Srikant Bolla is an Indian visually impaired entrepreneur and a businessman of Rs. He is the Chairman and CEO of Bolant Industries. 1,200 crores. He was blind since birth and despite facing a lot of difficulties, he founded a company that provides jobs to disabled people like him.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Srikanth Bolla was born on Sunday, 7 July 1991 (age 32 years; as of 2023) in Sitarampuram, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Cancer. He studied at Deonar School for the Blind, Hyderabad from 1998 to 2007 and Royal Junior College, Hyderabad from 2007 to 2009. In 2009, he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. When Srikanth was born, some people in his neighborhood advised his parents to either kill him or leave him in an orphanage as they believed that he would not be valuable in the future. However, his parents did not pay heed to those suggestions and provided him with whatever they could from their earnings as farmers. At the age of six, he would walk several kilometers to school with the help of his brother and classmates. As he grew up, he faced many challenges. Due to his blindness his classmates often avoided talking to him. In an interview, he had told that no one talked to him in school for two years and he was made to sit on the last bench. Additionally, he was not allowed to attend physical education classes. When he turned eight years old, he took admission in a boarding school in Hyderabad. During his time there, he learned to swim, play chess, and play cricket using a ball that made sounds, which helped him find it easily. Srikanth became part of the Andhra Pradesh State Blind Cricket Team and participated in various chess and cricket competitions at the state, regional and national levels and earned several awards. He is also known as a national level chess player in India. After completing his matriculation, he wanted to study science, but his school did not allow it thinking it was illegal due to his disability. He believed that teaching him graphs and diagrams would be a challenge. He was deeply saddened by this and with the help of one of his teachers, he filed a case in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh to change this law. After six months, a school in Hyderabad finally gave him permission to study. Eventually, he even won the case against his previous school. During his twelfth board exams, he stood first in his class with 98% marks. He converted all the textbooks to audiobooks, studied hard and scored 98% in his board exams. After completing class 12th, he first learned Braille, then English and later how to operate a computer. After completing his schooling, he wanted to go to a coaching institute to prepare for the Indian Institute of Technology to study engineering. However, he was not allowed entry due to his disability. He also applied to other institutions and got admission into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In an interview, he mentioned that when he first arrived in the United States, he faced difficulty adapting to the culture. During that time, he ate only French fries and fried chicken fingers for about a month. While he was in college, he volunteered for community service and also participated in sports such as archery and baseball.
Srikanth Bolla is playing baseball in America
When he was studying in the United States, he got a chance to work for big companies, but he wanted to work in India. Many people, including his parents, asked him why he did not take the job offer in America and wanted to start his own business.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Black
Family
parents and siblings
Srikanth’s father’s name is Bolla Damodar Rao, who worked as a farmer. His mother’s name is Bolla Veera Venkateshwaramma.
Srikanth Bolla with his parents
she has a brother.
wife and children
Srikanth married Veera Swati, who is a housewife, on 23 April 2022.
Srikanth Bola’s wedding photo
livelihood
In 2009, she worked as a graduate research assistant at The Sinha Lab for Developmental Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2010, Srikanth did a three-month project internship at the General Electric India Innovation Centre, Hyderabad, where he learned the strategic design, culture and political lens of GE IIC. In 2011, he did a three-month summer internship at Infosys Limited, where he was taught about building smart teams. In 2012, he did INSTEP internship at Infosys, Hyderabad for two months.
entrepreneurship
In 2012, when he returned to India from the US, he started Bolant Industries. This company makes products from betel nut and provides employment to many disabled people.
An image of Bolant Industries when it was launched in 2012
Ratan Tata, The Indus Entrepreneurs, SP Reddy, a serial entrepreneur, along with others like Srini Raju of People Capital, Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy’s, Kiran Grandhi of GMR Group and Arun Alagappan of TI Cycles. Supported his startup by investing in it. He founded the company because he saw that there were not enough people like him who had the guidance and support to fight the challenges they faced in life. As a result, he provided jobs to more than 600 persons, half of whom were visually impaired.
Shrikant Bolla (in white) with his factory workers
Bolant makes eco-friendly kraft paper from waste paper or used paper, packages things from recycled paper, makes disposable items from natural leaves and recycled paper, and turns waste plastic into useful products. This initiative addressed problems related to jobs, economy and environment. The company has five factories – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. It also sells 10-15% of its products in the United States, Australia and Germany.
Employees working at a Bolant Industries plant
Awards, Achievements
- Distinguished Youth Service Award
- 2015: Entrepreneur of the Year Award at NDTV Indian of the Year Awards
- 2016: Emerging Leadership Award by ECLIF Malaysia
- 2016: Leadership Energy Award at LESA
Shrikant Bolla receives Leadership Energy Award
- 2016: Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award by CII
Srikant Bolla (centre) received the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award by CII
- 2016: 2nd place in 93rd Indian Science Congress
- 2018: Youth Excellence Award by the Telugu Fine Arts Society of New Jersey
- 2018: Emerging Winners in SME – Telangana Gaurav Awards
- 2018: Business Line Young Change Maker Award
- 2019: Entrepreneur of the Year Award by One Young World
Srikanth Bolla (left) receives the Entrepreneur of the Year award by One Young World
- 2019: National Entrepreneurship Award by Government of India
Shrikant Bolla receives National Entrepreneurship Award
- 2019: Nav Nakshatra Sammanam Award by TV9
- 2021: Young Global Leaders Award
Srikant Bolla posing with the Young Global Leaders Award
Favorite
- Actor: Daggubati Venkatesh
Srikanth spoke with Daggubati Venkatesh
- Cricketer: Sourav Ganguly
Srikanth spoke with Sourav Ganguly
Facts/General Knowledge
- In 2005, he served as a youth leader and became part of Lead India 2020: The Second National Youth Movement. Lead India 2020 was started by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, to contribute to the development of India by solving issues like poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
- In 2006, Srikanth was one of the students who attended a speech given by former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Shrikant Bolla with former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
- In 2009, after enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he became the first blind international student in management science at MIT.
- In 2011, while studying at MIT, he advised people at MIT’s Center for Public Service about his plan to start a center. They gave him a fellowship. He came up with a plan, bought five computers, rented a building, hired a teacher, and started 10 weeks of computer classes. At first, he worked as a student tech caller and later became the executive director.
- In 2011, Bolla started the Samanvai Center for children with multiple disabilities. In this centre, he established a Braille printing press and provided various services like tutoring, job training, financial assistance and rehabilitation to students with multiple disabilities. Its aim was to help them become self-reliant and self-reliant.
Srikanth Bolla at Samanvai Center for Children
- Srikanth is the director of Surge Impact Foundation, which was established in September 2016. The organization aims to help schools and individuals in India work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030.
- In April 2017, Forbes magazine included Bola in its list of 30 under 30 across Asia. He was one of only three Indians in that list.
- In 2019, there were reports that he planned to join YSR Congress, the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh.
- In 2022, a biographical film titled ‘Shree’ was announced, in which Rajkummar Rao will play the role of Srikanth Bola.
poster of movie shree
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet.
- His hobbies include swimming and playing chess.
- In an interview he had said that he wanted to become the first blind President of India.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn