From excelling in the arts to serving with their hearts, women are at the centrepiece of the cultural and social fabric that connects the dots together in the little red dot that is Singapore.
Recognising their courage and leadership prowess, 20 women and nine youth were honoured at the inaugural Women Excellence & Young Achievers Awards, organised by Bandish Beats Productions, Tatva Productions and entrepreneur Padmaja Yerramsetty on Aug 1 at SP Jain School of Global Management.
India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Singapore Pooja Tillu applauded the “dual legacy that Indian women and Indian-origin women embody”. She said: “You carry forward timeless values, diversity and culture while fully embracing Singapore’s spirit of progress and innovation.”
As a Filipino, falling in love with her Indian husband opened Ms Diana Tan’s eyes to the mainstay in Indian households – sarees. She says: “Seeing my in-laws wearing sarees, I was so fascinated that I wanted to wear sarees almost every day!”
That passion brought her to the business opportunities in sarees, and two years back, she started Divash Royale, selling ready-to-wear linen and mulmul sarees. She was awarded ‘Excellence in Entrepreneurial Leadership’ for her entrepreneurial vision.
Lifetime Achievement Award winner Joyce Kingsly built on the legacy of her late father S.I.Samy by successfully helming SIS Premium Meats. Seeing many deserving women lacking opportunities, she founded LISHA Women’s Wing in 2012 to support women entrepreneurs. She also serves as Board Director at the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI) and SME Centre, and chairs SICCI’s Sisterhood of Entrepreneurs, amid many other roles.
Ms Dolly Davenport, who won the Most Inspiring Woman of the Year, founded Tagore Society Singapore in 2004 when the then West Bengal Chief Minister asked her if there were any Tagore societies in Singapore.
She said: “There were two such associations here in the 1950s but they didn’t last. Hence, I decided to start one.”
The society has organised diverse cultural programmes, including the 165th Birth Anniversary of Tagore celebrations in 2026, and presses on with a focus on sustainable human development.
Winner of the Excellence in Oncology and Patient Care, Dr Radhika Lakshmanan of Radhika Breast & General Surgery Clinic, recalled the times back in the 1990s to early 2000s when the female medical student intake into NUS was capped at one-third: “As a female in a male-dominated field, you had to be two to three times better than the boys in order to be recognised.”
Surgical training (FRCS) took 11 years after MBBS and so, it was only in her early 40s that Dr Radhika took a step back, married and embraced motherhood. She says: “It is very tough for a woman to hold a job and look after the family, among everything else, but with good family and friends’ support they can do it.”
Among the Young Achiever award winners were Ms Saadhana Ramesh (NUS Student and Singapore Sustainability Scholar under the National Environment Agency), Mr Advait Swaminathan (former Singapore U19 cricketer and Founder of Bats for the Better, an initiative to recycle and distribute bats to cricketers in India), Ms Kashish Singhal (SIFAS Natya Visharad, co-founder of Bandish Beats and founder of GYNGIR which advocates for adolescent girls’ health awareness) and four students from Wise Oaks International School - Siva Harish, Alwin Sorna Samuel, Nelacuditi Himanshu and Velmurugan Bawin.
Wise Oaks principal Rajni Parashar, who received the Excellence in Academic Leadership Award, applauded the students’ achievements in sports, mathematics and leadership.
Mr Low Vuitton and Mr David Nuowen Ponce, store manager and lead manager respectively at Singapore Fashion Runway – a social enterprise that empowers people with special needs and other disadvantaged groups through fashion – were also awarded, alongside founder Eileen Yap.
Organisers Shweta Verma, Natasha Tejuja and Padmaja said their inspiration came from “the countless stories of women who have overcome challenges and paved the way for others”.
Awardee Sujata Tiwari echoed the sentiment: “Awards are not the finish line. They’re a reminder that growth, grit, and service matter.”
