From a small city in India to the helm of major global operations, Dr Sumit Mitra has been shaped by his belief that business success and social progress must advance together. As CEO of BT Global Business Services, he oversaw large-scale transformation across multiple countries. He then joined Tesco to rebuild trust and reimagine its global business services model, founding and scaling Tesco Business Solutions and then OmniSol.
When Dr Mitra learned of his place in the Top 100 Influential People, he felt deeply grateful and humble. “Personal accolades are never solo sport. It’s a team sport. It is the cumulative outcome of trust built over time, decisions taken under uncertainty and teams aligned behind a shared purpose.” Going further, he believes the “recognition belongs as much to the people and institutions I’ve worked with as it does to me.”
Beyond the award itself, the recognition reaffirmed a belief that he has held constantly throughout his career: sustainable business success and societal progress must go hand in hand. “It is both performance and progress,” he maintains.
The award has elevated important conversations about the role global business services and capability centres play in enabling large organisations to serve customers better. The award has “brought greater visibility to Tesco Business Solutions and OmniSol, not just for scale or efficiency, but for how we embed innovation, social well-being, governance and purpose into operations.”
Expanding further on the benefits from a business perspective, Dr Mitra believes it has strengthened “credibility with partners, peers and those interested in responsible, technology-enabled operating models.” For him personally, it has been a moment of reflection.
The recognition has prompted Dr Mitra to reconsider the nature of influence itself. “I’ve become less focused on performance as a scorecard and more focused on progress as direction,” he believes. “Performance is episodic a quarter, a project, a headline moment. Progress is compounding.”
As for what sets the award apart, it is its “focus on sustained influence rather than episodic success. It values leaders who shape systems, enable others and create impact that extends across organisations, communities and borders.”
He would strongly encourage others to enter or nominate, seeing it not as self-promotion, but “a chance to reflect, share learning and contribute to a wider leadership narrative. Influence grows when stories are shared with honesty and purpose.”
The annual Top 100 awards are designed to shine a light on truly influential people who make a positive impact on society.