Odisha’s Santanu Mishra received Business World Social Impact Leader Award

New Delhi(Kalinga Voice) : Born and brought up in Sambalpur, Odisha, Mr. Santanu Mishra, who is the co-founder and executive trustee of India’s leading development organization Smile Foundation has been awarded with the Business World Social Impact Leader Award yesterday in New Delhi. He has been a pioneer in applying successful management practices in the social sector for last 20 years.

The jury for the award comprises of industry luminaries such as former NASSCOM President Dr. Kiran Karnik, BW group editorial director Noor Fathima Warsia, Air Marshal Naresh Verma, AVSM VSM (Retd); Chairman 5F World Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Founder Crux Management Dr. Vikas Singh, BW Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Dr. Anurag Batra, among others.

Sadhguru, founder Isha Foundation, Kunal Kapoor, actor & founder Ketto, Shekhar Mehta, President Rotary International, Atul Satija, founder & CEO the Nudge Institute, Shridhar Venkat, CEO the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Mathew Cherian, Chairperson Care India were among the speakers during the summit & awards, which also included Mr. Santanu Mishra.

“The award will act as a motivation for me and an encouragement for our people in the endeavour to create meaningful impact in the lives of children and their families. Active participation of the civil society is imperative in the mission to create an equitable future for our children, besides building an empathetic society and a happier planet,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra.

Mr. Mishra received the honour at the inaugural edition of the BW Disrupt Social Impact Summit & Awards 2022 in New Delhi.

A management and legal consultant by profession, a company secretary by qualification, and an entrepreneur by passion, Mr. Santanu Mishra is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Born and brought up in Sambalpur, Odisha, he made his way up in the corporate sector before dedicating himself fulltime and voluntarily into nurturing Smile Foundation which he had founded along with a group of friends two decades ago.

His single-minded effort has made Smile Foundation impacting lives of 1.5 million children and their families directly across 26 states of India, every year through life-cycle approach of development.

Amalgamation of a high impact development model with the performance driven corporate world, fuelled by the selfless passion of social entrepreneurs and exemplary community connect at the grassroots have been the hallmarks of Smile Foundation. His contribution in the sector can also be described as a convergence of good governance, championing entrepreneurial spirit at the grassroots, leveraging emerging technologies, encouraging innovation, creating a high impact model and imbibing the philosophy of real work and real change.

Smile Foundation, the organization he nurtured, is known for evolving and applying various path-breaking models in the sector such as Civic Driven Change, Social Venture Philanthropy, Sensitization of Privileged Children, use of art in driving change etc. He is the producer of the path-breaking feature film I Am Kalam. Mr. Mishra is also the chairman of Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth.

Mr. Santanu Mishra dedicated the Business World Social Impact Leader Award to the 2600 people of Smile Foundation who work relentlessly on the ground round the year.