Srikanth Bolla

Srikanth Bolla is an Indian industrialist and the founder Chairman of Bollant Industries. He was the first international visually-impaired student in Management Science at the Sloan School of Management of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Personal life

Srikanth Bolla was born on 7 July 1991 to a Telugu speaking family in Seetharamapuram, Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh. His parents were first cousins. Born as the first child, he was visually impaired from birth. Bolla's family was mainly dependent on farming. His childhood was full of struggle; there was no electricity, education was a luxury, and his family's income was less than what was needed to survive.

In 2012, Bolla set up Bollant Industries with his business partner, Ravi Mantha.

He got married in 2022 to Veera Swathi. In 2024 he had a daughter, whom the couple named Naina, meaning eyes.

Education

In school, Bolla wanted to study science but due to his visual impairment, he was not able to do so. Bolla filed a court case, and after a six-month wait, he was allowed to pursue science at his own risk. He topped his class with a 98% on his XII board exams. After graduation, Bolla was denied admission to coaching institutes for the Indian Institute of Technology. He decided to pursue engineering because of his blindness.

He has been a youth leader since 2005 and went on to become a member of Lead India 2020: The Second National Youth Movement.  Started by former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Lead India 2020 is helping India reach the goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020 by eradicating poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

Career

Bolla co-founded Samanvai Center for Children with Multiple Disabilities in 2011 in which he started a Braille printing press, providing educational, vocational, financial, and rehabilitation services to students with multiple disabilities for an economically independent and self-sustainable life.

In 2012, Bolla started Bollant Industries with co-founder Ravi Mantha. Bollant Industries manufactures areca-based products and provides employment to several hundred people with disabilities, with funding from Ratan Tata. Addressing a combination of issues – employment, economics and environment – Bollant produces eco-friendly recycled Kraft paper from municipal waste or soiled paper, packaging products from recycled paper, disposable products from natural leaf and recycled paper and recycles waste plastic into usable products. Bollant has shown exceptional growth, averaging 20% a month since inception and a turnover of ₹ 150 cr in 2018.

Srikanth is the director of Surge Impact Foundation, founded in September 2016. The organisation aims to enable individuals and institutions in India to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

In April 2017, Bolla was named by Forbes magazine in its list of 30 under 30 across all of Asia, one of only three Indians on that list.

In popular culture

In 2022, a biopic film Srikanth, featuring Rajkummar Rao in the lead role of Srikanth Bolla was announced. The trailer was released on 9th April, 2024. During trailer launch, Srikanth who was also present remembered how the T-Series cassettes helped him complete his education from class 5 to class 10. The film is set to release on May 10, 2024 on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.

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