Kumar Mangalam Birla is chairman of the multinational, Aditya Birla Group—the third largest business house in India. Born into a generations old business family, he was groomed to become a successful entrepreneur, and eventually decided to get involved in the family business. After obtaining his graduate degree and becoming a Chartered Accountant, he completed his post-graduation from London. When he was 28, his father’s sudden demise came as a shock and a lot of business responsibilities fell on his shoulder. He faced a lot of skepticism regarding his inexperience because at the time Kumar took over the Aditya Birla Group, it had already become a giant business house, dealing in viscose, textiles, garments, cement, aluminum and fertilizers. But he refused to be let down by these challenges and silenced everybody with his sharp business sense. He encouraged new business policies and his passionate approach marked changes in the functioning of the organization. Along with preserving the company's reputation in existing sectors, he also showed interest in evolving sectors like software and BPO. Apart from running a prosperous business group, he is also a leading philanthropist and contributes significantly towards the growth of weaker sections of the society.