Dr. Manu Vora Receives “NRI of the Year Award 2018” for Philanthropy
NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS: Times Now, India’s leading English news channel from the Times Network and ICICI Bank hosted the 5th Edition of NRI of the Year Awards 2018 on July 11, 2018 in Mumbai. The NRI of the Year Awards salute the spirit of global Indians who have been an inspiration and made a mark for themselves worldwide.
From 11,500 entries, total 23 awards were presented including five in Academics, four in Art & Culture, four in Entrepreneur, three in Philanthropy, four in Professional, one in Start-Up, one for India’s Global Icon – Sports, and one Special Jury Award amidst a glittering evening. Dr. Manu Vora received NRI of the Year Award 2018 in Philanthropy category from North America (other two winners were from Middle East and UK & Europe) for his 30 years of dedicated service to Blind Foundation for India (BFI) and five years of free gift of knowledge transfer project using technology to empower youth and professionals in India with soft skills and quality management knowledge.
Hon. Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs of India was the chief guest for the evening and the event was graced by notable personalities. Mandira Bedi and Samir Kochhar hosted the gala event. The evening also witnessed a mesmerizing dance performance by Terrence Lewis Dance Institute. NRI of the Year is India’s most distinctive awards recognizing the outstanding achievements of the Indian Diaspora globally. With their grit and perseverance, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) have achieved tremendous success in various fields in the countries they have chosen to adopt as their homes. This year, the awards covered the top four regions across the globe – North America, UK & Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. The NRI of the Year awards captures the journey of global Indians who have kept the Indian flag flying high globally and continue to inspire other Indians.
Dr. Manu Vora is the Founder Director and President of BFI since 1989 and his team has raised over $4 million to help over one million visually impaired people in India. The BFI Mission is to prevent and cure blindness, and educate and rehabilitate permanently blind people in India. So far, BFI has supported over 200,000 free Cataract operations, donated 128 Mobile Vans for transport of eye doctors and patients, distributed 10,000 Braille Kits to blind children for their education, and checked eye sight of 900,000 school children and provided necessary interventions such as free eye drops, Vitamin A, glasses, or Cataract operations as needed. This is a Free ‘Chakshu Daan’ Project since 1989 (https://www.blindfoundation.org).
Dr. Vora shared his “Leadership Excellence Series” focusing on life-long transferable knowledge of soft skills and quality management free-of-cost to over 675,000 people in 14 States of India covering 50 Colleges/Universities. This is a Free ‘Gyan Daan’ Project since 2013 (https://asq.org.in/leadership-excellence-series/).
Dr. Vora is the Chairman and President of Business Excellence, Inc., USA. He has over 43 years of leadership experience guiding Fortune 500 companies in US Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework. For the last 25 years as an Adjunct Faculty he teaches Operations Management courses globally. He is connected with over 80 educational institutes world-wide. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. (both from IIT, Chicago), B. Tech. (Honors) in chemical engineering from IIT (BHU), Varanasi, and MBA with marketing management. In 2016, he was appointed Fulbright Specialist by the US Department of State and completed his first Fulbright Specialist Project in March 2018 at IIT(BHU), Varanasi. He has delivered over 770 presentations globally and published over 70 scholarly articles.
He has received 35 awards/honors for his life-long community service including U. S. President’s Volunteer Service Award and 52 awards/honors for his outstanding professional service.
For more information about the NRI of the Year Awards, visit: http://www.nrioftheyear.com/