 |
OUR JUDGES
(L to R) Munesh Khanna of NM Rothschild & Sons
(India), Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints, Revenue Secretary Vinita
Rai, K. Pandia Rajan of Ma Foi Management Consultants, and Ajay
Relan of Citigroup Venture Capital |
If
you've been keeping track of these columns, you would know that
beginning this year, Business Today has instituted an award to identify
and honour bright young sparks below the age of 40 in the country.
If you haven't, then a quick backgrounder may be in order. We'll
skip the why bit because its logic is really Cartesian (we are doing
it because we need to), and come straight to the 'how' part.
To generate a masterlist of people below 40
who have done outstanding work under three categories-CEO, Entrepreneur,
and Ideator-BT's own reporters in all its six bureaus spoke to an
array of experts, ranging from corporate honchos to hr professionals
to analysts to industry specialists, to come up with 72 names under
the three categories. This list was further whittled down to 15
(five under each of the three categories) by BT's senior editorial
team. To select one final winner under each of the categories, BT
brought in a panel of experts to argue for and against each of the
15 names. The judges comprised Vinita Rai, Revenue Secretary, Government
of India; Ashwin Dani, Chairman, Asian Paints; Ajay Relan, Managing
Director, Citigroup Venture Capital International; K. Pandia Rajan,
Chairman and Managing Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants; Munesh
Khanna, Managing Director, NM Rothschild & Sons (India); and
Sanjoy Narayan, Editor, Business Today.
| WHEN'S THE D-DAY? |
| Write blocked
in the space for March 11, 2004, on your diary or palmtop. On
that day, you would be ill-advised to be anywhere except the
Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Starting 1930 hrs, the who's who
of corporate India will gather to witness a unique event: a
celebration of India's young talent amidst a glittering do to
mark the debut of Business Today Young Super Performer Award,
made possible by Hewlett-Packard. Entry by invitation alone
(oh, no!). |
On February 14, 2004, the six judges gathered
at a hotel in Delhi for an in-camera debate on each of the 15 names.
After three hours of argument and counter argument the judges agreed
on the three final winners. It wasn't easy, considering that the
other 12 nominees, whose names BT will not disclose, had equally
outstanding achievements to their credit. But at the end of the
day, there could be only three winners. On March 11, 2004, the winners
will be honoured at a glittering ceremony starting 7:30 pm at Mumbai's
Taj Mahal hotel. If you haven't received a call from us, then you
aren't one of the winners. Don't despair, though. You'll have a
chance again-next year.
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