Ramoji Excellence Award 2025: Srikant Bolla On Being Born Without Eyesight But Not Without Vision

Hyderabad: Srikant Bolla, a celebrated entrepreneur and social changemaker was awarded the Ramoji Award of Excellence in the Youth Icon category on Sunday.

He was among the seven awardees in different categories who were felicitated at an event at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Ramoji Group founder chairman Sri Ramoji Rao.

Bolla was born without eyesight in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh in 1991. Despite the challenges life threw at him, he went on to become the first international blind student to be admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was featured in Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list.

In 2012, the 33-year-old founded Bollant Industries, a company that manufactures eco-friendly, biodegradable products and employs over 500 people, a quarter of whom are specially-abled. In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat’s Nisar Dharma, Bolla spoke about his entrepreneurial vision and how he managed to deal with life's challenges:

Edited excerpts from the interview:

ETB: You have a very positive vibe and energy around you. How do you maintain this? What is the secret of your energy?

Srikant: I think the challenges that I have been facing ever since I was born, the discrimination that I have been seeing around me in the last three decades, have made me positive and brought in a vibrant energy.

Whenever I face a challenge, I see it as an opportunity. I get excited. Whenever people tell me I cannot do it, I make up my mind to prove them wrong. That is how I turn negativity into positivity. Once people meet me and spend time with me, they become my best well-wishers. The most negative people or the most unaccepted people will become my best friends in life. That has been my mantra. Whenever someone says, Srikant, you can't do this, I look up to them and say, I can do it.

ETB: You were the first international blind student to be admitted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a historic milestone. Could you recall some of your experiences at MIT?

Srikant: I don't recall it as a historic feat or an achievement, but I can tell you, it's a new beginning, because people from India, especially blind or challenged, never dream of going to a place that is at the top. But I was able to reach there. I didn't have a space to study in India. When I applied to IITs, BITS Pilanis and coaching institutes, they outright rejected me. That rejection became a plus point. I went on to study at MIT, because that is a place that accepts you as you are.

Every rejection in my life had actually enabled me to climb one step up. If I would have not faced those rejections early on, I don't think I would have been sitting with you, talking with you today. So I really consider failure to be the stepping stone to everyone's success. Unless you see a setback, unless you see a hardship, you cannot achieve anything, because I feel nothing can be created by sitting in the lap of luxury. In fact our brains are hardwired to produce our best efforts only when we face hardship. I faced so much hardship in life that it has become an addiction for me now. My response to challenges has always been: bring it on.

ETB: What motivated you to start Bollant Industries, and how did your personal journey shape its mission?

Srikant: When I went to the US, I had two questions in front of me: Do I have to go back to India or settle down in corporate America? When I looked at those two questions, the whole life came in front of me, the struggles, the setbacks, the challenges, the legal fights and I simply thought, I was lucky enough to have the right mentors, right support system and right exposure at the right age to right things. But there are millions of people, who are living on the support of donors or on the welfare funds and they don't have this support. I not only wanted to create a change for myself, but for the whole community.

I wanted to give this back to the community and I want to be the beacon of hope for people who need that empathy. I don't believe in sympathy. I think it doesn't have any space in society. Instead, I believe in empathy and compassion because that is what will help you to create dignified livelihoods for people around you.

Compassion is not about donating some money or things to people around you, it's about showing someone how to live with dignity and purpose. It was my purpose to have been born blind, to ensure that millions of people are given compassion and empathy, so that all of them will become productive citizens of this country. That is what inspired me to come back to India and do something in the social entrepreneurship space.

ETB: Can you share your experience around the biopic Srikanth in which Rajkummar Rao plays your character?

Srikant: At first, I couldn't believe that a movie was being made on me. I rejected the offer for almost three years but in the end, I couldn't. Once it was made, I started receiving heartwarming messages and a lot of support. A lot of people said that until yesterday their lives were in despair but today (after watching the movie) they had found purpose, direction, positivity and strength. When I heard those comments, I thought, Wow! Is this really happening? Am I able to inspire so many people? It reminded me that this is what I was born for, this is what I am living for, to spread empathy and empowerment around people.

When I was born, people said: You don't belong here. That was my first challenge. I overcame it by saying: It's only me who can belong here. I was born without eyesight for sure but not without vision and it is with this vision that will allow us to thrive in life.

ETB: You built a company that balances social purpose with profitability. How do you maintain that balance in practice?

Srikant: It is a complicated equation. When I thought about this concept of social enterprise and pitched it to investors, people laughed at me. They said you are an idiot, you can't do it. You're talking about something in the field of recycling. It is nothing but garbage. As you have seen in the movie, there is a dialogue: Ab tak tu andha tha, ab ganda bhi hojayega (You are blind but now you are going to become dirty as well). I said I am blind, but I can never become dirty. In return, I have demonstrated that I can take piles of garbage and turn it into gold.

I knew then the social enterprise concept would definitely work, but 12 years ago, no one believed in it. Now everybody talks about DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). When I went to corporate and said, practice DEI, people said, No! This is a fancy concept. But now it has become their core strength. Nobody hired people with disabilities. So, I wanted to solve this problem by working on three pillars. I want to create something beautiful out of waste and sustainable materials that people want to use, impact people who are at the margins of society, and provide opportunities to those who are challenged. The fourth pillar is profitability. I have successfully demonstrated how these four can be implemented. Profits have to go hand in hand. We were able to provide a comprehensive solution to everyone. That is why at Bollant our tagline is: ‘Where everyone counts’.

ETB: How receptive have Indian consumers and businesses been to sustainable packaging solutions?

Srikant: Honestly, they were willing because nobody could give them aesthetically appealing, hygienic products at the same price before us. When we began, we were able to provide compostable and eco-friendly alternative products. We were able to offer competitive products. For example, when you look at plastic plates versus plates made of palm leaf, we were able to maintain the price points. People were jumping and excited to change from thermocol, styrofoam and plastics to eco-friendly alternatives. Especially in global markets, we are seeing heavy demand and heavy interest for compostable alternatives and to get rid of plastics.

ETB: What are your plans for the next one decade as far as Bollant Industries is concerned?

Srikant: In the last 12 months, we have gone from India to the global. We are providing one-stop solution to all consumers including restaurants, commercial establishments, corporates, providing compostable alternatives for their food packaging, food serving and food handling as well as garbage handling. We are a 360-degree solution to all compostable and disposable products in the US, Europe and Canadian markets now. And we are looking forward to soon starting our Middle Eastern and UK operations. So, for the next 2 to 3 years, our endeavour is going to be to become a household name in all these countries. Of course, after that to grow and grow and become a global brand in the next 10 years and let the professionals run the company as I want to get into public service. I really am looking for the right opportunity to serve people as their representative.

ETB: Do you think people with disabilities have special abilities?

Srikant: No! But it always depends on how you tune your remaining advantages into special abilities. You are nothing special, you are not privileged and you are no one. You are just a common human being who has one disability or more. You have to be able to visualize and see beyond. That is how you can go ahead and convert your weaknesses into your strengths.

ETB: You are a recipient of the Ramoji Excellence Awards, would you like to share your thoughts with us on this occasion?

This is a great honour. Beyond that, I have been provided an opportunity to show my deepest gratitude to a hero himself, Sri Ramoji Rao garu, who has been an example and icon for entrepreneurs like me. His journey inspires all of us. It is my privilege to pay my respects and humble gratitude to a man who made great sacrifices in building an example, not only in journalism, but for all Telugu entrepreneurs and global entrepreneurs as well. So, I consider this honour to be a sharp reminder of my purpose and my responsibilities ahead of time.

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