Isha Ambani wins GenNext Entrepreneur award at Forbes India Leadership Awards 2023

Isha, director of Reliance Retail Ventures, is credited with scaling Reliance Retail into the biggest retailer in India by revenue and store network

By Forbes India

Published: Mar 27, 2023 11:00:11 AM IST

Updated: Mar 30, 2023 12:24:14 PM IST

Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures, won this award for scaling up the company into the biggest retailer in India by revenue and store network

At the 12th edition of Forbes India Leadership Awards on March 24, Isha Ambani received GenNext Entrepreneur award from Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga and Moelis India CEO Manisha Girotra.

Isha, 30, director of Reliance Retail Ventures, won this award for scaling up the company into the biggest retailer in India by revenue and store network, building a formidable omni-channel presence with interests spanning from grocery, fashion and lifestyle to electronics, FMCG, luxury, and more.

Dedicating the award to her parents and children, Isha said, “This is to my parents who inspire me endlessly, and to my children Prithvi [son of twin brother Akash Ambani], Aadiya and Krishna who motivate me everyday."

Isha is steering the growth of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd and wants to dominate every aspect of India’s $800 billion retail market. Like her father, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, Isha too has a nose for opportunities. At the 2016 Lakme Fashion Week, she had launched the online fashion retailer, Ajio, a subsidiary of Reliance Retail. The digital marketplace for fashion and lifestyle products is now the number one branded apparel business in India by revenue.

She was also instrumental in launching JioMart in 2019. “The entire purpose of the retail venture was to create a home-made truly India solution for every Indian problem. We live by the motto, ‘What is good for India, is good for Reliance,” she says.

Also read: Reliance Retail rolls out support for digital Rupee payments

Isha is an alumnus of Yale University, where she studied psychology. She then went on to pursue an MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She also briefly worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company before returning to India from the US.

In August 2022, Mukesh Ambani announced Isha as the head of Reliance Retail at the 45th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries Limited.

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of Forbes India, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.