3 Innovators Were Recognised Under Entrepreneurship Category in addition to which 3 Winners of Great Ideas were also announced

Innovators to be mentored across various business fronts like assistance
In Marketing, Patenting, R&D, Fund sourcing & HR skills, etc.

Chennai, 5th September, 2018:  The 7th edition of the prestigious CavinKare-MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards 2018 honoured three small scale entrepreneurs for their innovations and three unique individuals for their great ideas in a grand event that took place at Kamaraj Arangam today. The chief guest of the evening was Mr. Suresh Krishna, Chairman, Sundram Fasteners Ltd, T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons Pvt Ltd graced the occasion.

‘Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards’ honours path-breaking entrepreneurs and identifies growing small scale enterprises in terms of its uniqueness, benefit to people and its ability to be scalable. This award, established in the year 2011 commemorates the memory of Late Shri. R Chinnikrishnan – father of sachet revolution. This year, the great ideas award category was introduced to recognise individuals with the capacity to transform lives with their ideas.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. CK Ranganathan – Chairman & Managing Director of CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. said, “We are extremely glad to witness the growth of Chinnikrishnan Innovation awards, both in terms of stature and success. This award established in the year 2011 recognises budding entrepreneurs with extraordinary talent. It is extremely inspiring to see the increase in the number of applicants over the years. With the newly introduced category – Great Ideas, I am sure that the recipients will grow to greater heights and achieve many such remarkable milestones, inspiring others around.’’

L Ramkumar, President, Madras Management Association said ‘’ The CavinKare – MMA awards recognized the most renowned entrepreneurs to outshine the benchmarks set earlier. Our association with the Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards is to recognise talents and nurture their endeavours in the upcoming years. All the winners will be mentored by CavinKare and MMA across various business fronts in Marketing, Patenting, R&D, Fund sourcing & HR skills to enhance their venture. We are glad to be a part of their journey.”

The following entrepreneurs were awarded under the Innovations Category :
Mr T M Veerabahu, Founder & Managing Director, Cybernoid Healthcare Pvt Ltd

Mr T M Veerabhahu created the Cybolimb which is a wearable robotic non-invasive leg support system which transforms the lifestyle of wheel-chair bound individuals, affected by polio, neuro muscular disorders and other spinal cord injuries, to a more upright standing posture thereby making them mobile and independent at an affordable cost.
Mr Gokul Shrinivas, Founder & CEO, MinionLabs India Private Ltd

Mr Gokul Shrinivas has developed “Minion” which is the world’s smallest energy auditing device that detects the number of electrical appliances that are switched on and keeps track of its electricity consumption, collates the data and generates a predictive and comprehensive report to identify electricity consumption patterns that effectively facilitate ways to reduce power charges.

Mr M Murugesan, Director, Rope Production Centre

Mr M Murugesan created a unique method to use agricultural waste to manufacture home products like mats, baskets, rope and packing paper which are biodegradable and environmental friendly, and which also contribute to increasing the income of farmers.

The following individuals were awarded under the Great Ideas Category:

Ms Saranya Sriram

Ms Saranya Sriram and her team at IIT Madras, have designed a cost-effective method to filter out toxic hexavalent chromium from industrial effluents. They have designed an Electro Chemical Desalination Cell or EDCL that uses animal and human urine and zero energy to remove toxic hexavalent chromium from the leather tannery and textile industrial effluents. The by product in the process is just chromium salts (A raw material used in the industries) and cleaner water. The product designed is compact, cost effective, uses no energy, cleans effluent water and saves the environment.

Dr. S. Ramani

Dr. S Ramani has created an Electric Manually Operated Washing Machine. With minimal water, and miniscule effort a house wife can do her daily laundry using this creation. The actions of the machine mimic hand washing technique as it uses vertical and elliptical wave motions to thoroughly wash the clothes. The machine has several adjustments including height adjustments to suit different people. This new innovation will liberate Indian women from the back breaking task of washing clothes on stones and save them their precious time and energy.

