Launched at UNESCO
An awards initiative by
The Prestigious
MSME Champions of Change Awards 2026
Celebrating Excellence, Innovation & Impact
Purpose
Why the MSME Champions of Change Awards exist
Micro, small and medium enterprises carry a large share of India’s employment and industrial output, yet most of that work goes unrecorded outside the businesses themselves. A firm that has held its quality standards through a difficult decade, or trained a workforce in a district with few other employers, rarely has an occasion on which that record is examined and set down.
These awards exist to provide that occasion. The programme applies a consistent set of criteria across every entry, so that recognition reflects what an enterprise has actually done rather than how well it is known. The categories are drawn widely enough to admit businesses at different stages and in different sectors, and the assessment is handled by people who understand the constraints MSMEs work under.
The intention is not to celebrate scale. A small enterprise that has solved a hard problem carefully is of more interest to the jury than a larger one that has simply grown with its market. Entries are read with that distinction in mind.
Eligibility
Who should apply
The programme is open to micro, small and medium enterprises, to startups and younger businesses, and to the institutions that support them. Registration is made on behalf of an organisation rather than an individual, and an applicant may enter up to two categories.
Manufacturing and service businesses both have a place here, as do enterprises working in exports, creative industries, rural economies and environmental work. Several categories recognise the people who lead these businesses, including founders under 40 and enterprises founded or led by women. One category, the Lifetime Achievement Award, is conferred by invitation and is not open to direct application.
An entry is worth making if you can evidence what you claim. The strongest submissions are specific about what changed, over what period, and what it took to achieve. Reviewing the full list of award categories before you begin will show you which criteria you are best placed to answer, and where a second entry might reasonably sit.
Outcome
What recognition gives your business
Independent recognition is useful in the situations where an enterprise has to establish its standing quickly. Buyers running a procurement process, lenders assessing an application, and prospective partners weighing a first contract all have to form a view on limited information, and an assessment carried out against published criteria by an external panel is evidence they can weigh.
Recognition also has an internal effect that is easy to underrate. Preparing an entry obliges a business to assemble its own record in one place, often for the first time, and that record tends to be useful long after the entry is submitted. Teams see their work described and assessed on its merits, which matters in sectors where good practice is seldom remarked upon.
The programme makes no claim about commercial outcomes, and no enterprise should enter expecting one. What it offers is a considered, documented assessment by a panel with relevant experience, and a place among the businesses being examined in the same year.
Process
How the awards work
The process runs in five stages, from registration through to the final decision. An enterprise registers and selects up to two categories, submits its supporting material, and the entry is then checked for completeness before it reaches the jury. Panellists read entries against the criteria published for the category concerned.
Where an entry would sit more fairly in a different category, the jury may move it, and the entrant is informed. Panellists declare any interest in an entrant and withdraw from scoring that category. The five stages of the evaluation process set out what happens at each point and what you need to have ready.
Registration is open now. If your enterprise fits one of the categories and you can evidence the claims you intend to make, you can start your nomination at any point before the closing date.
Ready when you are
Your journey to recognition starts here.
Register today and take your place among the businesses shaping the future of MSME excellence.
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Categories, criteria, dates and benefits are subject to confirmation by the organisers; final details will be published on the official website. Awards are open to organisations, and evaluation is carried out by the jury panel using the published criteria.