Visually Challenged Telugu Boy Feature In Forbes Asia Under 30 ‘Super Achievers’ List

Hyderabad: Forbes has named visually challenged Srikanth Bolla in the list of super achievers from Asia under the age of 30 but he is in no mood to celebrate. His goal is to get into the Forbes list of richest persons and he doesn't want settle for anything less. Such is the determination of the 25-year-old, who was born blind and overcame all adversities to become the first international blind student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now heads a Rs 30 crore ($4.6 million) company.

Visiting manufacturing plants in different locations in Telangana and Karnataka, attending business meetings and, in between, troubleshooting over the phone, the CEO of Bollant Industries is a busy man.

Srikanth was born in a family of farmers in Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. After passing his Class 10 exam he chose the science stream for the plus-two stage but was not permitted to write the Joint Entrance Exam for IIT-aspirants as he was blind.

"I said when IIT doesn't want me, I don't want IIT either. Let me find the best opportunity in the world better than IIT. MIT being the top school in the world, I always wanted to go there and I went there," said Srikanth, who has a B.Sc in management from MIT," he said.

"When I reach the goal of taking my company to an IPO that is when I will celebrate. I will celebrate when the company reaches Rs 1,000 crore in valuation. Getting into the Forbes main list is my goal and that is when I will celebrate," said the confident CEO of a packaging and paper products company which is also creating employment opportunities for the differently-abled.

The company has seven manufacturing plants in Telangana and Karnataka, employing 600 people. It recently acquired a sick paper mill in Hyderabad. Out of seven plants of the company, five were previously sick industries. The company has four directors, including co-founder Swarnalatha, angel investor Ravi Mantha and tech and infra entrepreneur S. Prabhakar Reddy. Its pool of investors include top angels like Ratan Tata, Satish Reddy of Reddy Laboratories, Srini Raju of People's Capital and Kiran Grandhi of GMR. The company has so far raised Rs 2 crore in equity and Rs 10 crore in convertible notes.

"I struggled so much in my life that I don't want the younger generation and disabled people to suffer. I always wanted to come back and do something for India. We decided we will employ the underprivileged as the core of our workforce and empower them to be productive citizens of the country and that has been our social mission and it will be our mission for ever keeping our commercial aspect aside," he said.