How a Visually Impaired Man from Hyderabad Made it to Forbes 30 Under 30

Srikanth Bolla, 27, from Hyderabad is no stranger to hardship. Ignored as a child for being visually impaired, his teachers had little faith in him and would invariably make him sit on the last row. Today, Srikant runs ‘Bolla Industries’, where Ratan Tata has invested. Bolla started the company in 2012; it manufactures Areca-based products and provides employment to several hundred differently abled people. Bolla was born in 1992, into a family of agriculturists in Seetharamapuram in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. When he was born neighbors and relatives had advised his parents to leave him in an orphanage, owing to his visual impairment. Now, Bolla stands tall with the confidence that he can achieve anything he sets his mind on. Srikant runs Bollan Industries Limited as its CEO, with five factories employing over 650 people, nearly half of whom are differently-abled men and women. Srikanth manufactures eco-friendly, disposable consumer packaging solutions worth Rs 50 crores.

Srikanth has four production plants across India, one each in Hubli (Karnataka) and Nizamabad (Telangana), and two in Hyderabad (Telangana). Another plant, set to be one hundred percent solar-operated, is at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, 55 km from Chennai. Ratan Tata met Srikanth and was so impressed with his business acumen and vision for his company that he not only decided to mentor him but also invested in the company. Srikanth was named by Forbes magazine in its list of 30 under 30 across all of Asia, one of only three Indians in that list in April 2017.

“My parents, Damodar Rao and Venkatamma were devastated that their baby was born blind. But at every stage, from the time they initiated me into a school in a rural area, they had to fight the system. Having faced challenges at every stage during my education, I always had the urge to do something differently,” said Srikanth. Over the past few years, his work has begun to be recognised. He has won a string of awards, including the Emerging Leadership Award, given by ECLIF Malaysia, and the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 award, given by CII.

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