Mr. K.Mohanraj

Mr. K. Mohanraj’s advanced has devised a self-protection gadget named the e-sword which is made available to the women of the nation. The gadget is GPS enabled so that whenever a woman is in trouble, her thumb impression on e-sword’s sensor will activate the GPS enabled mechanism that alerts
the police and family members with location details. The device is also a potent weapon which can deliver an immobilizing electric shock on the attacker.

The eminent jury members for the Innovation Awards comprised of Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman & Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds Limited, Ms. Mridula Ramesh, Executive Director, Sundaram Textiles Ltd, Mr. S Seetharaman, Chairman, Super Auto Forge Pvt Ltd;  Mr. Sriram, Executive Director, Shriram EPC Ltd.

The eminent panel of jury members for the great ideas category is Mr V Shankar, Founder, Computer Age Management Services Pvt Ltd, Mr M S Bharath, Senior Partner, Anand & Anand, Advocates,
Mr Chandu Nair, Entrepreneur-Advisor, Mr Ganesh Chella, Vice Chairman & MD, Coaching Foundation India, Mr C Siva Kumar, Managing Partner, Prabha Associates, Mr Suresh Raman, Head Chennai Operations, Tata Consultancy Services, Mr Vijay Karunakaran, Founder, InGage Technologies.

The call for nominations process received 170+applications from across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where the nominees were interviewed under various stringent guidelines streamlined by process advisor E&Y.

About Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards: Dreamer, innovator, ideator, entrepreneur – just some of the words that can describe Late Shri R Chinnikrishnan, the man who pioneered the sachet revolution. His idea was based on the simple philosophy that, “what the rich man can enjoy, the poor man should be able to afford”. Today, his innovations are seen in every shop in the form of sachets. They stand testimony to the fact that his dream is alive and well. CavinKare has constituted an award as a tribute to Late Shri R. Chinnikrishnan to encourage businessmen/businesswomen running small and tiny scale industries. “The Chinnikrishnan innovation Awards” focuses on the overall value of the innovation in terms of its uniqueness, its benefits to people and its ability to be scalable. Those being shortlisted will be mentored in all their business development activities covering varied specializations.
About CavinKare Pvt. Ltd: CavinKare is a diversified FMCG conglomerate with business interest in personal care, professional care, dairy, snacks, foods, beverages Ambient & salons. The brand portfolio consists of Shampoos (Chik, Meera, Karthika and Nyle), Hair Wash Powders (Meera & Karthika), Coconut Oil (Meera), Fairness creams (Fairever), Deodorant & Talc (Spinz), Pickles & Snacks (Ruchi, Chinni’s &; Garden), Hair Colours (Indica), Retail Salon Products (Raaga Professional), Beverages (Maa), Dairy (Cavin’s), and Beauty Salons (Green Trends & Limelite). Most of the brands are clear winners in their respective product categories. A dedicated R&D centre equipped with latest equipment and technologies constantly supports the divisions in their endeavour. Today, with a turnover of over Rs. 1600crore, CavinKare has achieved significant milestones and a competitive edge with sound understanding of mass marketing dynamics and has established a firm foothold in the national market. Cavinkare ‘s success is based on it being firmly grounded to its corporate mission ‘we shall achieve growth by continuously offering unique products and services that would give customers utmost satisfaction and thereby be a role model’.
“Cavinkare Pvt. Ltd has been ranked as ‘India’s most trusted FMCG diversified Brand’ by The Brand Trust report India study 2016.”

About Madras Management Association (MMA):Madras Management Association (MMA) was founded in the year 1956 and is the largest affiliate association of All India Management Association (AIMA) in the country and has been adjudged as the Best Management Association in India for ten times in a row including for the year 2017-18.MMA is serving the cause of managerial excellence for over five decades. It has over 7000 corporate houses, industries, professionals, academics and executives on its rolls as members. MMA annually organizes about 650 executive development activities, including seminars for top management with a total participation of forty five thousand executives and entrepreneurs. Apart from corporate leaders, MMA has, in its Managing Committee, the Vice Chancellors of Madras University & Anna University, the Directors of IIT Madras and IFMR and the Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, as ex – officio members.