Amazon Web Services - Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand
Company: Amazon Web Services, Singapore
Company Description: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide a variety of basic abstract technical infrastructure and distributed computing building blocks and tools.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand
Nomination Title: Mani Thiru
A Stanford University alumna, Mani has an impressive record in technology including senior digital innovation roles at NetApp and Adobe before she joined Amazon Web Services. At AWS Australia she identified the space industry as a vertical pursuit that would unlock economic gains for the sector. With a business plan and the support of AWS global leadership team, she launched herself into the Australian space industry in 2019 by engineering innovative partnerships and nurturing vibrant connections with the Australian Space Agency, space start-ups and primes.
Her work cut across satellite enabled agriculture, earth observation for conservation, emergency response for wild fires and university space research programs. It quickly made impact and won her the respect of the Australian space industry. Her knowledge of the space ecosystem and commercial business skills on new product development and scaling through cloud placed her in a unique spot to meaningfully impact customers; delivering immediate benefits through the practical use of machine learning, AI, IoT and emerging technologies.
In May 2021 she relocated to Singapore to extend her remit to include AsiaPacific. She remains a sought-after speaker and holds a number of space advisory roles including with the Melbourne Space Program, The Queensland Space Advisory Group, the Smartsat CRC AI for Space group and the American Chamber of Commerce Space Committee in Australia.
Mani plays to her strengths -:
- evangelizing the benefits of the space industry (intersections in innovation, STEM, developing the next generation workforce, women in space; diplomatic engagement, research discoveries)
- identifying high impact ideas with market potential for the space industry and broader economy and supporting space startups with the product build/solution development go to market and commercialization strategies.
- facilitating collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators across the globe
By the end of 2020, she had introduced 65 space firms across Australia and Asia to the cost & innovation benefits of AWS cloud – customers range from rocket launch services to mission control operations and earth data applications for agriculture, emergency response & sustainability management.
Mani hosted two AWS conference sessions with large attendances and online during the pandemic 2021 to inform, inspire and catalyze business activity in the space and satellite industry. She worked with industry bodies on a number of other speaking engagements, (Bloomberg, Australian Space Industry Association, the Australian Space Agency, SpaceTide Japan, Confederation of Indian Industry) to drive conversations around national space capability development.
Mani supported AWS start-ups in winning government grants; and early stage businesses accelerate into high growth commercial ventures. She enabled universities and research institutions with training that accelerated their space research missions. She played a pivotal role in the setup of the RMIT Space Hub and for an agreement to be reached between AWS and OSTIN (Office for Space technology &industry) the government of Singapore.
In the last half of 2021, she spent time focusing on Mission Discovery program for kids with AWS partner ISSET: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6854355831463514112/
Talking about Spacetech for Climate Change: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manithiru/recent-activity/shares/
And encouraging girls to consider STEM with GirlsTechDay: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/manithiru_coding-robotics-space-activity-6859391919756324864-LVk9
While continuing to support Women in Space: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/manithiru_working-in-this-tech-sector-as-a-woman-activity-6853654993686401024-ZoBb
Mani brings an energetic and multi-disciplinary approach to her work. She combines her scientific training with an education in technology and international relations to her business development work in space – building partnerships and ventures rooted in purpose, impact, and innovation. She carries her accomplishments lightly; people are naturally drawn to her vivacious personality.
She is unique in this sector, her ability to effortlessly weave expertise on points of intersection to space including: earth observation for planetary protection, ethical AI, space sustainability, diversity & inclusiveness covering women, indigenous participation and being a visible advocate for STEM advocacy and education – this puts her in a league of her own. She is continuously learning and branching into new and emerging domains such as space medicine and in-orbit drug manufacturing.
Her ability to connect with people is nothing short of magical as evidenced by the number of leaders who have provided accolades and letters of appreciation for her work. This has also been reflected in a variety of partnerships for AWS with the New Zealand Space Agency, the US Embassy in Australia, AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation on research and education imperatives and hackathons designed to inspire students. Indeed, the Australian Space Agency has profiled Mani in the Space Discovery Centre as an inspiration for students exploring careers in space.
Mani continues to be outspoken on the power of technology (and STEM) as a societal game changer and the significance of the space industry to the well-being and prosperity of the next generation.
Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination
(supporting documents/links/press attached in appendix)