2013 shortlist

Just Jhoom! is the premier Bollywood dance fitness instructor training scheme in the UK. Shalini set up the company in 2010 after recognising that there was a gap in the market and has since trained more than 200 instructors, who run classes across the UK, for all ages.

Lolita is an actress and writer, who represents a unique and insightful voice on the theatre scene in London. Her writing is simultaneously accessible and thought-provoking, and seamlessly weaves in complex societal issues with refreshing humour and wit. Her most recent triumph, Red Velvet, has earned her critical acclaim including winning the 2012 Evening Standard award for Most Promising Playwright.

A Harvard MBA graduate, Grace is passionate not only about her day job – developing a global sales platform for the investment bank’s investor services business – but also about supporting her peers, those she mentors, and her community. She has founded and is actively leading an effort to empower the women MDs at her firm and is a strong senior sponsor for JP Morgan’s women’s network.

The Play Arena is Sheffield’s largest and most innovative indoor play centre, created by molecular biologist Sipra Deb. Her vision is to improve the whole experience of family entertainment centres in the UK.
Sipra set up the business 18 months ago and it has since exceeded all forecasts. With a strong drive and passion for developing her staff, Sipra is now involved in supporting several small ventures run by ethnic minorities and by women.

Food writer, journalist, stylist and television personality, Ravinder was propelled into the culinary limelight when crowned Britain’s New Fanny Cradock by Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4’s The F Word. Ravinder has travelled the globe as roving reporter for Channel 4’s magazine show Food: What Goes in your Basket? She has also presented a special two-part documentary The Great British Curry Trail for BBC2, and has appeared on Market Kitchen, Inside Out, This Morning and Perfect. Her debut cookery book Cook in Boots (HarperCollins 2009) was published to rave reviews both in the UK and US.

With a combined annual income of £70million, over 65 series in production at any one time, 300 staff to manage in addition to overseeing the high profile transfer of the BBC’s Birmingham business to Bristol worth £11m, Kalpna Woolf is the leading figure in television production. Over her career, she has led an incredible journey far from her humble roots in India and in addition to her day job she is a diversity and outreach champion and on the Leadership Board of Business in the Community leading campaigns to support education and learning. Committed to talent development Kalpna has recently created an MA in Leadership and Media Production Management with Bristol University West of England which starts in Sept 2013.

Ishrat has broken gender barriers with tremendous dedication, bravery and courage, by pursuing education in a very dangerous society. She has set an example for the women of her country, Pakistan, that they can pursue a career in science. Ishrat is a multi-award winning scientist, most recently selected for the UNESCA-L’Oreal Fellowship. Getting to where she is in life has not been easy, but she has learned to fight her battles and see where she can make a difference. Her ambition is to make a difference to society and to continue supporting and mentoring women for better education.

Tab is the founder and managing director of EmployAbility. Set up in 2006, EmployAbility works with disabled students and graduates to ease the transition from education to employment; and with top global employers, to help them become more disability inclusive. Tab’s work has changed the lives of thousands of disabled students.
With 20-plus years’ of experience, her pioneering work has been vital in increasing disability awareness among employers.

Malini is a civil society leader and non-profit founder who has played a prominent role in global social movements for close to 25 years, including working as adviser to former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. Crossing the line from activist to policymaker, adviser and entrepreneur, she has worked at the highest levels of government, multilateral agencies, business and NGOs worldwide. She created, and is still chief mentor of, the Centre for Social Markets, which works on sustainability projects in India.

Taking time off her hectic work schedule as a lawyer in London, Monica has singlehandedly brought sports, and happiness, to many girls and boys in Uganda and India. The netball coaching programme that she bravely launched in 2010 has reached more than 2,700 girls and boys who would otherwise have no access to sports in rural areas of Africa and India.

Sanju Pal is the founder of Rural India School Enterprise (RISE), a charity she set up at the age of 26 which has raised the aspirations of hundreds of underprivileged children in India and the UK. Inspiring individuals in both countries to volunteer for the charity, she runs RISE on top of a demanding role at Accenture where she specialises in Process Transformation and is recognised as a top performer. She previously qualified as a teacher through Teach First and her passion for teaching Maths motivated her students to achieve record GCSE results.

With 23 per cent of its workforce from a black and ethnic minority background, and 52 per cent female employees, the Home Office is living the reality of a diverse population. A large organisation, with 27,000 employees, the Home Office is “continually introducing ways to overcome barriers to progression of our staff to senior levels.” Diversity strategy is run from the top, by a Diversity Strategy Programme Board, which reports regularly on progress. The Home Office has a number of active staff networks, and monitors the equality impact of any changes in people policies. Today, 19 per cent of Home Office staff work part-time hours. One detail stood out among its submission: at a recent summer placement for fast-stream interns, 12 of 22 people came from ethnic minority backgrounds; and ten from low socio-economic groups. Grass-roots progress indeed.

Sue started her legal background at a small immigration practice and then worked at Deloitte, BDO and Braithwaite solicitors where she built up successful international immigration practices. Sue subsequently joined Ernst & Young in 2010 as a senior manager and was promoted to director in 2011. She was instrumental in growing a team of eight to 30 people in under 12 months and secured many new clients to develop long-term revenue plans.