THREE Indian-Americans were given the prestigious Champions of Change award for their achievements as immigrant innovators and entrepreneurs.
Shradha Agarwal from Chicago, Riddhiman Das from Kansas and Amar Sawhney from Massachusetts were presented with the award at the White House. They were among the 11 people honoured on Wednesday (May 29) at the ”Champions of Change” event at the White House.
Shradha Agarwal from Chicago is co-founder of ContextMedia. She always had a passion for communication and launched her first media enterprise at age nine in India.
“While building ContextMedia from the ground up, she branded the healthcare media company as “for-benefit”- a successful for-profit enterprise that exists for social benefit and is focused on organisational culture architecture,” the White House said.
Based in Chicago and New York City, Agarwal is also an angel investor, conference speaker and startup advisor.
Riddhiman Das from Kansas came to the United States in 2008 to pursue an American college education and studied computer science, mathematics and entrepreneurship.
“As an undergraduate student, he co-founded three startup tech companies and is also heavily involved with a Kansas City-based technology startup that has commercialised the Eyeprint Verification System as a simple, safe replacement for entering passwords on smartphones,” the White House said.
An inventor and serial entrepreneur in the field of medical devices, Amar Sawhney holds over 120 patents, which form the basis for several first-of-a-kind medical devices that have helped millions of patients worldwide.
“He has founded six companies, which account for over 1,600 jobs created and over $1.5bn in revenue to date. Amar helps foster entrepreneurship by mentoring young innovators and creating companies through Incept, a medical device incubator he helped co-found,” the White House said.
“Immigrants have long made America more prosperous and innovative, and the champions we are celebrating today represent the very best in leadership, entrepreneurship, and public service,” said US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park.
“We are proud to recognise these leaders who work every day to grow our economy, advance science and technology, and support their home communities,” Park said.
