Former finance winner in 2024, Seethalakshmy Narayanan, the youngest-ever vice president at Premji Invest in its 17-year history, led a $25 million (nearly `265 crore) deal for wealth management firm Dezerv.
“In the private equity world, the average age of a vice president is around 35 to 38, a younger performer is perceived as being less experienced. Being a part of the list helped a lot in bridging that gap positively. Startup founders have been a lot more open to discuss deals," she says.
Here’s to those who dare to dream, and will remind the generations to come that the future belongs to those who believe in the power of possibilities.
The research process was three-fold: One was interviews by the Forbes India team with sources across relevant categories as well as through studies of databases and media coverage. Two, on forbesindia.com, inviting applications from, or nominations of, entrepreneurs and professionals who fit the criteria. Three, spreading the word on social media. This helped us arrive at a long list across 19 categories, including a new one—artificial intelligence—this year. The next step was narrowing down to a ‘shorter longlist’—the names most likely to make it to the top were decided in consultation with experts in each category. The last stage was finalising the winners for 2025. Armed with expert views, the Forbes India editorial team debated, argued, and vetoed its way down to the final list from close to a thousand nominations. We have only considered for selection those who were under the age of 30 as of February 28, 2025 (the cut-off date for selection of the list). And, in the case of enterprises that have several co-founders, we have considered only those where at least one of them is under 30.
First Published: Feb 06, 2025, 10:44
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