The ninth edition of the Great Manager Awards 2024 recognises leaders who balance innovation and drive growth while prioritising human connection.

Excellence in leadership is the driving force behind any organisation’s success. It is more than just achieving results—it’s about inspiring teams, building strong cultures, and leading with empathy. Modern managers make a difference by guiding their teams through uncertainty and providing clarity and support. They create an environment where progress is embraced, however, human connection and empathy remain at the forefront of leadership.

The Great Manager Awards 2024—an initiative of People Business in partnership with T A Pai Management—celebrates leadership, inspiring teams, driving innovation, and moving organisations forward.

Now in its ninth edition, the programme recognises exceptional managers, organisations, and HR leaders who play a vital role in nurturing people-first cultures.
Behind this recognition is a rigorous selection process. Over 100 leaders—including CEOs, CHROs, and CXOs—have collaborated to carefully evaluate and uncover stories of resilience, innovation, and people-first leadership.

During the opening address, Dr Sandeep K Krishnan, CEO and Partner, People Business, discussed how, over the last nine years, this research on great managers has become the largest study in the world.
Mervyn Raphael, Managing Partner, People Business, emphasised that GMA continues to honour exemplary leadership, driving a culture of excellence and growth across industries.

The CEO Insights Roundtable at the GMA brought together leaders to discuss a theme that resonates strongly in today’s world—The decisive decade: Balancing tech and touch. With technology evolving faster than ever, the conversation focused on how businesses can use it to move forward without losing the human connection that keeps organisations grounded.
Panellists across industries shared the view that businesses are transitioning from products to customer experiences. To drive the customer experience, companies need to build and inspire the right teams, with inclusivity as the cornerstone. Given the expanding role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, technology and solutions must ensure that every section of society has a voice.

The panellists reiterated that while the workforce will initially resist the adoption and implementation of new technologies, a great manager will be someone who can bring people together and convince them that technology will transform the future.

The awards also featured keynote addresses from Harish Kohli, President and Managing Director, Acer India, and Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Food Marketplace, Swiggy. They offered their perspectives on leadership in today’s technology-driven world, emphasising the need for leaders to strike a balance between innovation and affinity with the workforce's needs.
Overall, the leaders were convinced that businesses must find ways to innovate, embrace technology, and stay efficient while understanding that success is still about people. The organisations that promote leadership and managerial excellence in this direction will move towards building the companies of tomorrow.

Disclaimer: This article is generated and published by the ET Spotlight team. You can get in touch with them on etspotlight@timesinternet.in

The Ahmedabad event saw a full house with representatives from a cross-section of industries, putting forth their perspective on the vibrant MSME ecosystem in Gujarat. The city’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive in its diverse industries such as textile, pharma and chemicals were highlighted at the ET Make in India SME Regional Summit on December 20.

The summits are a series of on-ground events held across India to bring together local MSMEs, policymakers, enablers, and industry veterans. These summits aim to unravel opportunities, tackle challenges and foster knowledge-sharing and networking to propel the next phase of growth for Indian MSMEs.

The event started with a keynote address by R D Barhatt, Joint Commissioner of Industries, Government of Gujarat, who spoke on the role that the Government of Gujarat is playing in driving growth and innovation to empower MSMEs. “MSMEs have a big role to play in shaping an aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) Gujarat,” he stated.

Barhatt added that there are 21 lakh MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal. “Many are active in gems & jewellery, textiles, chemicals, engineering, etc, which make them the cornerstone of India's industrial framework,” he said.

His address was followed by an insightful fireside chat with Santanu Basu, Head, SME–Aditya Birla Finance Limited detailing ABFL’s vision for India’s growth that can help drive financial inclusion and bolster the MSME ecosystem. Talking about Gujarat as a trade hub, Basu said that entrepreneurship, business, and trade is very much in the air and blood of Gujarat and its people.

Delving on how MSMEs require different funding avenues at different phases of growth, Basu stated that solutions need to be tailored specifically to their requirements. “A significant challenge is to come up with customised funding solutions for them, leveraging digital technology for seamless fund disbursement,” he stated.

Next up was an interesting panel discussion on “Gujarat's next big ‘GIFT’ to India,” which represented the new opportunities and growth horizons that the state has to offer. Association representatives, entrepreneurs and industry leaders presented their views on what makes Gujarat a state of the future.
Drawing a parallel with the cluster-based development model of China, Shah stated that China’s industrial success is largely due to the cluster-based industrial model and Gujarat’s industrial growth has also traditionally been driven by that model.

Jitendra Kumar D Panchal, Joint Secretary, Ahmedabad Engineering Manufacturers Association spoke of the hesitancy by lenders in providing loans to many SMEs. “This is one hard truth the government needs to tackle,” he stated.

Talking about the women MSME ecosystem in Gujarat, Darshana Thakkar, National President, Entrepreneurship Development Council, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce, and Industry (WICCI) said that while there are 48% women-led startups in Gujarat, they need adequate support to move up.

The experts also deliberated on what can be Gujarat’s next big ‘Gift’ for the country. Both Thakkar and Shah put their bets on the semiconductor industry. Thakkar predicted that the global semiconductor demand will soon be met by Gujarat.

Shah highlighted that Gujarat’s MSMEs have a huge untapped opportunity in the semiconductor manufacturing sector, while Panchal stated how MSMEs have a promising role to play in aerospace and defence corridor projects.

The thought-provoking discussion paved the way for a special address by Apurva Shah, Director, Jayatma Group and Vice President, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI). Shah mentioned how Gujarati companies enjoy proximity to sea routes, which gives them a big advantage in terms of cost savings compared to other companies of landlocked regions.

After this came up a very interesting module of B2B manufacturing ecommerce startup Magma Founder & CEO Neal Thakker and his team, delving into the nitty gritties of team building and business development. Thakker also spoke about India’s clusters and their main challenges at play. “India’s clusters don't have a Capex problem. The challenge is how to efficiently utilise the existing resources,” he said.

Thakker also stated that while there have been a lot of discussions on the shift of manufacturing from China to India, very little has been talked about whether these factories in India are actually ready.

This module was followed by another exciting discussion on ‘New-age technologies for SMEs to future-proof their businesses’. Ankur Patel, Director, Orange Technolab elaborated more on the role of technology for the MSME sector. “Budgeting and resource management are critical challenges for every entrepreneur,” Patel stated.

Adding to his views, Mukul Goyal, Co-founder, Stratefix Consulting said improving the knowledge and tackling any internal resistance to change can help MSMEs future proof their business.

Giving a dimension of sustainability together with digital transformation, Pulkit Dhingra, Founder and Director, Aha Solar mentioned how 80% of distributed solar that has been installed in Gujarat in the last five years has been due to the development of the digital ecosystem. “The scalability of digital HR, ERP, and energy solutions is crucial,” he said.

Post this discussion, Arjun Soni, Head - B2B Sales, Digital Ecosystem - ABFL showcased the organisation's Udyog Plus tool billed as a one-stop shop for all MSME finances.

This concluded the SME summit in Ahmedabad, serving as an enriching platform for small businesses to grow and scale up in the times to come.

For more details, visit: ETSMESummits