 |
Steel Mittal named richest man of South Africa |
India-born steel magnate Lakshmi N. Mittal has become the richest man in South Africa, ousting the traditional leaders - the Oppenheimer and Rupert families, says a national weekly.
This follows London-based Mittal’s takeover of former state-owned steel producer
Iscor.
“The Oppenheimer and Rupert families have always been considered South Africa’s richest families, but research reveals that it is actually a foreigner, the Indian (sic) billionaire Lakshmi Mittal who is the richest in the country,” Sunday Times wrote in its Rich List as part of a special Christmas Edition here.
Mittal’s 50 per cent stake in Mittal Steel SA won him this new status. The new company was born out of Iscor, which he turned around with a huge cash injection and cost-cutting technologies after first taking an interest four years ago when Iscor was ailing.]
|
|
 |
American NRI wins coveted UK scholarship |
| Ajit Divakaruni, 22, who studies at the University of Arizona (UA), is one of 40 students chosen, in a nationwide competition, to be awarded the 2006 Marshall Scholarship. The scholarship is worth about US$60,000 and will fund tuition and living expenses in the United Kingdom.
A senior honours student in the College of Science at UA, he is the first individual from his university to win the scholarship in 8 years. He plans on completing an honours thesis in three majors - biochemistry, mathematics and molecular and cellular biology - a feat that has never been accomplished by a UA Honours student.
At Cambridge (in Britain) he hopes to pursue research that might help in understanding how to regulate diabetes and obesity.
|
|
|
 |
From loading cartons to business tycoon |
MA Yousuf Ali is the chairman of Emke Group of companies and is on the board of directors of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce. His group currently has a workforce of 13,100, who hail from 27 countries. Ali had humble roots. He arrived in the United Arab Emirates in 1973 after having set sail from Mumbai with dreams of seeking his fortune. He started life loading cartons onto vans in the morning and worked in a small grocery store during the rest of the day. His room, which he shared with 8 others, had neither electricity nor any other basic facilities. But with hard work and determination he achieved his dreams.
|
|
 |
Sikh NRI conferred with Britain’s highest civilian award |
| Gurudeo Saluja, who became Scotland’s first Sikh council member in 1999, has been conferred with one of Britain’s highest civilian awards, the Order of the British Empire (OBE). It was presented to him during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
He was made an OBE for his services to improve community relations.
Saluja, a graduate in engineering from Benaras Hindu University in 1958, was born and brought up in India. He had lived in Canada and Liverpool before moving to Scotland in 1976 to take up teaching.
A former president of the Grampian Racial Equality Commission, he was also the founder president of the Asian Social and Cultural Association for Aberdeen and Northeast Scotland.
NRI among 10 top living inventors in the US
Ravi Arimilli, a researcher based in Austin, Texas, who specialises in computer chips, has become the youngest ever-IBM fellow with more than 300 patents, and has been listed among the top ten living patent holders in the United States. In 2002 alone, Ravi registered 78 patents.
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by the CEO. Typically only 4 or 5 IBM Fellows are appointed each year. It is considered to be the highest honour a technologist at IBM can achieve. |
|
|
|
