It is lonely at the top, but it helps to have a guide path handy, a lodestar to look up and a platform devoted to celebrating an incredible entrepreneurial journey. It is with this thought that the Express Awards for Women Entrepreneurs took birth just after the painful pandemic. It has since been led by an iconic jury comprising Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder and executive chairperson, Biocon; Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax; Preetha Reddy, executive vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Zia Mody, co-founder & managing partner, AZB & Partners; Sachin Bansal, CEO of Navi and earlier co-founder of Flipkart; and chaired by Deepak Parekh, India Inc’s finance veteran and former chairman of HDFC.
Each year, the jury members have also enriched entrepreneurs with insights on matters that occupy the mind space of entrepreneurs trying to make sense of the informational cascade even as they get to cope with a shroud of uncertainties disrupting global markets.
The Express Awards for Women Entrepreneurs or just ExpressAWE to some, is currently in its fourth edition, and has seen some incredible winners over the years with their entrepreneurial journeys that continue to inspire many budding and seasoned entrepreneurs (and yes, these are all inspirational stories that both women and men look up to).
Award Winners 2024
Here are the award categories and the Winners last year:
Fashion & lifestyle: Vineeta Singh, co-founder & CEO, Sugar Cosmetics.
Health & Wellness: Meena Ganesh, chairperson, Portea.
E-commerce: Gazal Alagh, co-founder, Mamaearth.
Education & skill development: Indu Shahani, founding president & chancellor, ATLAS SkillTech University.
Finance & Venture Capital: Renuka Ramnath, founder & CEO, Multiples Asset Management.
Media & Entertainment: Zoya Akhtar & Reema Katgi, film director and screenwriters.
Social impact, mental health: Deepika Padukone, actress.
Social impact, crafts: Laila Tyabji, founder and chairperson, Dastkar.
Sustainability: Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax.
Travel & Hospitality: Jyotsna Suri, chairperson & MD, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group.
Apart from these, there were three special awards.
Newsmaker of the year: Ananya Birla, entrepreneur, singer, songwriter.
Legacy Entrepreneur: Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson, HCL Technologies.
Lifetime achievement: Dr Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Group.
Some of the past winners of ExpressAWE include:
Anita Dongre, founder, House of Anita Dongre; Ameera Shah, promoter and executive chairperson, Metropolis Healthcare; Lakshmi Venu, director, TAFE & managing director, Sundaram Clayton; Soumya Rajan, founder & CEO, Waterfield Advisors; Falguni Nayar, founder, Nykaa.
The ExpressAWE have had some incredible speakers and these include: Gaur Gopal Das, spiritual leader and lifestyle coach; Ronnie Screwvala, trailblazing entrepreneur, philanthropist and celebrated film-maker; Sheryl Sandberg, former Meta COO; and Indra Nooyi, former Chairperson of PepsiCo.
