Avtar’s journey, which began over 22 years ago, continues to make milestones, and awards have been a recognition of the impact of the organization’s work in the space of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, Avtar Group, received The Hindu ‘World of Women Award 2023’ in the category Contribution to Society. The 3rd edition of the award held recently honored extraordinary women achievers in 13 categories.
The Awards aim to acknowledge the contribution of women and their pioneering work in the realms of entrepreneurship, agriculture, rural development, healthcare, entertainment, arts, culture, music, etc.
Receiving the award, Dr. Saundarya emphasized the potential of every second- career woman and said, “I want to tell every woman out there who has taken a break for whatever reason – you are amazing! You have been doing incredible work and sacrifices for your family. And if you just outlast the last crisis, you are going to rise to the fullest of your potential. Give yourself a second chance and that is why an organization like Avtar exists. Let me tell you from my experience, the second career is always better than the first.”
Dr. Saundarya’s pioneering work through Avtar has made second-career women a talent pool. Today, India Inc. has realized the latter’s significance as a latent gender diversity enabler. In these years, Avtar has powered the concept of DEI in around 800 companies apart from facilitating the re-entry of 1 lakh women into the workforce.
As India marches towards an audacious target of a $5 trillion economy, the spadework by Avtar all these years is monumental. Job markets have long been an unequal race for women as they face hurdles in the form of roles on the domestic front. Correcting the inequality, Avtar has been devising policies and practices that offer the impetus to create equitable and inclusive workplaces for the women and the underrepresented.
A few other awards in recent times include Femina’s Fab 40, which celebrated extraordinary Indian women for the year 2022, and featured Dr. Saundarya along with several other luminaries. She was featured as the 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen in India 2022 by the CXO Today e-zine. For ‘Transforming workplaces for gender inclusion’ Avtar Group has been named in the annual listing of 25 companies in Asia Pacific that have demonstrated excellence in Steward Leadership.
