The Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, which organizes the SEOY India Award in association with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship recently announced the finalists of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) India Award 2013. These included Breakthrough Trust (founded by Mallika Dutt),
Mann Deshi Mahila Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation (founded by Chetna Vijay Sinha), Operation ASHA (founded by Dr Shelly Batra) and Yuva Parivartan/ Kherwadi Social Welfare Association (led by Mrinalini Kher and Kishore Kher).

The winner(s) will be chosen by a distinguished jury and announced at an awards ceremony on November 11, 2013, in New Delhi. 

The finalists of the SEOY India Award 2013 are shaping change in fields as diverse as health, financial inclusion, human rights and employability and skilling. For the finalists, large-scale transformative change is a priority. They are actively nurturing collaborations with government, business and the citizen sector for the replication of their ideas, both within India and abroad. Another common strand that runs through their work is that they work in hostile and inaccessible geographies (i.e. the Naxalite 'red' corridor, drought-prone zones, and areas with high incidences of violence). Taken together, the finalists are seeding thousands of first-generation entrepreneurs/change agents in excluded territories, laying the foundations of a truly Inclusive India.

According to Hilde Schwab, co-founder and chairperson, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship "India remains one of the most dynamic regions for social entrepreneurship and the India Awards consistently attract a high quality of social enterprises. This year, we are also very excited to see an all women finalist pool. They are all working on highly inspiring visions and innovative strategies across critical areas including skill training, livelihoods development, disease control and empowerment of women."

Congratulating the finalists, Shyam S Bhartia, chairman and managing director and Hari S Bhartia, co chairman and managing director Jubilant Life Sciences and founder directors of Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, said, "SEOY India Award recognizes the efforts of social entrepreneurs  working as change agents for the society through innovation, sustainability, reach and social impact. We are delighted to see the transformative change that the finalists of this year have brought to the society".

The SEOY India Awards received a record 209 applications. Through a five-stage selection process, the four finalists shortlisted after on-site visits, background research, reference checks and multiple rounds of deliberations. For the first time in the SEOY India Award, all the finalists are women social entrepreneurs, making this a special year for Social Entrepreneur of the Year India 2013.