Nita Ambani: The Second Engine to the Ambani Brigade

Reliance is an array of potential leaders just waiting to emerge the cocoon they are growing consistently in. The latest in news is none other than the ever so graceful Nita Ambani.
Reliance Industries is likely to nominate Nita Ambani, the wife of RIL owner Mukesh Ambani to the board of luxury Hotel Company EIH. RIL, which bought a 14% stake in EIH — that runs the Oberoi and Trident chains — will nominate Mrs. Ambani, the wife of chairman Mukesh, because she is closely involved with the company’s increased focus on services, which account for more than 50% of India’s GDP.
The Journey of Mrs. Ambani up the business ladder has been quite gradual. She had married young (at 21), had three children, and was initially fully occupied with taking care of them and her in-laws, and supporting Mukesh. She did find time to do a teacher’s training program and pursue a course in interior design. She even briefly worked as a school teacher at Sunrise Elementary, a small private school on Mumbai’s Napean Sea Road, a job she enjoyed thoroughly.
Being a fashion designer, Nita Ambani bestowed upon herself the job of designing the interiors of their own newest home, a job she excelled at eventually, much to the glee of her entire family.
Soon enough, Mrs. Ambani was being trusted with the supervision of large and complex projects. A few years later, the refinery at Jamnagar was initiated, and Nita was to handle the execution of the township.
Her foray into public life began when she set up a school at Mumbai in 2003. Her school, ‘The Dhirubhai Ambani International School’, located near Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai has become a prominent fixture of Mumbai’s education landscape.
Hence, it is not surprising that Nita Ambani may be chosen to represent RIL on the EIH board. Mrs. Ambani is not a rookie in the game. While she is modest when she says that most of her businesses are not main stream, large amount of investments are involved in all her endeavors, which she has managed with ease.
Also, the enormity of her ventures cannot be overlooked. Nita Ambani runs a significant enterprise with myriad activities. Most things she runs directly, like the hospital and the school are not technically businesses, but they are vast and complex organizations nonetheless, employing hundreds of people which lead Nita Ambani to supervise an amount close Rs 750 Crore in revenues and over Rs 1,000 Crore in annual investment budgets.

Her managerial skills were thoroughly tested during her stewardship of Mumbai Indians, a team which participates in the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians did poorly in the first and second IPL tournaments but the team led by Sachin Tendulkar staged a comeback to emerge as the runner-up during the 2010 edition.
Hence, with the kind of successful campaigns that Nita Ambani has run in the past, the positive impact and emotional connect she brings to the brand ‘Reliance’, there can be no better leader than her to guide RIL through their journey on the hospitality front.