Forbes Asia magazine recently released its ranking of the top 50 Asian businesswomen.
Nita
Ambani is one of the seven Indians who feature on this list. Joining her are successful women like Arundhati
Bhattacharya, Ambiga Dhiraj, Dipali Goenka, Chanda Kochhar, Vinita Gupta, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, and Vandana Luthra. These
women were included based on leadership qualities and their net worth.
This compiled listing by Forbes that includes influential women from New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines,
Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Australia in alphabetical order, called Mrs. Ambani the first lady of
Indian business.
Nita Ambani
Referred to as the woman who has power near the throne by Forbes Magazine, Nita Ambani is one of the Board of Directors
at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). She is also a board member of East India Hotels and is the leading force behind the
successful IPL team, Mumbai Indians.
Founder and Chairperson of both Reliance Foundation (RF) and the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, she is equally
committed to education and sports as she is to social work. Through the founding of Football Sports Development Limited
(FSDL), Nita is able to also focus on inculcating the value of sports at the grassroots level across the country.
RF’s grassroots initiative impacted the lives of 3 million young football enthusiasts in its first year itself.
Social change
Having established Reliance Foundation in 2010 to boost RIL’s involvement in social causes,
Nita Ambani leads from the forefront. The foundation is aimed at creating equal opportunities for
marginalized communities in India. Working in fields like health care, rural development, urban renewal, and disaster
response, the foundation has benefitted the lives of millions throughout the country.
Its recent sports-based initiative Reliance Foundation Youth Sports (RFYS) is a national platform devised to encourage
and promote young athletes. Receiving a high number of participating institutes and teams, the program was inaugurated by
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Art and culture
As RIL continues to sponsor art shows and exhibitions on an international level, Nita Ambani is slowly but surely
emerging as a key player in the art world. Having sponsored exhibitions at the new Met Breuer museum as well as the Art
Institute of Chicago, she has made a mark for herself globally. Known for her vision and zeal for undertaking new projects,
she has acquired a 19-acre plot in Mumbai that will serve as the land for a flagship museum. In addition to exhibition
spaces, the convention center is also expected to create a unique platform for travelling art shows in India.
International Olympic Committee
Prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially declared Nita Ambani as an
individual member at its 129th session, making her the first Indian woman to hold this prestigious post.
Summary
Nita Ambani is included in Forbes’ list of the most powerful businesswomen in Asia.