“Success is not measured by the position you hold, but by the impact you have on others.”- Ratan Tata
Life is a journey which we all have embarked but those who run after materialism, get something but those who look beyond the obvious become timeless jewels. Ratan Tata was one such gem which Time and Space will value till time immemorial. Ratan Naval Tata was born on 28th Dec 1937 in Bombay, British India, with a silver spoon.
He was educated in premium academic institutions, both in India and abroad. He graduated from Cornell University College of Architecture with bachelor’s degree in architecture. He wanted to stay in Los Angeles but due to his grandmother, he had to return to India.
He joined the Tata Group in 1962, started on the shop floor of Tata Steel. This worked well for him as he learnt the basics of business under the aegis of JRD Tata himself. He eventually succeeded JRD Tata and took up the responsibility as Chairman of Tata Sons.
Ratan Tata created history during his 21 years leadership, Tata Group’s revenue grew over 50 times. At the end of his tenure, majority of products have already become Brands. Tata Tea acquired Tetley, Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel Acquired Corus. These mergers and acquisitions positioned Tata Group as an India- centric company which has global imprint.
As a catalyst, the most admirable quality of Ratan Tata was his compassion, empathy, love for both humanity and canines. He was not only a great business leader but also a philanthropist who was always thinking about was welfare of humanity at large. He supported University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering to develop capacitive deionisation to provide improved water for challenged areas across the world.
Tata Hall at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a state-of-the-art research facility that was opened in November 2018. The building is named after the Tata Trusts, who donated $70 million to UC San Diego in 2016 to establish the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS).This is joint initiative which is working towards finding solutions for fighting against genetic diseases and finding ways to handle food problem in future.
Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic affiliate of Tata Group, endowed a $28 million Tata Scholarship Fund that will allow Cornell University to provide financial aid to undergraduate students from India. The scholarship fund will support approximately 20 scholars at any given time and will ensure that the very best Indian students have access to Cornell, regardless of their financial circumstances.
In 2010 Tata Group companies and Tata charities donated $50 million for the construction of an executive center at Harvard Business School (HBS). The executive center has been named Tata Hall, after Ratan Tata. The total construction costs have been estimated at $100 million.
The Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech is named after Ratan Tata, and mixes academics and industry in a building on the Roosevelt Island campus. The seven-floor structure is meant primarily as a business incubator for students, faculty, and staff, with 70% of the building being commercially leased and 30% devoted to academic space.
Tata Trusts under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science to study mechanisms underlying the cause of Alzheimer’s disease and to evolve methods for its early diagnosis and treatment.
Ratan Tata was the highest international donor to the Cornell University Cornell University paid tribute to its alumnus Ratan Tata, honouring his visionary leadership, philanthropy, and contributions to education and research, particularly through the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition.
It is indeed a humungous task to capture the glorious legacy to Ratan Tata, who wrote the success saga of salt- to – software company and changed many rules of business.
He was not only awarded Padma Vibhushan by the Indian Government alone. He was the recipient of many prestigious awards bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince( now King) Charles.
His death on 9th October has left a vacuum which is impossible to be filled.Thus, there cannot be another Indian exotic jewel named Ratan.