Janakiraman Ramachandran is currently the President of AMET Trust in Chennai, India, which he founded in 1993. It began as the Academy of Maritime Education and Training and has expanded rapidly from 14 students to a current population of 2,700 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Mr Ramachandran identified the need to provide training and employment opportunities for young people in the state, ploughing considerable resource from profits from other commercial enterprises to found the New era Association of Educated Self Employed Youth (NAESEY). NAESEY projects range from kiosks selling tea and snacks, to courier services and a lending library for train journeys. The NAESEY vision extended into rural India, offering free industrial training schemes in villages and self-help grops to develop local enterprises. Since its foundation in 1976, NAESEY has benefited over 1.5 million people, their families and communities, by providing self-employment opportunities for educated but unemployed young people to earn a regular income and achieve social status. Mr Ramachandran’s award is in recognition of his distinguished contribution to education and social development in India.

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