Nandan M Nilekani, managing director of Infosys Technologies, Ekta Kapoor, creative director of Balaji Telefilms, Swati Piramal, chief scientific officer of Nicholas Piramal, Anji Reddy chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories are among the 22 top business leaders, shortlisted as finalists for this year's Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) awards.
The award will be announced on Thursday, September 27 in Mumbai. The winner will then represent India at Ernst & Young's World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in 2002. Award winners from over 20 countries are expected to compete at the WEOY program, launched in 2001 and the first of its kind ever. The winner will also represent India at the Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the Year International Conference in Palm Springs, California from November 15-18, 2001.
These business leaders have been shortlisted and chosen by an independent six-member jury chaired by Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Auto. The jurors include State Bank of India chairman Janki Ballabh, M V Subbiah of Murugappa Group, Tejinder Khanna, chairman of Ranbaxy Laboratories, Rakesh Mohan, advisor to the finance minister and Rajendra Pawar, chairman of NIIT.
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"All the finalists are world-class entrepreneurs, who have demonstrated international standards in terms of achievement and innovation. Meeting and connecting with peers from across the world will be a very real and tangible benefit for the Indian entrepreneur--assisting the business to achieve even higher levels of success. It's a potential passport to success on the world stage," said V V Ranganathan, Ernst & Young's national director of EOY Program.
Apart from the individual who is named 'Entrepreneur of the Year', winners are also selected in several award categories based on leadership, creativity, innovation and company sustainability.
Kashi N Memani, Ernst & Young's country chairman said, "The strength of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Program is the impeccable reputation and independence of the jury and the ability of the program's process-based approach to uncover stellar performers."
"The finalists for this year are already put on pedestal and they at once become role models for many other entrepreneurs. More such entrepreneurs mean more employment and the multiplier effect can feed economic growth for our country," he added.
The other finalists for the EOY awards are A S Bansal chairman and managing director (CMD) of Telecommunications Consultants India, Arun Kumar president and managing director of Hughes Software Systems, Brijmohan Lal Munjal, chairman of Hero Group, Jerry Rao, chairman of MphasiS BFL, Jamshed J Irani former Tata Steel chairman, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon India, Kishore Biyani, managing director of Pantaloon, Manakchand Jain of Add Pens, Prakash Gurbaxanif, founder and CEO of 24/7 Customer.com, Pratap Chandra Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals, Raman Roy, promoter of Spectramind eServices, Ratul Puri, manager, business development, of Moser Baer India, Ravi Kailas, chairman and CEO of Zip Telecom, Sanjeev Aggarwal, CEO of daksh.com, Som Mittal, CMD of Digital India, Suresh Krishna, CMD of Sundram Fasteners, Y C Deveshwar, chairman of ITC and Yang Soo Kim, managing director of Hyundai Motors.