Sahar Mansoor, Founder, Bare Necessities
How do we build businesses beyond the profit lens? We do it by caring about people more. The zero-waste lifestyle is trying to live lighter on this planet. Our grandmothers knew this best, refashioning garments left and right. Sustainability is in our DNA.
Veda Krishnamurthy, Former Cricketer &Broadcaster
The Indian women’s cricket team is exactly how you saw them after the victory, humble and grounded. Cricket is everyone’s game.
Mayura Balasubramaniam, Founder, Craftizen Foundation
The Indian craft and heritage are something that neither China nor AI can replicate. Every district in India has such special crafts.
Nooraine Fazal, Founding CEO & Managing Trustee, Inventure Academy
We are people who have either chosen to make Bengaluru our home or have been fortunate enough to be born here. At Inventure Academy, we wanted to understand how the city’s lack of planning and misgovernance are impacting our children. What we found was deeply concerning, children are spending three to four hours a day on the road. That’s the time they could have spent learning, playing or simply being children. It also adds to the two years they already lost during the pandemic. And that, to me, says something about how urgently we need to act. I sincerely hope that we start doing more justice to the next generation.
Deepthi Bopaiah, Sports Administrator
Every four years, we wake up when the Olympics roll in, and then we forget about sports. For the last 17 years, we have worked with both para- and able-bodied athletes. They are people first. We should always ensure that policies are made with inclusivity in mind.
Hema Ravichander, Management Professional
Devi as a word is very personal to me; all of these devis reflect the virtues of the word. Kris embodied a lot of empathy in my career. In a very nuanced way, we looked up to his sartorial elegance. Winning this award in front of my husband and children has been a very special occasion.
Chaaya Nanjappa, Social Entrepreneur, Founder, Nectar Fresh
When you have a passion, you will get to a point where you will make a fresh start. Now we actually have our products in Walmart, in USA and Canada. It was indeed a big challenge as women from rural India find it hard to get recognition or capitalise on schemes or subsidies. Today as we get into 34 products and support more than 4,000 tribals and small farmers, I feel it’s a big moment for us.
Pragati Mathur, Textile Artist and Handloom Innovator
I started off weaving sarees. My work is innovative. I’m very crazy. I weave anything I put my hands on. I have moved from textile to art. I weave with metal. My installation is at Terminal 2 of the international airport in Bengaluru.
Shraddha Srinath, Multilingual Actor
It was interesting to lead a web series (The Game: You Never Play Alone). It was my first web series. It was an interesting experiment. It worked up great for me because the show did very well. There was a sense of credibility. There are offers for web series now.
Anita Nair , Author
I think everything follows a certain trend, and after a while, we’re all going to get tired of scrolling. At some point, we’ll realise that constant scrolling has given us the attention span of a goldfish. So, we have to take charge. I truly believe that writing evolves with the times we live in. And no, I’m not talking about using ChatGPT to write books, though it’s already happening, and I see a lot of it. I believe writing will need to adapt to connect with newer generations. And with that change, scrolling may not completely stop, but it will definitely reduce.
Divya Raghavendra Rao, co-founder, Rameshwaram Cafe
They say behind every successful man, there is a woman. But I would say that behind my success, is my husband, Raghav. From IIM to the food business, he is the one who took me on this journey, and everything has been good. Though we run restaurants, we never bring food from them — we always cook our meals ourselves.