overarching plan in place, one can achieve anything and everything in life.
Awards and recognitions
Awarded the Manorama News Newsmaker Award in the year 2019.
Fortune Magazine 2020 ‘40 under 40’.
Finalist of the Ernst and Young 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year.
Winner of the Business Transformation Award in 2020 by Ernst and Young.
Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Forbes India Leadership Award (FILA) 2021.
Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath
Nithin and Nikhil Kamath
Nithin Kamath created Zerodha, a brokerage firm with an open and low-cost business approach, in 2010. Zerodha, presently led by both Kamath brothers, Nithin and Nikhil, is the country’s largest brokerage, with over 5.48 million active clients.
After reports in recent months that approximately Rs 80,000 crore of Indians’ money sits unreported in various banking and Demat accounts, Nithin stated in September that Zerodha would be introducing an ‘alert tool’ to its platform to notify beneficiaries when an account becomes inactive.
Nithin and Nikhil had been trading right from their teenage years. The kids of a veena teacher and the manager of Canara Bank grew up in Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi, which is known for its lively traders. Nithin confesses that “greed” drew him into trading in the first place.
They’d joined Reliance Money and Way2Wealth as sub-brokers, respectively. Kamath Associates, a firm that handles money for others, was founded because of its trading prowess. The trading brothers had a sneaking suspicion that the firm was about to be disrupted. “When the jobs accomplished per transaction are the same, why should fees be dependent on transaction value?” had been a problem Nithin frequently pondered.
Nithin was aware of the industry’s lack of transparency. The number of securities financial transactions tax or brokerage imposed by brokers was sometimes unclear to clients.
Despite the pandemic, Zerodha had its biggest year ever, with 1.5 million new users. Nikhil started his fund, True Beacon, for high-net-worth clients in 2019. It is still modest, with a corpus of Rs 380 crores, but it has gained an amazing 35 percent during the last 14 months.
For the time being, the Kamath brothers are concentrating on what they do best: providing the best trading experience and a risk-free alternative to investors. There is also no stock study and no sales targets for any of the employees, which leads to misselling. They’ve introduced Varsity by Zerodha, which includes market tutorials. And the primary broking service continues to be unadvertised.
Varsity by Zerodha
Nithin, the company’s CEO, makes product choices and oversees the production, while Nikhil, the company’s CIO, manages risk and deals on their account. They’ve invested in various firms in the investment field and given money to climate change solutions, thereby channeling their brokerage earnings for a good cause.
Net worth
They are the biggest Indian entrepreneurs under the age of 40, according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India ’40 and Under Self-Made Rich List’ 2020, with Rs 24,000 crore. SEBI recently authorized them to establish an asset management firm.
Awards and recognitions
The Confederation of Indian Industry bestowed upon them the Emerging Entrepreneur Award (CII).
In its annual business review, The Economic Times recognized Kamath as among the 10 Indian entrepreneurs to follow in 2016 who have the most impact in their industries.
Forbes Finance in India in 2016 listed them in their 30 Under 30 list.
According to the CII’s CEO, “use technology to manufacture affordable things”.
Economic Times included them in “10 Businessmen to Watch in 2016”.
Divyank Turakhia
Divyank Turakhia
Divyank Turakhia is distinguished as an Indian-born serial entrepreneur, businessman, computer programmer, self-made billionaire, and investor. Turakhia is ranked #1 in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021. Media.net is the company that Divyank founded back in 2010, which went on to become recognized among the top 5 largest online advertising businesses globally. After scaling media.net to a promising level, Divyank is also credited for selling it to Miteno Communication Technology (Shuzhi.AI) in an all-cash deal in 2016 for $900M. This is also famous as the third-largest acquisition transaction in the online advertising industry worldwide.
Turakhia began programming at the tender age of 9 years, while he started internet consulting for major companies including large corporates when he was just 14 years of age, in 1996. He then decided to borrow $600 from his father and after two years, he co-founded a web hosting and domain registration business. This venture was again quite a success for Turakhia and was eventually purchased by NASDAQ:EIGI in 2014 for $160M. Turakhia studied at Arya Vidya Mandir in Bandra, Mumbai and was later a student of Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics (University of Mumbai), from where he graduated.
