IIMA honours nine alumni with the ‘Young Alumni Achiever’s Award 2022’
Significant contribution by the alumni resulting in generation of employment
or capital formation or social service was the criterion of selection
BILKULONLINE
By Rafat Quadri
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a premier global management institute, announced the winners of the 8th edition of its Young Alumni Achiever’s Awards 2022 (YAAA 2022) today.
Initiated in 2015, these awards are given to its alumni under the age of 45 in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions in the areas of Corporate Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Academics, Social/Public Service and Arts/Entertainment/Sports.
The awards were given away by Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA and Professor Sunil Maheshwari, Dean (Alumni and External Relations) at an event organised in the campus today, which was attended by members of the larger IIMA community.
Speaking to BILKULONLINE Professor Bhasker said “the criteria to select the young alumni winners of IIMA was their significant contribution as a corporate leader or entrepreneur or a public serving officer that results in the generation of employment, capital formation and attempt to uplift the lives and living standards of sections of people for betterment respectively”.
“If we really want to march ahead in the direction of attracting US and European economy into our country, we must have thousands of successful entrepreneurs. Our IIMA students both alumni and present ones are heading towards that goal and IIMA will be successful on the day when IIMA plays a vital role in this achievement. We do not want mere ‘Management Professionals’ added Prof Bhasker.
Nine winners comprised of seven (7) men and two (2) women alumni of IIMA, who were handed over a Trophy and a Certificate. This year’s winners are as follows:
Corporate Leadership
- Aditya Sharma
- Prabhjeet Singh
- Sucheta Mohaptra
Entrepreneurship
- Sandeep Deshmukh
- Saurabh Garg
- Vineeta Singh
Social/Public Service
- K Thavaseelan
- Srijan Pal Singh
Arts and Entertainment
- Tanuj Solanki
IIMA Young Alumni Achievers :
Aditya Sharma is currently leading the Asia Banking Analytics practice. He previously led India’s Financial Services and Strategy & Corporate Finance practices. He was nominated for Forbes 30 under 30 from India in 2018. He is one of the Youngest Partners across leading Professional Services Firms and among the first awardees in professional services in India. He has 8+ publications, including McKinsey’s seminal three-volume report on Indian banking and Op-Ed articles. He continues to follow his hobbies & interests while focusing on excelling in his professional aspirations.
Prabhjeet Singh was recognized as ET 40 under 40 top business leaders of the country. He was a SAC member at IIMA and was awarded the KVS Gold medal for best outgoing all-rounder and Aditya Birla Scholar. He has 16 years of post-MBA experience and is currently the President of Uber India and South Asia. He recently held the position of Associate Partner at McKinsey & Co. ‘ He led several India-first innovations, including scaling up Auto, Moto, Intercity, and High-Capacity vehicles, and introduced Uber Bus in India.
Sucheta Mahapatra is an accomplished business leader with an enviable track record of setting up and scaling tech-enabled businesses. She is the MD for India at Branch International (a16z and Visa-backed FinTech) and is building one of the first full-service digital banks in India. She is also a member of the Board of Governors at IIM Sambalpur. Prior, Sucheta was the COO for WeWork in India. She drives the strategy, mobilizes resourcing and funding, and steers the business through crises like the pandemic.
Sandeep Deshmukh is the Co-founder and CEO of ElasticRun and founded the company in 2016. ElasticRun is a Deep-Reach Logistics technology platform, unlocking the next wave of consumption in India and a key player in servicing the low-density remote areas of India. The ElasticRun platform would channel trade, finance, and data of $500 bn consumption in India through its network. It aspires to become the default enabler of Infrastructure for Indian consumption. Currently, ElasticRun’s 12-month annualized revenues are at 1,800Cr+ (based on Jan 21 sales.), and the company’s revenues have grown 145% annually YoY in FY20. The company provides livelihood to over 25,000+ partners with ~1,200+ full-time employees.
Saurabh Garg is the 1st Generation entrepreneur who started the entrepreneurship journey very early in life. He founded NoBroker along with his Co-Founder Amit Agarwal. He decided to stay back in India after IIT. However, he had offers from Columbia University, LSE, and Imperial College as he believed India has a very high potential and entrepreneurship is his calling. He strongly believes that all students should realize that this is the best time to be in India. His biggest way to contribute to society is to inspire the next generation, motivate them about entrepreneurship, and mentor them to build world-class companies in India.
Vineeta Singh is the Cofounder & CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics. In 2015 Vineeta, with a single-point agenda of creating world-class makeup products with high-pigmentation that specifically catered to the Indian skin tone. In an industry dominated by global giants who adopted a one-size-fits-all approach. She advocates a fast-paced work culture where speed and experimentation lead the way for rapid innovation and a launch-packed calendar.
Highly respected in entrepreneurial circles for her business ventures, Vineeta is an investor on Shark Tank India, one of the most successful reality shows in the country. Through Shark Tank, Vineeta has been able to reach and mentor budding entrepreneurs from the remotest parts of India, and her business acumen and warm presence on the show have won hearts across the world.
K Thavaseelan has a field Posting in Nagaland, where the poverty index is higher than the state’s average, with agriculture being the primary source of livelihood for the population. The state is also one of the most backward districts, with glaring developmental disparities compared to the rest. Nagaland continues to witness one of the longest and bloodiest standing insurgencies—one that has existed longer than the Kashmir insurgency. Because of this, Nagaland is considered as one of the toughest cadres, if not the toughest cadre, for any All-India Service (AIS) Officer to serve in.
Srijan Pal Singh rejected a PPO from BCG in 2009 during the recession and instead worked with Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. He went from an annual package of 27 LPA to 4.8 LPA in his first job while carrying an educational loan. He was the Advisor and OSD to the 11th President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (2009 to 2015). He was instrumental in designing the PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) scheme and bringing various PURA complexes across India, benefiting over 10,000 villages across a single knowledge platform as envisioned by Dr. Kalam. He was the founder of Homi Lab: A unique venture to provide low-cost, high-quality education on the subject of “Future” to all learners worldwide. He was the Chief Mentor and Founder of Kalam Centre (cofounded with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam).
Tanuj Solanki is an award-winning fiction writer with four book-length works published by major Indian publishers, with some of the stories optioned for screen and stage adaptation. Tanuj received the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (the highest award in India for an outstanding work of literature by a writer under 35) for his short-story collection, Diwali in Muzaffarnagar. His work, Neon Noon, was shortlisted for the Tata Lit Live First Book Award 2016. Tanuj’s work was recently included in Aleph Book Company’s A Case of Indian Marvels, an anthology of the works of the best Indian writers under the age of 40. The Machine is Learning was longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature (the richest prize for novels in India) in 2020. His prominent works include Manjhi’s Mayhem, The Machine is Learning, Diwali in Muzaffarnagar, Neon Noon, A Case of Indian Marvels, and Out of Print, Ten. Several of Tanuj’s stories have been optioned for adaptation into movies/tv shows. Tanuj’s fourth book, a novel titled Manjhi’s Mayhem, was due from Penguin Random House India in November 2022. Tanuj is known for his deep dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence and people’s lives.
(Rafat Quadri can be contacted at editorbilkul@gmail.com)
