Image Credits: Instagram/srikanthbollaofficial_
If you have somehow missed watching Rajkummar Rao’s 2024 movie ‘Srikanth’ portraying the story of
Srikanth Bolla
, a visually impaired Indian entrepreneur with an annual turnover of over $150 million, this is your chance to get to know this exemplary personality who has now moved on to a new adventure by becoming a judge at the Shark Tank India season 4.
Who is Srikanth Bolla?
Srikanth Bolla is the founder and chairman of
Bollant Industries
, a paper-based products manufacturing company which he started with his best friend Ravi Mantha back in 2012. Although visually impaired since birth, Bolla is known for achieving some big records over the years. He was the first international blind student to be admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Additionally, the 33-year-old has been featured in the
Forbes 30 Under 30
list and currently employs around 500 people.
Srikanth Bolla’s academic journey
Image Credits: Spectrum
In terms of education, Bolla studied at the Devnar School for the Blind in Hyderabad and went on to pursue his higher education at Royal Junior College for higher secondary education. As shown in the movie, he fought legal battles with the state government to be able to pursue the science stream after 10th which was prohibited for blind students by the government. Further on, he was denied admission by many IIT colleges which were incapable of managing the education of a visually impaired young man. But Bolla remained undeterred and filed for admission to prestigious international colleges such as Stanford, Berkeley and more. He finally found a breakthrough when he was accepted at MIT where he pursued degrees in Business Management. He was also the head of the International Development Club here.
After returning from the US in 2005, he joined the Lead India Program as a youth leader and successfully worked to develop leadership qualities and employment skills in almost 800,000 individuals
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