Dubai-based teenager bags NRI of the Year Award

A Dubai-based Indian teenager, Simran Vedvyas, has bagged the NRI of the Year Award 2017 in Mumbai, India..

Simran Vedvyas, 18 received the prestigious award given on Tuesday in Mumbai, India.

The NRI of the Year Awards, now in its fourth year and presented by Times Now, ICICI Bank and Global Indian International School, gives recognition to expat Indians who are considered as “heroes who make India proud and inspire millions back home to further hone their skills and chase their dreams.”

Currently pursuing her undergraduate honours degree at the University of Toronto, Canada, Simran was born and raised in Dubai. She bagged the award in the Academics Category in the award’s fourth edition, said a press release.

“Simran is persuasive, ambitious, dependable, an achiever who thoroughly enjoys executing anything with a big impact,” the jury noted.

The youngest recipient of Emirates Women of the Year – Young Achiever for the region, Simran believes that “youth are the future champions”.

As a responsible global youth citizen, Simran has remarkably led over 75 successful youth engagement campaigns through her youth group Synergy.

These include ‘Green Space New Life’ that witnessed 3,000 trees planted at landfills across the UAE, and ‘Convoy to Feed’ that distributed food supplies to nearly 4,000 workers at various landfills.

Some of her achievements include:

• Youngest from the region to carry the Olympic Flame at the London Olympics in 2012
• Six highest national academic distinctions received in consecutive years
• Three times winner of Shaikh Hamdan Award
• Three times winner of Sharjah Education Award

She finds herself continuously self-motivated to “dreaming large and achieving big”.

From more than 25,000 nominations in various coveted award categories including the field of Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Academics, Arts and Business Professionals and a new category of ‘Start-ups’, 23 non-resident Indians received the honour.

The entire process of the awards — right from nominations to choosing the winners — had a five-tier evaluation process managed by Ernst & Young and an eminent jury.

The Global India Impact Award was bagged by the team of record-breaking and the biggest blockbuster movie of all times Bahubali and its team of writer V. Vijay Prasad and celebrity actress Tamaannah Bhatia, the release added.

Stay on top of NRI news with the WelcomeNRI.