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WINNERS 2019/
Sonu Nigum (Magnificent Performing Arts Award)
Playback Singer
Countries: Global
Sonu Nigam is a globally acclaimed Indian playback singer, composer, live performer, host and actor. He is one of the highest paid Indian singers and was ranked Number 1 artist on the US Billboard Uncharted charts twice in 2013. Sonu has won more than 50 awards and was on the 2015 Oscar nomination list.
Charlotte Crosswell (Specialist Professional Award)
CEO, Innovate Finance
Countries : UK
Charlotte leads a not-for-profit that advances the UK’s leading position in the financial services sector by supporting the next generation of technology led financial services innovators. She is currently Non-Executive Director at UK Finance and freemarketFX and sits on the CityUK FinTech Advisory Board. She also sits on advisory boards for UK Government-the DIT FinTech Steering Board and HMT’s FinTech Delivery Panel. Charlotte has worked as Head of Nasdaq International and as CEO Nasdaq Europe and Nasdaq NLX. She has also worked with Goldman Sachs, Partner, Pension Corporation and Head of International Business Development London Stock Exchange.
Caroline Plumb OBE (ELITE Rising Star Award)
Founder and CEO, Fluidly Ltd
Countries:UK
Fluidly, is a multi award winning company. It uses machine learning to help small businesses manage their cash flow. Cash flow is forecast with no modelling whatsoever by connecting to accounting software and analysing bank transactions hourly. This helps businesses to optimise their cash flow, save time and improve working capital. Caroline is one of UK Prime Minister’s Business Ambassadors ans named in the Innovate Finance Women in FinTech powerlist. She previously Co-Founded FreshMinds Talent, a very successful recruiting business.
Sarah Collins (Ardent Techie Award)
Founder and CEO, Wonderbag LLC
Countries: South Africa and 52 other countries
Wonerbag is a portable non-electric slow cooker which works on heat retention, an ancient cooking technology. Wonderbag enables food to be cooked for up to 10 hours after it has brought to the boil. It saves money, water, time, lives and reduces indoor air pollution. Wonderbag also acts as a highly efficient cooler, keeping ingredients frozen or cold for up to 12 hours, enabling medicines and vaccines to be transported giving them an extra 39 hours of increased life. The bags are sold online in 52 countries. There are over 20,000 Wonderprenuers (agents) across the globe and 1.5 million Wonderbag’s have been sold or subsidised into communities. The cost of the bag can be a tray of bananas or just cooking for the elderly twice per week. Sarah Collins has been recognised as the 2010 Fortune Magazine Top 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, 2011 Climate Change Leadership Award, 2013 African Rainforest Conservancy Award, 2018 London Stock Exchange Achiever in Africa, 2018 The Women’s Economic Forum-Woman of the Decade for Entrepreneurship, 2018 Time Magazine Top 50 Genius Companies, 2019 Forbes Women Africa-Africa’s New Wealth Creators.
Akshay Jatia (Dedicated Stalwart Award)
Director, WestLife Development/Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd
Countries: India
Akshay Jatia‘s company is the master franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants for West and South India. The company serves over 200 million customers annually across 41 cities. It provides employment to over 10,000 people across its 296 restaurants. Revenue is in excess of USD 203 million. The company plans to have over 400 restaurants by 2022 with revenue of more than USD 300 million.
Judy Joo (Exceptional Travel and Hospitality Award)
Founder Jinjuu, Chef, restaurateur, author and television personality
Countries: UK, USA, Hong Kong
Judy created a restaurant concept Jinjuu showcasing the best of Korean food. She has hosted a globally distributed cooking show ‘Korean Food Made Simple’, that still plays on rerun on Food Network internationally. Her book of the same title was launched with great acclaim and has another book ‘Judy Joo’s Soul Food’ launching soon. Judy writes for numerous publications about Korea and Korean food. Judy‘s career has been lauded as she is an engineer, then became a trader and then chef. Columbia University, her alma mater asked her to address the graduating class of 2018, given her brave and inspirational mantra of following one’s passion in life.
Rachel Burford (Competitive Sports Award)
Professional Rugby Player
Countries: UK
Rachel represented England at the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2017 Women XV Rugby World Cups. She has also been a member of the sevens team in 2009 and 2013 Rugby World Cups. She has been capped for England 84 times. Rachel has featured in six RBS 8 nations tournaments and 3 European Championships. Rachel has set up Burford Academy, to help young girl players. Apart from her work on the pitch, Rachel has sat on three different World Rugby Board committees as a council member of the International Players Association. Rachel has been the Rugby Players’ Association England women’s player of the year, BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year 2014, Sky Sports women Team of the Year 2014, Sports Journalist Team of the Year 2014, England Player of the Year 2014 and European Most Valuable Player.
Daren Ganga (Generous Philanthropist Award)
Founder, Daren Ganga Foundation
Countries: Trinidad and Tobago
Daren Ganga is a former Captain of the West Indies Cricket Team. He launched the Daren Ganga Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to assist young people in Trinidad and Tobago to fulfil their potential by offering them scholarships and other support mechanisms. Daren has also provided leadership to other young citizens through his roles as Senior Manager, Sports and Recreation at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, as Ambassador for Sport and Project Officer with the University of West Indies. Many successful national athletes have benefitted from programmes under the patronage of Daren.
Evgeny Chichvarkin (Savvy Luxury Award)
Founder, Hedonism Wines and Hide Restaurant
Countries: UK
Evegeny was the richest man under 35 in Russia. In 2012, he launched Hedonism Wines in London which is the most talked about fine wine and spirits boutique. Its buyers have sourced around 6,500 wines and 3,000 spirits from each region of the world whilst carefully checking the provenance of every bottle. The company has received several awards. Hide restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2018.
