सबेरा SABERA 2021 Announces Winners

सबेरा SABERA 2021 Announces Winners: The Social and Business Enterprise Responsible Awards & Summit, सबेरा SABERA 2021, concluded during an  virtual event on 9th December. SheThePeople is the knowledge partner for the event.

The annual event attracted nationwide participation by the country’s biggest corporates, most impactful non-profits and inspiring individuals. The awards acknowledged stories of impact and development aligned with UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Environment Social and Governance (ESG) Principles. There were over 80 entries for three main categories acknowledging SDG & ESG aligned initiatives, entities and individuals. Two research-based nominations in Responsible Business and Promising Responsible Business were also acknowledged among others.

The winners covered a wide spectrum of work in alignment with SDG and ESG principles. सबेरा SABERA recognised businesses as well as the third-sector champions including NGOs and individuals. Winners of the Responsible Business category included Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Dabur India Ltd., SBI General Insurance Ltd., Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd., and Bharat Petroleum Company Limited among others. A total of 46 trophies have been awarded including eight Jury Commendations to encourage GOOD work.

The occasion was graced by the guest of honour, Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairperson of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been a supporter of सबेरा SABERA since inception in 2018. In his address he stated, “To my mind what SABERA has been trying to do is not very different from what the Prime Minister has done by making the Padma awards people-centric.”

Organised by the Simply Suparnaa © Media Network, a UN Women 2021 Awardee, the event featured keynote speakers Dr Prakash Amte and Dr Mandakini Amte, the son and daughter-in-law of social reformer Baba Amte.

Ms Renu Sud Karnad, MD HDFC Bank Ltd., chaired the robust jury of noted personalities also present through the event including Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee (IAS), popularly known as the father of CSR in India; Uday Varma (IAS), Former Secretary Ministry of I&B and MSME; Suhela Khan, Country Program Manager, WeEmpower Asia, UN Women; Ananta Raghuvanshi, Founder Director, NARDECO MAHI GOI; Kamal Bali, President and Managing Director, Volvo Group India; Richard Rekhy, Board, KPMG Dubai; Shaili Chopra, Founder, SheThePeople.TV; Mathew Cherian, Chair CARE India; and Geeta Goel, Country Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

SheThePeople founder, Shaili Chopra who is also on the jury said “Future organizations will be reviewed for trust and impact. I am looking forward to bringing a gender lens to initiatives that are driving change and seeking a more equal tomorrow.”

“A task of highlighting GOOD when the trend is to cash in on sensationalism is a challenge that we at SABERA have taken head-on.,” said Suparnaa Chadda, Founder Curator, सबेरा SABERA.

The theme this year ‘Purpose over Profit’, emphasised the shifting focus of large corporates from mere profit oriented operations to initiatives creating a larger social impact. ESG Partner MG Motors, MD shared “MG is a purpose driven organisation and believes in serving people and community while bringing meaningful changes. Even before we launched our 1st car, we have been at the forefront of driving sustainable change and serving immediate communities with whom the company interacts, especially in Vadodara, Halol, and Gurgaon, under our community service initiative, MG SEWA. Under this Program, we have been supporting girl child education, skilling women, educating teachers and more than 4 Lakh children on road safety and more. I would like to thank SABERA and its team for recognizing brands and individuals who put ‘community before self

On receiving the trophy for Swasthya & Kalyan for their COVID 19 Outreach, Sanjiv Mehta, Chair HUL shared ‘This award is indeed a recognition of the many people who have passionately worked  towards making a positive difference to the society and also reaffirms our belief that what is GOOD for India is GOOD for Hindustan Unilever.’

Dr Sunil Shroff, Founder MOHAN foundation, on receiving the Lifetime Achievement trophy said that he dedicates the award to all the organ donors of the country who had saved thousands of lives and hoped that the award inspires many others to support the noble cause of organ donation.

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SABERA Awards Jury Enters Final Round of Winner Selection

Exemplifying SABERA’s intent to catalyse ‘good’ and leave no one behind, the awards this year too were anchored by a bright young girl from a remote village of India. Fifteen-year-old Parvati Shah, one of three siblings, lost her mother at the age of five when severe floods destroyed her village in Uttarkashi. “Many times, we had to sleep on empty stomachs and we could do nothing about it,” shared Parvati in her own words, who is under the shelter of Purukal Youth Development Society’s (PYDS) now and is one of their brightest students. Parvati’s dream for the future is to become a doctor and work in rural areas where health care is lacking so that no mother’s life is lost due to lack of medical facilities.

The list of awardees can be found here.