On the occasion of the 89th birth anniversary of Padma Shri awardee and legendary co-operator Dr Jaya Arunachalam, the Working Women’s Forum India honoured nine successful women entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
According to Dr Nandini Azad, the current President, the award-winners were among nearly 1,500 women who had never defaulted in their loan repayments and have been pillars of the cooperative network. Dr. Azad said all the women award winners have played a role in social transformation.
All the award-winners are members of the Indian Cooperative Network for Women (ICNW), who had refused to give in to the challenge posed by the corona pandemic. The Jaya Arunachalam (JA) Awards to Best Women Entrepreneurs were given in Chennai at the WWF auditorium in the presence of several eminent dignitaries.
The awards were validated by their software unit (through both computer and human selection) of those members who have advanced their position in business, family and community out of 1500 nominations.
On the occasion, Dr Azad congratulated winners from the four states. Several bankers, media persons and others gathered in large numbers to attend the event rechristened as a celebration of cooperative life after such a tough year for women frontline Covid warriors & micro-entrepreneurs’ heroines.
Speaking on the occasion Nandini said Dr. Jaya Arunachalam was a beacon of light that is still shining and guiding the cooperative movement in the southern states of the country.
“Ever since the Covid 19 hit Southern states of India, WWF-ICNW staff members had been active she said i.e., “barefoot bankers trying to reach out to remote areas, villages, slums through whatever means available”.
“The caregivers, health workers, entrepreneurs, mothers. Indeed, the focal point of the economic social cultural leadership of the family and community eco system at the grassroots are women. Special attention in programming could be given to them, during and after the crisis”, stated Dr Azad.
The recipients of the awards also shared their experiences and how ICNW and WWF changed the course of their life.
