Full Name: Anil Agarwal

Position: Founder and chairperson of Vedanta Resources

Main Activity of the Company: The mining and marketing of zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron-ore, aluminium and oil and gas, as well as the generation of electricity

Date and Place of Birth: January 24, 1954, Patna, India

Education: Miller High School, until the age of 15

First Job: Working for my father in Patna

Start of Own Enterprise: Scrap collection in Bombay

Value of Assets under Your Control: $40-billion

Number of People under Your Leadership: Vedanta employs 100 000 people directly and indirectly

Management Style: Ensuring that most of Vedanta’s wealth goes back into society to help women and children

Personal Best Achievement: Being able to recruit the best people

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother, Ved. The first three letters of my mother’s name form the first three letters of Vedanta, which is headquartered in London and has invested R50-billion in Africa, R21-billion of which has been invested in Southern Africa

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Warren Buffett

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: The Dalai Lama – he is my guru, and I want to meet him again and again. Of course, I would have loved to have met Mahatma Gandhi

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Warren Buffett

Philosophy of Life: Trust and empower

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Coming to South Africa

Hope for the Future: That every child under the age of seven and every exploited woman are taken care of

Favourite Reading: I do not read a lot, but, when I do, I love reading the Bhagavad Gita

Favourite TV Programme: Programmes on achievers

Favourite Food/Drink: Indian food (vegetarian) and Coca-Cola, but I try to restrict myself to one Coke a day – ha-ha

Favourite Music: I love local Hindi songs, and am also very fond of Indian classical music

Favourite Sport: Football

Hobbies: Watching movies, having fun with friends, taking my three-year-old granddaughter swimming

Car: I am driven to wherever I need to go

Pets: Two dogs

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Hypocrisy and negativity

Married: To Kiran

Children: Agnivesh and Priya

Clubs: Annabel’s Club, London, and other London clubs