Thursday, September 16, 2021
International Announcement
Press Release - IWIRC 2021 Asia WOYR Winner Announced

Press Release - IWIRC 2021 Asia WOYR Winner Announced

Congratulations to Mamta Binani!

The International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), the premier international, networking and professional growth organization for women in the restructuring and insolvency industry, is pleased to announce the recipient of the 4th edition of the IWIRC Woman of the Year in Restructuring (Asia) Award ("WOYR(A) Award"). The Asian IWIRC networks are delighted to announce that Mamta Binani is the 2021 winner of the WOYR(A) Award.

About the WOYR(A) Award

The WOYR(A) Award complements IWIRC International's pre-existing award program, Woman of the Year in Restructuring Award, which has been administered internationally since 2006.

The WOYR(A) Award is open to any female professional in the restructuring and insolvency industry based in Asia, including, lawyers, judges, bankers, accountants, turnaround managers, restructuring advisers and academician. Nominees could be actively engaged in or recently retired from the restructuring industry. The criteria for the WOYR(A) Award requires nominees to have inspired and/or skillfully led a restructuring or insolvency team, displayed exceptional leadership, made an extraordinary contribution to insolvency/restructuring, including the growth of women in the industry, and shown evidence of "going above and beyond" so as to have made a difference, including through mentoring, training and publications.

Presentation ceremony: 3rd IWIRC Asia Conference 

The WOYR(A) Award 2021 was announced during the 3rd IWIRC Asia Restructuring and Insolvency Conference which was held on 15th September 2021 and followed a virtual format with attendees joining from around Asia. 

The three finalists were Viola Jing of Allen & Overy in Hong Kong, Maneesha Dhir of Dhir & Dhir Associates in India and Mamta. 

During her acceptance speech, Mamta stated “I am extremely elated and honoured to receive this prestigious award. I value this a lot and am also conscious of the fact that it comes with an onerous responsibility to train the new cadre of professionals. This field of restructuring and insolvency practice is an upcoming area of practice in India and an accolade such as this lends the much-desired long-lasting impetus to insolvency professionals who are otherwise always exposed to precarious situations and are fire-fighting all the time in the course of their work. The IWIRC family has been a delightful treat to the mind and heart and my takeaways have been humongous. My gratitude!”

Mamta Binani: A powerhouse in her own right 

Mamta practises as both a lawyer and an insolvency professional in India. 

Some of her key mandates in recent years include acting on Synergies Dooray Automotive Limited, Palogix, Infrastructure Private Limited, Aristo Texcon Private Limited, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, R.D. Rubber Reclaim Limited and R D Alloys Private Limited. 

Aside from her deal track record, Mamta is an extremely dynamic and multi-faceted professional who has held several leadership positions in industry bodies in India in a career that has spanned over 24 years. Some of the position held by her are: Co-Chair of the Stressed Asset Committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Academic Committee of the Graduate Insolvency Program of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India and being the National President of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in 2016. She has co-authoured a book on Indian insolvency laws and is frequently invited to speak on Indian restructuring and insolvency topics on technical panels. 

Mamta is widely acknowledged as being a “powerhouse” in her own right- in that she brings a lot of enthusiasm and positivity to any endeavour that she is a part of. Among other things, she has supported a number of gender-related causes including sharing her own experiences of achieving “work life balance” to benefit other women professionals in the industry. 

Although being an IWIRC member is not a criterion for winning the award, it was notable that Mamta had made significant contributions to IWIRC both in India and internationally through her participation in many internal cross-border IWIRC projects. She has been a key member of the IWIRC India network since its re-launch in 2017 and currently holds the role of Co-Chair. 

Upasana Rao, who has worked on the IWIRC India Board with Mamta for many years described Mamta as “an inspiring personality brimming with enthusiasm to contribute. She is widely respected in the field as an experienced practitioner and is always in the thick of industry developments. In the last year she has set a great example of adapting to the challenging times, motivating young professionals with her knowledge-sharing initiatives, strengthening her industry presence with advocacy work for insolvency resolution for small industries and leading a number of engagements within IWIRC India as the co-chair. I am delighted to hear of her announcement as the WOYR winner for 2021!” Upasana also recognized that Mamta being the first India-based winner of the award reflected how active the Indian R&I industry had become, particularly since the introduction of the new law in 2016. 

The WOYR(A) Award, kindly sponsored by REDD Intelligence, includes a cash award of US$1000 for the purpose of donation to a charity of the winner's choosing. Mamta chose “Daughters of Tomorrow”, a Singapore charity whose mission is to facilitate livelihood opportunities for women from low-income families in Singapore, support them in achieving financial independence and enable social mobility for their families.

Thank you: nominations, judging panel and sponsor

The sub-committee for WOYR(A) Award comprised members of IWIRC's Asia Board . The adjudication was a two-stage process, with a first round of adjudication done by the sub-committee and directors of the IWIRC Asia Board, whilst the second round was done by a pan-Asia group of senior industry representatives comprising the following:

  • Ms. Ina Malhotra, Retired member (Judicial), National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi, India 
  • Madam Justice Linda Chan, High Court of Hong Kong
  • Smitha Menon from WongPartnership, Singapore (in her capacity as the 2020 WOYR(A) Award winner).

The sub-committee would like to thank all of those involved in the adjudication for devoting their time and effort to the selection of the finalists and ultimate winner. The sub-committee were grateful for all the nominations received for this year's WOYR(A) Award and were both amazed and inspired by the work and contributions of this year's nominees from across the region including Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Australia and the PRC. Each of the nominees are true trailblazers in the restructuring world, tireless advocates for women in the industry and all embody the very spirit of the WOYR(A) Award and live by its ideals every day in their professional lives.

The sub-committee are extremely grateful to REDD Intelligence for its support and sponsorship of the 2021 WOYR(A) Award, and were delighted that its Asia Editor and Head of Indonesia coverage, Eveline Danubrata, was able to join the award ceremony and present the award (virtually) to Mamta. 

2022

It is hoped that next year's WOYR(A) Award will receive even more nominations from across Asia, whether by self-nomination or otherwise. Tough times don’t last, Tough people do- and this award is a way to shine the light on the exceptional women in the restructuring and insolvency industry in Asia who have sought to advanced their careers while promoting other women, despite the challenging times that we live in. 

ABOUT IWIRC

IWIRC is committed to the connection, promotion and success of women in insolvency and restructuring worldwide.

For more than 25 years, IWIRC has been connecting women worldwide. Across the board room, courtroom and the continents, our diverse relationships make IWIRC the premier organization for women in the restructuring and insolvency professions. IWIRC networks are located in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. We welcome the development of new networks in these or new regions.  Be Inspired. Be Informed. Be Connected.  For more information, please contact sbedker@iwirc.com or visit www.iwirc.com.

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