Ajay Harinath Singh Greatest Brand Leader 2018-2019

TM
Young Indian Entrepreneur
Ananya Birla
Inspiring a Positive Change in Society
A singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and mental health advocate, Ananya Birla has
proved that success is not bound by age. The iconic personality possesses strong time
management skills. Her social initiatives - Mpower and Svatantra - reflect her deeprooted
aspiration of bringing a positive change in society
A
self-motivated and multi-talented
personality, Ananya Birla is bringing
reforms in the society through different
social ventures. A music aspirant since childhood,
she started learning santoor at the age of eleven.
She also learned to play guitar on her own with the
help of online tutorials. Her love for music led her
to achieve the position of an established singer
and lyricist. Ananya pursued her graduation
in Economics and Management from Oxford
University in England.
“An exuberant entrepreneur,
Ananya exhibited her capabilities
at the young age of 17 with her
venture named Svatantra”
Taking Initiatives to Destigmatize
Mental Health Issues
Hailing from an established business family,
Ananya holds innate entrepreneurial skills and
determination to make her own identity. While in
England, she worked as a counsellor for a student
welfare charity, wherein she got the opportunity
to interact with people suffering from anxiety
and depression. The social inequality and taboo
associated with mental illness in society bothered
her so much that soon after returning to India, she
decided to advocate the cause of people exposed
to anxiety, depression, and other mental health
conditions. This desire prompted her to launch a
mental healthcare initiative, MPower, along with
her mother, to increase awareness in the society
in India about mental health and overcome the
social stigma attached to it.
Empowering Rural Women through
Micro-Credit Facility
An exuberant entrepreneur, Ananya exhibited
her capabilities and thoughtfulness at the
young age of 17 with her venture named
‘Svatantra’ - a microfinance organisation that
aims at empowering women entrepreneurs
in rural India. Svatantra leverages hightech
support for providing banking solutions
to women entrepreneurs from small towns
in India.
The company’s core competency is to encourage
entrepreneurship with all-inclusive financial and
non-financial facilities. Svatantra is the first
microfinance company to receive the non-banking
financial company – microfinance institution
(NBFC-MFI) license by the Reserve Bank of India.
It offers loans to micro-businesses at the lowest
interest rates so that women entrepreneurs in
rural India can reach their optimum potential and
achieve self-sustainability.
Ananya led the company to mark its presence
all across India, with 445 branches located in
the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha,
Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Punjab, Assam, Haryana and Karnataka.
CuroCarte is another brainchild of Ananya,
through which she curates unique and superior
handicraft and artefacts to suit the taste of 21stcentury
luxury lovers all across the globe.
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