Div or Divyank, as he is commonly referred to, reached the milestone of acquiring his $1 million at 18, attained the milestone of possessing $100 million at 23, and then leaped to cross the 1 billion dollar mark in 2016, when he was 34. A serial entrepreneur, Divyank has been Co-founder of Directi, Founder and CEO of Skenzo, Founder and CEO of Media.net, Founder and CIO of numerous global investment funds. Div stepped down from the position of CEO of media.net in October 2018 and is currently planning to spend some time running his global investment funds.
Net worth
Divyank Turakhia’s net worth has been listed at Rs 12, 500 crores by Hurun India in its IIFL Wealth Hurun India rich list 2021. He was featured as the youngest billionaire on the Forbes List of Richest Indians worldwide in 2018.
Awards and recognitions
Economic Times awards the ET Panache Trendsetter Award in 2016.
Ranked #2 in the IIFL Wealth and Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List in 2020
Recognized as the Youngest Indian Billionaire successively in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Bloomberg Television in 2010 conferred upon the title “Winning Warrior”
BusinessWeek Magazine listed Divyank Turakhia among Asia’s Best Entrepreneurs Under 25 in 2006
Nakul Aggarwal is popularly identified as the Co-founder and CTO of BrowserStack. Nakul is an alumnus of the IIT Bombay. Started with Lime Spot Technology India Pvt. Ltd., where he served the role of a Software Developer, he left the job after 2 years. In the meanwhile, he had already started QuarkBase.com as the co-founder. Aggarwal then switched to Lime Labs LLC as the Senior Software Engineer but left the same after stepping down from the co-founder position of QuarkBase.com. Nakul eventually took up the role of managing Development & Infrastructure at Downcase Consulting and while he was working with the company, he founded BrowserStack in 2011. Aggarwal then left Downcase Consulting.
Net worth
Nakul Aggarwal was ranked at the second position in Hurun Rich List 2021 with a total wealth of Rs 12, 400 crore.
Awards and recognitions
Nakul Aggarwal is currently ranked #2 by the Hurun Research Institute in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021.
Ritesh Arora is known as the Co-founder and CEO of BrowserStack. Ritesh co-founded BrowserStack in 2011, which is currently hailed as the world’s leading software testing platform. The vision was mainly to simplify testing for millions of developers globally. BrowserStack scaled far and wide and currently boasts of 50,000+ global customers, along with being backed by marquee investors like Accel, BOND, and Insight Partners. The Ritesh and Nakul-led company was recently valued at $4 billion.
BrowserStack provides instant access to over 3,000 real mobile devices and browsers on its cloud platform and delivers quality software at speed. It currently aids leading companies like Microsoft, Twitter, Wells Fargo, Discovery, and Expedia.
Ritesh Arora has graduated from IIT Bombay with Computer Science and is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple companies after completing his graduation.
Ritesh is known as an angel investor and currently mentors many technology startups in India. Arora started as a Software Developer at Lime Labs and then founded QuarkBase.com and Downcase.com, but he no longer holds the role in the companies. Ritesh Arora finally founded BrowserStack, where he still is a Co-founder and CEO.
Net worth
Ritesh has a net worth of Rs 12,400 crore, as listed recently in the IIFL Weal Hurun India Rich List 2021.
Awards and recognitions
His company BrowserStack has won numerous industry accolades like:
It has been named to Forbes 2021 Cloud 100.
LinkedIn ranked BrowserStack at #1 in its Top 25 India Startups list.
The company was hailed as the Bootstrap Champ by Economic Times.
With the increase in the support and assistance from the Indian government to the startups, the young and budding Indian entrepreneurs must keep these role models as their benchmarks of success. The early initiatives of these listed people got them to where they are now. The startup founders are the embodiment of creativity and innovation. Thus, their journey offers some valuable insights, following which the entrepreneurs can push their initiatives towards glory.
FAQ
Who are the richest entrepreneurs in India?
Byju Raveendran and Family, Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, Divyank Turakhia, Nakul Aggarwal, Ritesh Arora are the richest entrepreneurs in India, as of February 2022.
How much do startup founders make in India?
The average salary of a startup founder is between Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 80 Lakhs depending on the experience.
Who is the youngest CEO in India?
Suhas Gopinath is the youngest CEO in India. He took charge of the CEO of Globals Inc. at the age of 17.
ATHUL C K
