50 Women Entrepreneurs Received 'Shakti Awards' in Odisha Capital

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 22 October 2022

Pratap Keshari Deb, the minister of industries and MSME, presented the "Shakti Awards" to 50 women business owners and microbusiness owners in the state of Odisha.

The Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Indian Women Network (IWN) organised the "Shakti Ru Samrudhhi" programme at Lokseva Bhavan's Convention Center in collaboration with the MSME Department, Startup Odisha, and Mission Shakti. This year's award, called the AM/NS Shakti Award, aims to encourage female leadership for economic progress.

The minister expressed appreciation for the program's recognition of the state's female business owners and asserted that these achievers are on par with other people. She also cited Biju Patnaik, a great leader of Odisha, who saw the improvement of rural infrastructure and the empowerment of women as fundamental principles of good governance.

This, he claimed, serves as the primary tenet of the current administration led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. According to him, Odisha still has a wide range of fields that need to be investigated, resources that need to be used, and plenty of room for investment to support several industry and economic sectors.

Sulochana Das, mayor of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), remarked that women are essential to the nation's economic development in her speech on "Women Breaking Barriers."

Hemant Sharma, the principal secretary for industries, cited a number of state government initiatives and urged for boosting the environment for women entrepreneurs, including unique land subsidy programmes.

Additionally, Rajiv Bhatnagar, Director (Projects) of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS), Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department Satyabrata Sahu, Executive Chairman of Startup Odisha Omkar Rai, Vice-Chairman of CII Odisha Sashi Sekhar Mohanty, and other speakers were heard.

A distinguished team of jury members chose the recipients of the "Shakti Awards" following a thorough screening procedure at OHUB and online personal interviews, according to Jayashree Mohanty, Chairperson of CII IWN Odisha and President of Luminous Infoways, a Member of Startup Taskforce.

The vote of thanks was given by Priti Agrawalla, co-chair of CII-IWN. A business incubator named I-Shakti was unveiled in conjunction with AIC Nalanda on this occasion.

Participants included entrepreneurs, Startup Odisha, AIC Nalanda, FICCI FLO, IWEC, ICC, OASME, and members of the CII State Council.

The IWN was established by the CII with the goal of becoming to be the greatest network for women in the sector. Through projects and events, it strives to give women the tools they need to excel as professionals and achievers in their particular industries.