Forbes Asia 2020 has recently introduced a list of powerful women who showed exemplary leadership skills during the COVID era. They are the kind of women who constantly fight to overcome challenges. The list carries such powerhouses from segments like biotech, fintech, edutech, retail, logistics and law. Interestingly, four of these 25 women are Indians and one among the four is a Keralite. The Indian names are HCL Technologies Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Byju’s Co-Founder Divya Gokulnath, Metropolis Health Care MD Ameera Shah and Vinati Organics CEO and MD Vinati Saraf Mutreja.
The most popular among them is Roshni Nadar, Chairperson of HCL Technologies, an $8.9 billion worth IT giant. She took the reins of HCL from her father Shiv Nadar in mid-July this year. That made her the first woman chairperson of an IT services company in India. In the face of crisis, she led HCL through innovative ways. Roshni, who started her career as a journalist in the UK, joined her father at HCL at the age of 27.
Another star on the list is Divya Gokulnath, co-founder of the world’s most valuable edutech platform Byju’s app and website. Divya, who started her career as a teacher joined her husband Byju Raveendran’s business, and made Byju’s a world-class company. The Bengaluru-based Byju’s app has brought 20 million new users to the platform in just four months during a lockdown. Byju’s, valued at about $ 10 billion, generated revenue of Rs 2,800 crore in the 2019-2020 financial year.
Amira Shah, managing director of Mumbai-based Metropolis Healthcare, is another entrepreneur on the list. In 2000, she took over his father’s pathology lab in South Mumbai. Today Metropolis is one of the largest diagnostic service providers in India. Started off as a single clinic, she went on to establish more than 125 clinical laboratories in 210 cities in India. The company’s assets now stand at $ 600 million.
Vinati Saraf Mutreja is another woman in the list, who increased her company’s revenue to Rs 1000 crore within 14 years of taking over the reins. In her capacity as the Executive Director of Vinati Organics, the company has achieved a 500 – fold increase in market capitalization and a 16 – fold increase in sales. Vinati Organics is a leading manufacturer of raw materials for the making of ibuprofen.
Melani Perkins, co-founder and CEO of graphic design software company Canva, Zhao Yan, Chairman and General Manager of Bloomage BioTechnology, Lily Kong, President of the Singapore Management University, and Jang In-a, CEO of a South Korean game development company are some other female gems who found a placed on the Forbes’ list.
