SMEStreet Foundation Unleashed Prestigious SMEStreet GameChangers 2020 List

The list of personalities includes Shri Nitin Gadkari, MSME Minister, Govt. of India, Shri Siddharth Nath Singh, MSME Minister for Uttar Pradesh Govt., Mr. Vinai K Saxena Chairman of KVIC, Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov, Mr. Nikhil Arora Managing Director of GoDaddy, Shri Arun Kumar Jha, DG NPC and Mr. Tejas Goenka of Tally Solutions are among top listed Game Changers of SMEStreet GameChanger 2020 List.  

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SMEStreet GameChangers 2020

SMEStreet GameChangers 2020 is a campaign to recognise the influencers who contributed a strong, proactive and smart strategy in COVID-19 Response. SMEStreet featured SMEStreet GameChangers 2020 List naming Union Minister MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari And UP’s MSME Minister Shri Siddharth Nath Singh among India’s key influencers (GameChangers) who contributed significantly in transforming pandemic crisis into an opportunity for MSMEs to fightback from COVID.

For complete SMEStreet GameChangers 2020 First List click here

SMEStreet Foundation is proud to announce the season one of SMEStreet GameChangers Award Listing Series. COVID-19 has emerged as a global challenge, the SMEStreet GameChangers Award Listing initiative is conceptualized to recognize agile and concerned thought leaders who, through their strategies, initiatives and activities, have contributed in restricting pandemic’s impact or helped MSMEs in getting back to business growthpath. 

The first list of recipients of SMEStreet GameChangers 2020 includes Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister, Road & Transport and MSME Ministry, Govt of India, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister- Industries & MSME, Uttar Pradesh Govt, Shri Siddharth Nath Singh, Shri Vinai K Saxena, Chairman of KVIC, Shri Arun Kumar Jha, Director General, National Productivity Council, Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov, Shri Nikhil Arora, Managing Director & Vice President, GoDaddy India, Shri Tejas Goenka, Managing Director, Tally Solutions, Dr. Hari Eppanapally, Chairman, Lead India Foundation, NJ, USA, Shri Ajay Thakur, Head BSE -SME, BSE India and Shri Khalid Wani, Director of Western Digital India. 

“The COVID Pandemic has led to greater global cooperation and collaboration especially in the field of medical supplies and vaccine research. In the fight against COVID, MSMEs hold a key role in restoring economic growth and well being of people. MSMEs have been on the front end of an economic recovery plan by all countries, and hence all efforts are aimed to help MSMEs to come back to normal. Policy initiatives like Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, with a strong focus on restoring liquidity, creating jobs, creating markets for products, and creating a facilitating manufacturing ecosystem all have MSMEs at their focal point. I want to congratulate SMEStreet Foundation for taking this initiative to multiply the goodwill impact of leaders who contributed in the fight against the COVID Pandemic,” commented Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble, Cabinet Minister, MSME Ministry, Govt of India.

Commenting on the recognition and this activity, Shri Siddhartha Nath Singh, Cabinet Minister of UP Government for MSMEs commented, “Since the pandemic started, we started our assessments and impacts of this on the economy of the state. Uttar Pradesh has powerful potential from the perspective of small businesses, local artisans and much more. On the other hand, we have also witnessed major reverse migration from other parts of the country. We have worked in ensuring job opportunities for local migrant workers who opted to come back from various places in the country during the lockdown period. We are thankful to the UP Government’s leadership through CM Shri Yogi Adityanath ji in taking all possible measures to enable a support ecosystem for MSMEs and local workforce. I would also like to thank SMEStreet Foundation for taking this initiative to highlight such success stories from across backgrounds.”

"With Pandemic impact, everything suddenly started getting considered for a restart and business activities. This effect has caused a major halt of financial flow among small entrepreneurs and the local artisans. At KVIC we aimed to break this halt and through our various efforts, we aimed to bring back economic revival for such entrepreneurs and artisans. I wish to thank SMEStreet's team for taking up this venture of GameChangers as this will spread the right message of a strong come-back spirit among Indian job creators," added Shri Vinai K Saxena, Chairman of KVIC. 

Working religiously on ensuring a strong communication flow around COVID-19, Mr. Abhishek Singh, CEO of MyGov, MeitY, Govt of India congratulated SMEStreet by adding: "Technology has been playing a critical role in ensuring the continuation of normalcy and MSMEs are key to reviving our growth story post-covid-19. During the Pandemic, ensuring the availability of authentic information and fighting fake news and busting myths have been the focus of the communications on COVID19 by MyGov. In this endeavour, the role of MSMEs has been very important and many of them have emerged as true champions of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. SMEStreet Game Changers  recognition by SMEStreet Foundation is a welcome step for our collective work towards ensuring a robust communication stream around COVID awareness."

“At SMEStreet Foundation, it is our great pleasure to recognize important game-changers who led our society to come out of this crisis of pandemic, which impacted the economy and the entire economic cycle. Industry leaders, policymakers have made a lot of efforts during the last nine months and ensured a support mechanism for their respective business ecosystem,” says Mr. Faiz Askari, Secretary-General and Editor of SMEStreet Foundation & SMEStreet.in. Congratulating all the distinguished listed GameChangers, he mentioned, “I am thankful to all the listed professionals, policymakers and bureaucrats who made their efforts to support their respective business ecosystem in the times when it is needed most.”  

