Srikanth Bolla is a visually impaired Indian entrepreneur and the Chairman and CEO of Bollant Industries, a Rs 100-crore company. 12 billion rupees. He was born blind and despite many hardships, he set up a company to provide employment opportunities for disabled people like himself.
Wiki/Biography
Srikanth Bolla was born on Sunday, July 7, 1991 (32 years old; as of 2023) in Seetaramapuram, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Cancer. He studied at Devnar School for the Blind, Hyderabad from 1998 to 2007 and Royal Junior College, Hyderabad from 2007 to 2009. In 2009, he entered MIT to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management. When Srikanth was born, his neighbors advised his parents to either kill him or leave him in an orphanage as they believed he would not be valuable in the future. However, his parents ignored this advice and provided him with everything they could afford from their farmers’ income. At the age of six, he walked several kilometers to school with the help of his brother and classmates. As he grew up, he faced many challenges. Because of his blindness, his classmates often avoided talking to him. In an interview, he mentioned that for two years, no one at the school interacted with him and he was forced to sit on the last bench. In addition, he was not allowed to participate in physical education classes. When he was eight years old, he enrolled in a boarding school in Hyderabad. There he learned to swim, play chess and cricket with balls that made sounds to help him find them easily. Srikanth became a member of the Andhra Pradesh Blind Cricket Team, participated in various chess and cricket tournaments at the state, district and national levels and won several awards. He is also known as the national level chess player of India. After college, he wanted to study science, but the school wouldn’t allow it because of his disability, deeming it illegal. They thought teaching him graphs and charts would be a challenge. He was so frustrated by this that, with the help of a teacher, he filed a case in the Andhra Pradesh High Court to change the law. Six months later, a school in Hyderabad finally allowed him to study. He also eventually won a lawsuit against his former school. In the twelfth exam, he ranked first in the class with a score of 98%. He turned all his textbooks into audiobooks, studied hard, and scored 98% on the exam. After completing class 12, he first learned Braille, then English, and later how to use a computer. After completing his studies, he wants to join a coaching institute to prepare for engineering studies at the Indian Institutes of Technology. However, he was not admitted to the hospital due to his physical disability. He also applied to other schools and was accepted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He mentioned in an interview that when he first arrived in the United States, he faced difficulties adapting to the culture. During that time, he only ate French fries and fried chicken fingers for about a month. While in college, he volunteered in community service and participated in sports such as archery and baseball.
Srikanth Bolla plays baseball in America
While studying in the United States, he had the opportunity to work in a large company, but he wanted to work in India. Many people, including his parents, asked him why he didn’t accept a job in the United States and wanted to start his own business.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Hair color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Srikanth’s father’s name is Bolla Damodar Rao, who is a farmer. His mother’s name is Bolla Veera Venkateshwaramma.
Srikanth Bora and his parents
He has a brother.
wife and children
Srikanth married Veera Swathi, a homemaker, on April 23, 2022.
Srikanth Bolla’s wedding photos
Profession
In 2009, he worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the MIT Sinha Development Research Laboratory. In 2010, Srikanth undertook a three-month project internship at GE India Innovation Center in Hyderabad, where he learned about the strategic design, culture and political perspective of GE IIC. In 2011, he did a three-month summer internship with Infosys LTD, where he learned how to build smarter teams. In 2012, he did a two-month INSTEP internship at Infosys, Hyderabad.
Entrepreneurship
In 2012, when he returned to India from the US, he started Bollant Industries. The company produces products from areca nut and provides employment opportunities to many disabled people.
Pictures of Bollant Industries when it was founded in 2012
Ratan Tata and others like The Indus Entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneur SP Reddy, Srini Raju of Peepul Capital, Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy’s, Kiran Grandhi of GMR Group and Arun Alagappan of TI Cycles. Support his startup through investments. He started the company because he found there weren’t enough people like him offering him the guidance and support he needed to deal with the challenges he faced in life. As a result, he provided employment to more than 600 people, half of whom were visually impaired.
Srikanth Bolla (in white) and his factory employees
Bollant produces eco-friendly kraft paper from scrap or scrap paper, packages items in recycled paper, creates disposable items from natural leaves and recycled paper, and converts waste plastic into useful products. The initiative addresses issues related to employment, the economy and the environment. The company has five plants – Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It also sells 10-15% of its products to the United States, Australia and Germany.
An employee at one of Bollant Industries’ plants
awards, achievements
- Outstanding Youth Service Award
- 2015: NDTV Indian of the Year Awards Entrepreneur of the Year
- 2016: ECLIF Malaysia Emerging Leadership Award
- 2016: LESA Leadership Energy Award
Srikanth Bolla wins Leadership Energy Award
- 2016: CII Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Srikanth Bolla (middle) wins CII Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- 2016: Second place in the 93rd Indian Science Congress
- 2018: Youth Excellence Award from New Jersey Telugu Fine Arts Association
- 2018: Emerging Small and Medium Enterprises Winners – Telangana Pride Awards
- 2018: Business Line Young Changemaker Award
- 2019: One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Srikanth Bolla (left) wins One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- 2019: Government of India National Entrepreneurship Award
Srikanth Bolla wins National Entrepreneurship Award
- 2019: Nava Nakshatra Sanmanam Award by TV9
- 2021: Young Global Leaders Award
Srikanth Bolla poses with Young Global Leadership Award
Favorites
- Actor: Daggubati Venkatesh
Srikanth Bolla and Daggubati Venkatesh
- Cricketer: Sourav Ganguly
Srikanth Bolla and Sourav Ganguly
Facts/Trivia
- In 2005, he served as a youth leader and became a member of Lead India 2020: 2nd National Youth Movement. Lead India 2020 was launched by the former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, with the aim of contributing to the development of India by addressing issues such as poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
- In 2006, Srikanth was one of the students who attended a lecture given by former Indian President Dr. Abdul Kalam.
Srikanth Bolla with former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
- In 2009, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and became the first blind international student majoring in management science at MIT.
- In 2011, while studying at MIT, he proposed his plan to start a center to people at MIT’s Center for Public Service. They gave him a scholarship. He devised a plan, bought five computers, rented a building, hired a teacher, and started a 10-week computer course. He began as a student technical caller and later became executive director.
- In 2011, Bolla founded the Samanvai Center for Children with Multiple Disabilities. At the center, he set up a Braille printing press and provided different services such as teaching, vocational training, financial help and rehabilitation to students with multiple disabilities. The aim is to help them become self-reliant and self-reliant.
Srikanth Bolla at Samanwai Children’s Center
- Srikanth is the Director of Surge Impact Foundation, which was established in September 2016. The organization’s goal is to help schools and individuals in India strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
- In April 2017, Forbes magazine named Bolla to its list of 30 under 30 across Asia. He is one of only three Indians on the list.
- In 2019, there were reports that he planned to join the YSR Congress party, the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh.
- In 2022, a biographical film titled “Sri” was announced for release, starring Rajkummar Rao as Srikanth Bolla.
Movie “Sri” poster
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet.
- His hobbies include swimming and playing chess.
- He said in an interview that he wanted to become India’s first blind president.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education