NATURAL-BORN LEADER
ISHA AMBANI


Isha Ambani is the 16-year-old daughter of Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fifth richest man. Her dad, who heads India’s largest private sector enterprise — and a Fortune 500 company — has two other children, Isha’s twin brother Akash and Anant.

Isha holds a stake worth about $80 million in Reliance Industries, the petrochemicals giant her father straddles. And pretty much like dad — who holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and had enrolled at Stanford University for an MBA but didn’t quite finish it — Isha is seen as a bright young thing at the eponymous, family-owned Dhirubhai Ambani International School in India’s financial capital of Mumbai.
Isha’s school — one of India’s most eminent — is named after her late grandfather and patriarch of the conglomerate, Dhirubhai Ambani. Currently, it is headed by Isha’s mom, Nita Ambani. Built in 2003, it is one of 37 in India that offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate Program with its students gaining admission into such blue-chip institutes as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, London School of Economics, Oxford and Cambridge.

Isha is in grade XI of her school’s International Baccalaureate programme and is also the school head girl while her twin, Akash, is a member of the freshly-minted students’ council. A talented and responsible girl, Isha, according to sources, is an all-rounder and was a “natural choice” for the head-girl’s post.

Apart from academics, where the lass has been the recipient of a bagful of awards, she has a myriad other interests like sports, arts, business/economy and international issues. A former student body council president, she also plays on her school’s championship soccer team and is a trained pianist.

The teenager is also actively involved in a slew of pioneering initiatives at her school. She was the organiser and facilitator of “Paigaam”, an Indo-Pakistan peace conference organised by her school to forge a harmonious relationship with people from across the border through an exchange of ideas.

Isha’s corporate involvement and small family puts her in a commanding position to inherit a sizeable chunk of her father’s enviable fortune.