SMEStreet.in will publish detailed success stories of listed title recipients of SMEStreet GameChanger 2020. However, the campaign of SMEStreet GameChangers is still on. We are open for more success stories from the corporate world and recommendations on policymakers who bought a positive change in their respective ecosystem of MSMEs in response to COVID 19 Pandemic. You can click here to nominate your recommendation for SMEStreet GameChnagers 2020 Season 1. 

Shri S Ravi Founder and Managing Partner of Ravi Rajan & Co and Ex-Chairman of BSE India commented, “Whatever we witnesses was a lifetime-first experience, and we never wished to see such conditions again. We realized the importance of motivating such motivated leaders as Game Changers who paved this phase with their dedication and professional acumen in emerging as a winner for their organization, society or their business ecosystem.”

Shri Arun Kumar Jha, Director General of National Productivity Council also expressed his views by saying, “Well we are committed to working towards ensuring the best level ecosystem for professional productivity. Initiatives like SMEStreet GameChangers will create a strong impact on those who are working hard in ensuring the best for their ecosystem, which got impacted during the pandemic. It is like motivating the motivators, which is a noble cause.”

Representing world’s leading digital company which is committed to taking businesses online, Mr. Nikhil Arora, MD & VP of GoDaddy India congratulated other recipients of this listing and commented, “Today, as the world is experiencing the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, we at GoDaddy stand committed to support India's dynamic MSME ecosystem. Digital technology has emerged as a key survival mechanism for businesses and we aim to continue providing MSMEs with all the help and tools they need to successfully run their ventures online. In line with the government’s vision to promote local businesses in the country, we have introduced a slew of initiatives throughout the year, like the GoDaddy Academy, product and pricing incentives and even some philanthropic efforts, to help them get back at pace with their business goals. Motivation can often be in short supply, especially during a global pandemic, and we are extremely honoured and humbled to be receiving this award. We also commend the SMEStreet Foundation for their effort in recognizing all the incredible work being done in these challenging times."

Congratulating the team of SMEStreet Foundation, Mr. Ajay Thakur, Head of BSE-SME, BSE India stated, "Pandemic has created huge challenge for business operations specially for the MSME entrepreneurs, but as we move ahead, we found that MSME Entrepreneurs require more proactive efforts which can help them to avail the stock market listing. Hence we made necessary steps to ease out the pressure of getting into stock market listing during the pandemic days. We are delighted to be part of the SMEStreet GameChangers listing by SMEStreet Foundation."

Acknowledging SMEStreet GameChangers as a needed initiative, Mr. Khalid Wani, Director- Sales for Western Digital have shared his perspective on Indian SMEs and their potential for bringing back the economy into the growth path, he said, “SMEs play a pivotal role towards shaping the economic progress of a nation and I would like to congratulate SMEStreet for their role towards creation of a robust platform that  helps to create a strong engagement and collaborations across various segments and become a catalyst for growth for SMEs.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how fragile, yet how resilient we are as a society, and within that, we have seen the tremendous spirit of the entrepreneurs in India and across the world to push through to serve and survive. We are blessed to play whatever small part we can to help them in their journey and are thankful to SMEStreet for the role they have played and for this recognition,” says Mr. Tejas Goenka, Managing Director, Tally Solutions while getting listed into SMEStreet GameChangers 2020.

Dr. Hari Eppanapally, Chairman, Lead India Foundation, NJ, USA stated, “I would like to thank the team of SMEStreet for taking this initiative. Recognizing those who have committed their lives in the last few months in doing everything possible to restrict COVID impact, is a noble work in itself. This is a commendable job, and this should remain a strong benchmark for the entire world of entrepreneurship in India and across the world.”

SMEStreet GameChangers is an attempt to recognize such individual success stories which have made a significant impact in their respective horizons of business. Success stories of successful COVID Warriors while doing something innovative, something constructive in sustaining business will get showcased here. We can refer to these heroes as COVID warriors of supporting business.

"The covid pandemic has brought upon unprecedented hardships on the industry, unlike the ones they saw and conquered in the past. A few companies were able to record miraculous turnarounds by adapting technology, efficient management and quick turnaround time for implementing realtime solutions to problems that dragged many down. The people who helmed and executed these changes have changed the game not just for their own businesses but for their verticals and the economy as a whole. At SMEStreet Foundation, we feel obliged and proud to be honouring such GameChangers via this recognition." commented Mr. Deepu Madhavan, Director Operations and Research at SMEStreet Foundation.

While thanking the distinguished stakeholders of SMEStreet GameChangers initiative, Faiz Askari also said, “We are convinced that to come out from the Pandemic impact MSMEs require a long term strong movement. I am obliged and thankful to all the distinguished leaders and thinkers who are mentioned above. Their participation has made the start of this campaign very positive and gradually, the Indian economy will bounce back and MSMEs will become the heroes of this success story."

However, SMEStreet GameChangers will continue to be a nationwide as well as a global movement aimed to highlight those leaders, thinkers and heroes who acted smartly and proactively to curb the economic impact of Pandemic and helped MSME ecosystem at any respective level.

MSME Arun Kumar Jha Nitin Gadkari goDaddy Western Digital KVIC Tally Solutions Tejas Goenka Vinai Saxena Nikhil Arora NPC Khalid Wani SMEStreet GameChangers