‘If you want to start a business to be a billionaire, you are an idiot’: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said his father, RIL founder Dhirubhai Ambani, the richest person in Asia, believed that businesses succeed when they fulfil a need for the people.

Mukesh Ambani opens about about Reliance's vision

Speaking at McKinsey's Leading Asia series on June 25, Mukesh Ambani said his vision for the future is to carry forward his father's legacy. At Reliance, they believe in impact-led business, he said. He further added that clarity in goals and the right talent can drive innovation and create impact.

“I am very loyal to my father’s vision… Our North Star always has been that our vision and purpose of doing business have to be impact-led… My father used to say that if you want to start a business to be a billionaire, you are an idiot; you will never get there. If you want to start a business to impact a billion people, then you have a good chance of success, and, as a byproduct, you can make a reasonable amount of money,” he shared.

Ambani disclosed that at Reliance, the process is to “figure out where to get” and then acquire the right talent for the goal.

“Our goal was to contribute our utmost to making India a prosperous nation and enabling all Indians to live a better life,” he remarked.

When asked about his approach to risk management, Mukesh Ambani shared that he considers the worst-case scenario and determines the possible outcomes before proceeding.

Citing Reliance Jio as an example, Mukesh Ambani said that the company’s telecom foray through the launch of Jio was by far the 'biggest risk' taken in pursuit of scale and would have been ‘worth it’ even if it had failed.

“The principle is whether you can survive in the worst-comes-to-the-worst situation. You start off by thinking in terms of what the worst is that could happen, and then you have to survive that. About 30 or 40 years ago, I said that I should personally have to look any of my employees in the eye,” he told McKinsey.

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