PlanetRead and IIM-A among Winners of "Social Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009"

The Schwab Foundation announced the winners of the India Social Entrepreneurs 2009 Award. The winners were honoured at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi, India, held from 8th -10th November, 2009.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), selected three social enterprises with significant impact in India as winners of the India Social Entrepreneurs Award for 2009: Rajendra Joshi, Managing Trustee, Saath; Brij Kothari, Director, PlanetRead and Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad; and Padmanabha and Rama Rao, Co-Directors, RIVER.

These social entrepreneurs were honoured in the presence of Anand Sharma, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, during the award plenary session held on 9th November. Venu Srinivasan, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) presided over the function.

This was the fifth edition of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in India. For the first time since the beginning of the competition in 2005, the Foundation Board decided not to pick just one winner in a country, but three. The Board thus acknowledged that India is home to a significant number of the world's leading social entrepreneurs.

For more information: www.schwabfound.org

Winners: www.planetread.org, www.saath.org, www.rishivalley.org