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The creative brigade
On 7 and 8 February, 18 participants (short-listed from the 1084 creative proposals received in May 2006) made final business presentations to a Jury of Creative Entrepreneurs and Business experts comprising Chris Powell, Chair of NESTA, Vice Chair and Independent Member of the Public Diplomacy Board ; Niret Alva CEO of Miditech, one of Asia's leading independent production companies ; Sujata Keshavan - Co-Founder and Managing Director, Ray & Keshavan, India's leading brand identity and design consultants and Sanmit Ahuja, Head of India Affairs, Commonwealth Business Council. The Jury was chaired by Andrew Senior, Head Creative Industries British Council.
Meet the winners:

Outstanding Entrepreneurship award

Sheetal Sudhir, Broadcast Designer and currently Head of on-air-promotions of Channel [V], Star India Pvt. Ltd.

Sheetal demonstrated a sound grasp of her sector and the potential for her new business start-up in broadcast design. Sheetal says: “Most creative entrepreneurs find the business of ‘business’ and hard selling oneself, against the very stream of their self beliefs as creative professionals. I’m ever so glad the creative future course came my way. It put a certain perspective to our creative worth and an eye opening realisation to our stand in the global market. Being awarded and being recognised as ‘the most outstanding entrepreneur’  is a huge validation and incentive for a creative professional like me to take those big risks and dare the world with my ideas and either relish in the glory of it or bear the brickbats with that fearless attitude!”

Greatest Journey Since April 2006

Nila Madhab Panda represents Eleanora Images, a multimedia organisation, based in New Delhi, involved in creating unique audio-visual software. Nila says: "Creativity, as I have gathered from my experiences at the creative future school, is not about innovation only in product and services - but a holistic approach to induce fresh thought into all aspect of business including sales and marketing, staffing, finance, networking and public relations.

It was an honour to be associated with the Creative Future Programme for one year.

I would like to give credit of the success of the Programme to the CF school for showing me the ways and directions to proceed and for having inspired and encouraged me to multiply my efforts in the years to come”

Pioneering Vision award

Aparna Rao is proprietor and senior designer of Applied Fiction, an interaction design studio based in Bangalore.

Aparna was recognised by the judges for the originality of her business ideas. She impressed with the clarity of her vision and her obvious talent as an interactive designer. 'Her exceptional focus and drive have ensured that she sees opportunities and effectively analyses risks', they said. 'She has extensive international networks, building a formidable reputation for innovation and setting new standards of excellence.'

Special award

Nitin Das is an independent filmmaker. An engineer from Pune University, he also holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and has completed a filmmaking course from New York.

Nitin successfully blended the skills required to be both a creative and social entrepreneur. His commitment to developing a new business model that leveraged opportunities for ordinary citizens to participate in the creative sector was particularly impressive. The judges said, 'his strong social agenda and ability to network both widely and diversely, position him as an important voice and advocate for India's emerging creative economy.'
Interview with India's Creative Future 2007 - Priya Patil