Minister for Tamil Language and Culture Thiru. K. Pandiarajan launches second edition of 'Homepreneur Awards'

Homepreneur Awards 2018 - Edition 2 as the name suggests is the second edition of the awards in the backdrop of a hugely successful first edition which happened in Chennai last year. Hon'ble Minister for Tamil Language and Culture Thiru. K. Pandiarajan launched the second edition. Carnatic Singer Smt. Sudha Raghunathan and eminent jury members (names listed in page 2) were among the other dignitaries present.

The applications go through two stages of filtration by the organizers and the eminent jury. The jury based on various parameters selects the winners for the awards.

A Unique Platform for Recognizing Women

Homepreneur Awards, first of its kind in India is an initiative by Brand Avatar (a branding and event management company) to provide a platform to recognize and celebrate the women who have chosen to pursue their passion through entrepreneurship from home. Women will be awarded for their different business activities under 10 main categories, namely Agriculture, Health Care, Home Retail, Arts and Culture, Sports and Fitness, Food and Beverages, Beauty and Wellness, Education and Literature, Media and Entertainment, and Social Activism/Woman NGO/Self Help Group/Differently-abled. They will be awarded based on the uniqueness of their idea, the impact and the importance of the business to the family and the society as a whole among many other parameters which the eminent jury will evaluate.

Homepreneur to Entrepreneur - Mentorship and Scalability Support

As a part of this unique programme, few of the applicants will be selected for mentorship and scalability from Angel Investors like Tie-Chennai and other entrepreneurs. Brand Avatar through Homepreneur Awards will connect the winners with the investment ecosystem, however the decision to provide grants/mentorship or investment will be purely based on the discretion of the investors. The applicant will be selected based on various parameters.

Eminent Jury Members

The jury comprising eminent women from diverse domains will short list and select the winners of the awards under each category.

Veena Kumaravel - Founder, Naturals Salon

Rohini Manian - CEO, Global Adjustments Services Pvt. Ltd.

Aruna Subramaniam - Management Consultant & Trustee, Bhoomika Trust

Dr. Saundarya Rajesh - Founder-President, Avtar Career Creators & Flexi Careeers India

Rinku Mecheri - Social Entrepreneur & Founder, Chennai Volunteers

Latha Rajan - Founder, Ma Foi Strategic Consultants

Geetha Nagu - Managing Director, Vnct Ventures

Nina Reddy - Managing Director, Savera Hotels

Pushkar Gayathri - Director, Tamil Movie Industry

Poornima Ramaswamy - Designer, Stylist & Entrepreneur

Sushila Ravindranath - Senior Journalist/Columnist and Business Author

Hemachandran, Founder CEO of Brand Avatar, a company delivering fully integrated branding & marketing communications programme, said, "Many women go through lot of challenges and struggles to establish a business due to various reasons. This untapped talent pool has never been recognized for their determination. Homepreneur Awards exactly does that. It gives a Fillip to their visibility, an encouragement and boost to their morale. First edition was a huge success, over 4328 applications and 50 awardees, Homepreneur Awards became a bench mark to aspire for by women who are pursuing business from home, besides many more women were inspired by the stories that were unearthed through Homepreneur Awards and have gone on to start their own ventures. The only thing that can eclipse the success of the first edition is the second edition, we are working towards it."

C.K. Kumaravel, Co-Founder of Naturals, opined, "Awards are manifestation of recognition given to one's achievements. It will give the much-needed encouragement to progress in the chosen field. Homepreneur Awards was instituted to encourage enterprising quality of women and help them become financially independent and grow stronger. We are certain that this platform will provide the encouragement for women not to give up on their dreams. Homepreneur's second edition will definitely be bigger and better in terms of quality prospects and inspiration."

Homepreneur Awards 2017 Highlights and Important Findings

Homepreneur Awards 2017 witnessed an overwhelming response with over 4328 applicants from across the state. The first edition of the awards saw a humungous reception among women entrepreneurs. Shortlisted 162 applicants were invited for jury interview that lead to selection of 50 women for awards under 14 categories and based on the criteria that included nature of business, challenges, winning attitude and leadership ability. Out of these 9 were selected for grant support from Sathyabama University, whereas 2 qualified for mentoring support.

We spoke to the registrants and conducted an internal survey of the applicants, and the findings re-iterated why Homepreneur Awards is a unique social impact event.

One of the findings which deserves mention is "75 percent of the registrants felt there is a lack of ecosystem and recognition among Homepreneurs" and "82 percent of the registrants felt grants, mentorship and investment will help them boost their business".