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Scripting the future
Ranju Sarkar / New Delhi February 17, 2011,
0:29 IST
On February 7, India
Inc came together at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year Awards 2010 to raise a toast to the journey of three
generations of gritty industrialists in India.
Just when many in Delhi thought the winter was over, the
showers on the evening of February 7 left a nip in the air.
Unmindful of the rains outside, 350 business leaders, the
who’s who of India Inc, were showering praise on the
finalists and the winners of the 12th Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year awards at the Taj Palace Hotel in
the capital.
Journalist-turned-compere Riz Khan was back to anchor the
show, widely considered as the Oscars of Entrepreneurship
even as business leaders waited with bated breath to learn
about the lucky winners. Khan, armed with slides on funny
headlines and brand names, had the audience rolling in
laughter, but it was Salman Khurshid, minister for water
resources & minority affairs and chief guest for the event,
who stole the show with a humorous speech, more than making
up for coming late.
Even as invitees were greeted to a special menu prepared by
the master chefs of Taj Palace, including exotic Chilean Sea
Bass and organically-grown asparagus, short videos on
finalists chronicled their entrepreneurial journeys. “These
were the classiest awards I have ever been to. Every
nomination represented an aspiring achievement and I felt
fortunate to have been awarded,” said Rajiv Bajaj, who
received the award for business transformation.
All the 20 finalists were cheered by the audience as they
walked up the dais to collect their awards but there was
loud applause for N K Chaudhary, CEO, Jaipur Rugs, who won
the award for start-up of the year. Few had heard of
Chaudhary until management guru C K Prahlad called him one
day, wanting to do a case study on him. The rest is history.
Beginning with two looms in 1978, Chaudhary has built the
largest hand-knotted rug export firm in India, working with
40,000 weavers across 10 states.
The loudest cheers were reserved for the Entrepreneur of the
Year award winner, Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing
director, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, (he had also won
the life sciences category award in 1995), who took over
Israeli drug firm Taro after a protracted battle, and
Brijmohan Lall Munjal, chairman and director of Hero Honda
Motors, who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.
What made this year’s awards more memorable is the
introduction of two new award categories, “energy &
infrastructure” and “life sciences & consumer products”.
“Our finalists represent three generations of
entrepreneurs,” said Rajiv Memani, country managing partner,
Ernst & Young India. The first consisted of older business
groups who have thrived in a new global environment by
reinventing themselves. Next, there were those who built
scale at a rapid pace, and finally, there were nippy
newcomers who made a mark with innovative business models.
“The co-existence of three generations of entrepreneurs is
unique and is taking the India story global and laying the
foundation of the Indian economy for the 21st century,” said
Memani.
The interest in the awards can be gauged by the fact that
for many of the awardees like Dilip Shanghvi or Naveen
Jindal, their mothers came to cheer for them -- like they
would do for their kids at a school function.
The award attracts a large number of applications – a record
312 this year – and is also the only award based on
self-nomination. The applications are first vetted by
independent journalists, followed by field interviews of
select candidates, which are then reviewed by the jury. “I
must compliment Ernst & Young on a rigorous selection
process. The awards recognise the spirit of
entrepreneurship. We look for people with fire in the belly,
who took the risks, fell but got up and continued to fight.
Some finalists and some award winners are relatively new in
their fields, but have quickly risen to positions of
leadership.” said M Damodaran, chairman of the jury.
For Ernst & Young, this award is a global programme which is
now held in 140 cities across the world.
“Over the years, we have been proud to honour men and women
who have had the inspiration to create innovative,
market-leading companies,” said Farokh Balsara, National
Leader for the Entrepreneur of the Year Programme, Ernst &
Young India. “The award has become synonymous with
innovative thinking and a measure of entrepreneurial success
in India,” he added.
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