Sandhya UC, Co-Founder Indiahikes Awarded Women Of Worth 2017 By Outlook Business

Our co-founder Sandhya has been awarded the Women of Worth 2017 recognition by Outlook Business, one of India’s leading business magazines. She was felicitated on 9 November 2017 in front of a fully packed auditorium in Mumbai.

To give you a backgrounder, every year, Outlook Business features an elite set of women entrepreneurs who have achieved major breakthroughs in their fields. It is an award that is reserved for only a handful of women across India.

And this year, the who’s who of India’s entrepreneurs were selected for this award. Schauna Chauhan, CEO of Parle Agro, Vidya Balan of Bollywood fame, Zarina Screwvala who was formerly the CEO of UTV and now a managing trustee at Swades Foundation, Rajni Bector, founder of Cremica Food Industries, Lara Balsara of Madison World, Neeru Sharma, co-founder of Infibeam… Most of these women need no introduction. So when Sandhya shared the stage with these women, it was quite a moment for us!

All of us sat watching the live coverage from our homes. It was heart-warming to watch Sandhya go up on stage, dressed elegantly in formals, gracefully accepting the award. And instead of talking about her own journey, Sandhya remembered and shared the award with the Indiahikes team in her speech.

That’s how Sandhya has always been. Zero self-importance. Zero vanity. Even now, she’s cringing at the thought of me writing an email about her. But honestly, she deserves to be written about. She is an unsung hero at Indiahikes. The unusual outlook and wisdom that she brings into every decision we make are priceless. Especially in times of difficulty, she is stoic as a rock, thinking straight and logically when everyone around her is crumbling to bits. Without her, Indiahikes would cease to exist as we know it.

The best part is that she never let’s this get to her head. She is still a 36-year-old with child-like glee and curiosity. Above all, she’s a simple human first and then the co-founder of India’s Largest Trekking Community.

This is something both our founders have in common – an unswerving sense of simplicity and minimalism. And it flows down to all of us at Indiahikes.

That’s what I appreciate the most about our founders. Having been a feature writer for two years, I know that people with such modesty are few and far apart. Most people wear their success on their sleeves. But the most successful of them are the simplest of them all, much like Sandhya. On Friday, she was walking the red carpet and accepting an award, and right now, as you read this, she’s probably in our backyard tending to the compost pit.

If you ask me, the world needs many more Sandhyas.

Snapshot of Sandhya’s feature article in Outlook Business Magazine November-2017 edition.

To read the entire article just click here.

To see all the 17 women who were given the Women of Worth award, click here.

Check out the below video (skip to 18:04) of Sandhya receiving the award.

What you should do now

1. If you’re inspired by this story and want to join us: Head over to our careers page. We have lots of positions open. We also have lots of applications coming in. So the sooner you apply, the better.

2. If you think this article might inspire your friends: Share it on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

3. If you ended up here by chance and were actually looking for treks to do: Then head over to our upcoming treks page. You’ll find all our Himalayan treks there.