Kalli Purie (Outstanding Media and Entertainment Award)
Vice Chairperson, India Today Group
Countries: 70 countries including India, UK
Launched in 1975, the multi platform and multi vertical media group commands undisputed leadership across categories. It has more than 300 million viewers, readers, listeners and subscribers. The Group publishes the nation’s No.1 magazine-India Today, the National No.2 magazine and No.1 Hindi magazine-India Today Hindi, the No.1 Business magazine-Business Today, besides Indian editions of leading international titles like Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Reader’s Digest, all of which command leadership status. The Group has five leading 24-hour news channels including Aaj Tak and Aaj Tak HD, the nation’s No.1 Hindi news channel for 17 years in a row and India Today TV, the nation’s leading English news channel. These channels are available in more than 70 countries reaching more than 1 million homes.
Mariya Dykalo (Exquisite Art and Fashion Award)
Creative Director, Aspinal of London
Countries: UK, UAE, US, Kuwait, China
Mariya has established Aspinal as the quintessentially British lifestyle brand both in the UK and internationally, with a product portfolio of women’s and men’s handbags, luggage, leather accessories, silk and cashmere scarves and sun-wear. Aspinal has opened 5 stores across the UAE and in 2019 launched in the US. Mariya has plans to take the luxury British brand to India.
Dr. Asha De Vos (Inspirational Icon Award)
Marine Biologist, Ocean Educator and pioneer of Blue Whale Research
Countries: Sri Lanka
Dr. Asha De Vos works actively towards changing the current marine conservation model and inspires the next generation of diverse ocean heroes. Asha founded Oceanswell, a globally recognised non-profit which focuses on marine conservation, training and research. She designs projects with international collaborations and ensures that local researchers are included as equal partners. Asha’s work has been showcased internationally by Channel 7 Australia, BBC, the New York Times, CNN, WIRED UK, the New Scientist, TED, Grist, GOOD, Nature and National Geographic. Asha was listed in the BBC 100 Women 2018 list of most inspiring and influential women from around the world.
Ahmed Mohamed Fathelbab (Relentlessly Resolute Award)
Managing Director El-Fateh for Industries and Steel Constructions
Countries: Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali, Russia, Netherlands, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya
Ahmed has transformed the El-Fateh Group into a leading regional player working across Africa and Europe. The company serves the construction industry, cement industry, oil and gas, petrochemicals, airports, power plants, renewable energy, infrastructure, urban development etc. Recent projects include the largest over-water bridge in Africa in Sudan, the first international Velodrome in Egypt and the largest in the Middle East. The company has completed many large scale developments across Africa and Europe.
Angelo Cardona (Inspirational Icon Award)
Peace and Disarmament Activist
Countries: Colombia
Angelo Cardona is 22 and has spoken on behalf of the youth in Colombia at the United Nations Headquarters, German Parliament, British Parliament, Argentina Congress and Colombian Congress. At 19, he became the youngest member and is one of the global coordinators of the International Peace Bureau, a Nobel Peace Prize winning organisation. Angelo is the Co-Founder of the Latin American Youth Network for Peace, Vice-President of Humanity for Universal Demilitarisation among others. He has been working towards implementation of the peace agreement in Colombia and founded the movement ‘Yes to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace’ which received international media coverage and the attention of world leaders leading to the Colombian government listening to the campaign.
Matthew Clare (Astute Finance and Investments Award)
Co-Founder, Arlington Energy
Countries: UK
Matthew has led the finance and commercial deployment of over £300 million into distributed low carbon energy assets in the UK. Arlington has assembled each aspect of the supply chain to originate sites from conception through to build and operating. The company is now looking to close its next £0.5 billion fund to own and manage one of the UK’s largest distributed energy asset portfolio. Matthew is on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Allen Kambuni (Innovator Technology Award)
Co-Founder, Bean Interactive Limited
Countries: Kenya
Bean Interactive is the largest independent digital marketing agency in Kenya. It is effectively changing the lives of millions of Africans across 17 countries primarily through OTM, its retail disruption solution which provides branded household products to individuals at the bottom of the pyramid.
Elena Mustatea and Dr. Obinna Joseph Onwude (Innovator Technology Award)
Co-Founders of Bold Health
Countries: Romania, Nigeria, UK
In Bold Health is a digital therapeutics pioneer in Europe. The company delivers personalised behavioural medicine for the treatment and management of complex chronic illnesses, starting with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The firm’s software Zemedy enables people to become self sufficient as they are able to access comprehensive resources at any time. It has collaborated with many research institutions in the US and Europe and sold to major corporates. Elena is a Forbes 30 under 30, 10 femtech CEO’s empowering women around the world and top 30 women in AI leaders in drip discovery and advancement healthcare. Dr Onwude is endorsed by the UK government as an exceptional talent in health technology.
Isha Rajpal (Squared Watermelon Award)
Founder and Design Director, Roseroom Couture
Countries: India, UK
Isha started with Exotique Exports, her family firm which manufactures clothing for Zara, H&M, Diesel, GAP and Monsoon. Roseroom Couture is a fashion house and Isha’s creations are reminiscent of the Victorian era representing a style that expresses new forms of elegance and luxury-based on superior sartorial content and creativity. Roseroom Couture has featured in Vogue, Hello, Cosmopolitan and Elle. Harper’s Bazaar Bride has also covered Isha’s bridal couture line. Many Bollywood stars, bloggers, influencers wear Isha’s designs.
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