Lakshmi Mittal
One of the world’s richest men is the Rajasthan born steel baron, Lakshmi Mittal. He currently serves as the respectable chairman and chief executive officer of the Mittal Steel Company.
This billionaire industrialist is a bachelor of commerce graduate of St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta. He began his career by working at his family’s steelmaking business in India. He carries with him more than 30 years of experience in the steel industry and other related businesses.
In 1976, Lakshmi Mittal founded his own steel company called Mittal Steel. Under his direction, Mittal Steel emerged as a global steel producer. The company currently maintains operations in 14 countries.
Lakshmi Mittal was responsible for pioneering the use of DRI, or Direct Reduced Iron, as a substitute for steelmaking. He also initiated the development of integrated mini-mills, as well as the consolidation process of the global steel industry. To date, Lakshmi Mittal’s steel company is hailed as the largest steelmaker in the world. The Mittal Steel company currently owns 42.1 million tons of steel shipments and in 2004, it recorded more than $22 billion as profits.
For having reached such high levels of success in the business world, Lakshmi Mittal was awarded as the “European Businessman of the Year” for 2004 by the prestigious Fortune magazine. Aside from this, he was named as New Steel’s “Steelmaker of the Year” and was awarded by the American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics with the Willy Korf Steel Vision Award for his exemplary entrepreneurship, vision, and leadership.
Apart from being a business leader, Lakshmi Mittal is also an active philanthropist. He is dynamically involved in several funds including the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, and the executive committee of the International Iron and Steel Institute.