Ashok Soota was among the early philanthropists in India to support disability rights and inclusion. The executive chairman of Happiest Minds Technologies now wants to define his legacy with a charitable trust dedicated to medical research
Ashok Soota, Executive chairman, Happiest Minds Technologies
Image: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg Via Getty Images
Ashok Soota has always dreamt big. He spent the early years of his career at business conglomerate DCM Shriram. In 1978, he became CEO of Shriram Refrigeration, a company that was unprofitable for four straight years, as per Crunchbase, and streered a complete turnaround. Then, in search of a challenge, he took up a job in Wipro, which, when he joined in 1984, had a fledgling infotech arm and was more of a vegetable oils company. In the next 15 years, he helped Wipro’s IT business grow from $2 million to $500 million revenue run rate.
In 1999, he wanted to strike out on his own, and co-founded IT firm Mindtree, which went public in 2007. Then, in 2011, he left to launch Happiest Minds Technologies, a digital transformation and IT consulting services company. At the age of 77 in 2020, he took the company public.
So, when it came to giving back to society, he was bound to think big and take the path less travelled. “I’m primarily an institution-builder,” Soota, 81, says over email, referring to his decision to set aside crores of rupees of his personal wealth to build a state-of-the-art charitable medical research organisation instead of distributing funds to various causes.
The organisation, which is called SKAN (Scientific Ageing and Neurological Ailments), was founded in 2021. As per Forbes Asia, Soota pledged $75 million (about ₹600 crore), to be disbursed over 10 years, towards SKAN.
Their “areas of expertise” are stem cells, gut microbiome, human genomics, molecular biology, cardiovascular systems, bioinformatics, diabetes, ageing and geriatrics, and Parkinson’s.
(This story appears in the 09 February, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)