Celebrating achievements of a colourful community

Awards recognize contributions from leading members

More than 1,200 patrons celebrated the best of the best as the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Awards Gala Night at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The event recognized prominent Indo-Canadians from across the country in several categories throughout the evening.

Award winners are leaders who have made a significant contribution to their own field of endeavour and have also contributed to their communities. These included Female Entrepreneur winner

Pravina Budhdev, CEO, Huntington Travel Group of Companies; Male Entrepreneur winner Harpreet Sethi, CEO, the Grand Victorian Convention Centre and Radisson Plaza in Mississauga; Female Professional winner Dr. Mad

hur Anand, director, Global Ecological Change Laboratory; Male Professional winner Sunit

Radia, market strategy and planning, Procter & Gamble Inc.; Young Achiever winner Akash

Sahney, co-founder and chief technology officer, My Voice; and Technology Achievement winners Suneet Singh and Raja Singh Tuli of Data Wind Ltd.

Dr. Pawan Singal, professor of physiology and director of cardiovascular studies at St. Boniface Hospital and the University of Manitoba, received the Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement award.

Kasi Rao walked away with the Member of the Year Award, Chandrakant Sachdev, president, Rainbow Capital Properties Inc. received the Humanitarian award, and Sriram Iyer, president and CEO, ICICI Bank, was declared Corporate Executive of the Year.

Consul General of India, Preeti Saran, received the President’s Award.

“Our Chamber has consistently been in the forefront of building bridges between Canada and India,” said Satish Thakkar, president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

“It is because of what we offer — our strengths and our relevance — that our Chamber has emerged as the go-to organization for both the Canadian and the Indian establishments.”

The Chamber has recognized more than 200 Indo-Canadians who have made contributions to raising the profile of the community in Canada.

Other VIPs in attendance included chief guest Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources; Roger Martin, dean, Rotman School of Management; and keynote speaker Phaneesh

Murthy, CEO, i-Gate.

Find all of Amoryn Engel’s reports on where Canada’s business elite are partying, dining and giving at: citylife.nationalpost.com

Koyelle Papneja with Aakash Sahney, recipient of the Young Achievers Award.

Rakesh Goenka, past president, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, with Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver.

Raj Kothari, managing partner, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, with Shaila Kothari and Imtiaz Syed.

Katherine Swick with Carmen Jacques, both business development managers with Certified General Accountants of Ontario.

Rimple Thakkar with Satish Thakkar, president, the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

Chris Bauch with Madhur Anand, Pravina Budhdev, Female Entrepreneur of the Year, and Pawan Singal, recipient of the Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement Award.

Jagdish Bajaj with D.P. Jain and Aditya Vasudev, director, trade and SME, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

Harpreet Sethi, Entrepreneur of the Year, with Ginni Sethi.

Naval Bajaj, vice-president and director, finance and administration, ICCC, with Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE.

Sanjay Makkar, vice-president and director, membership, ICCC, with Monika Makkar and Kokaila Sachdev.