8 DECEMBER2025Yara India, a subsidiary of Yara International, a global crop nutrient company, has announced the winners of the Yara International Women in Agronomy Scholar Awards for the first time, which reflects their emphasis on awarding scholarships to women agronomists.During the 2025-2026 academic years, the program identified five female Ph.D. students majoring in Agronomy and Soil Science. This number was increased based on the merit of the candidates.The chosen scholars are Ruchi Rajpoot of Rani Lakshmibai Central Agricultural University, Meka Kalyani of Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Dharani S of Kerala Agricultural University, Gobikashri N. of Pondicherry University, and Barsha Mansingh of CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University.The winner will also be awarded a financial grant of US$1,500. Furthermore, the project entails a six-month research mentorship in 2026, whereby winners will be able to avail themselves of Yara's research and development team, an opportunity to learn about practices in the industries, as well as learning about possible future careers at Yara.Speaking at the occasion was Sanjiv Kanwar, the Managing Director of Yara South Asia, who said that the program embodies the company's passion for academic excellence, diversity, and the use of research for the development of agriculture. "Today's scholars represent the future of agricultural innovation in India,"Rejane Souza, the Senior Vice President of Global Innovation at Yara International, added: "Enhancing women's representation in agricultural decision-making and innovation circles can certainly add to making this sector more resilient and competitive. Aligning investments in young scientists with Yara International's strategy of innovation based on knowledge can also be fitting."The selection of the scholars followed a series of procedures, including reviews of applications by a Yara committee and virtual interviews with experts.The selection of the scholars entailed academic performance, relevance of study, results of the interviews, and the motivation of the individuals to make a contribution to the agriculture sector. EmpowerHER'25, hosted by SHELeadsIn-dia, provided a forum for innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital strategy where the best minds interacted, engag-ing with topics related to the convergence of tech-nology, purpose, and the need for human touch.The event is the realization of founder Nikita Vora's vision to enhance women's leadership representation in AI-run marketing.During her talk, she emphasized that there is a need to improve women's access to technology and resources to help scale their ideas, as there is no lack of ambition among women.The event included a dialogue with Sujata and Taniya Biswas, the co-founders of sustainable fashion label Suta, with their journey from a corporate job to becoming entrepreneurs.How important social impact with scalability is, was driven home by an experience that Sujata had in a village in West Bengal that shaped their outlook on social impact.Suta, which was a bootstrap venture, was cited as an example of scaling focusing on customers. The brand experienced tremendous growth during the Covid era by using storytelling and marketing tech and expanding its retail outlets in India.Boot-strapped growth was discussed in a session conducted by Soumya Kalluri, who is the founder of upcycled denim fashion brand, Dwij.The summit also featured a panel discussion moderated by Deepti Khutal, Vice President­Partner Solutions, INVIDI Technologies.Panelists Amita Deshpande, founder, reCharkha, and Snehal R. Singh, publisher & coach, MSW Publishing, spoke on the practices of entrepreneurship wherein the developments made must be accompanied by awareness.In general, the conversations emphasized how women entrepreneurs have increasingly turned to technology as a platform on which to tell stories of their community involvement, in addition to their business goals. IN FOCUSYARA INDIA ANNOUNCES FIRST WOMEN IN AGRONOMY SCHOLAR AWARDSEMPOWERHER'25 FOCUS ON WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP IN AI-DRIVEN MARKETING
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