Orishi founder awarded “Mentor of the Year”

Orishi founder, Dr Bola Grace, was recognised with special award for Mentor of the Year at the 2021 Women of the Future Awards last night.

The 16th annual Women of the Future (WOF) Awards was held at the London Hilton on Park Lane, Mayfair, gathering together purposeful, successful, inspirational women from the worlds of corporate, academia, non-profit, media and sport. The WOF Programme, founded in 2006, is a portfolio of events and programmes that support and celebrate the successes of women.

The special award for Mentor of the Year was given to Dr Grace, founder of Orishi, in recognition of her years of work with young people, students, colleagues and peers. The judging panel highlighted Dr Grace’s commitment to developing students in academia, colleagues in the healthcare industry, and young people in her work with non-profit organisations.

Dedicating her award to the other five finalists - Alison, Babita, Dominique, Stephanie and Tribeni - Dr Grace highlighted that this was a category for ‘unsung heroes’ so she was delighted that all the finalists were receiving this recognition and given a platform to do more in an area that they are passionate about.

Dr Grace was one of two Cambridge Judge Business School alumni to win their respective, with Toni Thorne picking up the MBA Star award. The two winners were supported by Tracey, Helen and Margaret from the CJBS Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre, whose work to foster a gender-balanced workforce has a truly global impact through its inclusive innovation approach.

Dr Bola Grace and Toni Thorne [3rd and 4th from left in the thumbnail] join other award winners on stage at the 2021 Women of the Future Awards.