Overcome fear: Srikanth’s mantra to young entrepreneurs
Neha Saini
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 13
Remember the movie ‘Srikanth’ inspired by the life of visually impaired entrepreneur Srikanth Bolla. The founder of Bollant Industries and an inspirational entrepreneur who stands out as a shining example of ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ delivered a special address, marking the culmination of the two-day ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2024’ event, hosted by Invictus International. The function invited 250 aspiring young entrepreneurs shortlisted from among 900 aspirants from 220 teams of India’s leading schools.
Packed with interactive workshops aimed at empowering participants with skills and knowledge to transform challenges into business opportunities, the YEY 2024 event had a workshop led by renowned entrepreneurs, including Sushant Mahapatro, a two-time startup founder, associated with OYO, Blinkit and SquareYards; Anurag Kapoor, Associate Director at Atlas SkillTech University, Mumbai and Swarleen Kaur, founder of Uttarakhand’s First Personality School, ‘The Talk Room’, 3X TEDx Speaker, UN Speaker and Padma Sri award nominee in 2022.
In his address, Srikanth Bolla, the young entrepreneur, who became a disruptor by not allowing social or institutional norms to limit his dreams, had one mantra for the young innovators: “Students are born innovators, disruptions do not have any age and many among you would now believe this as young thinkers. Entrepreneurship is a journey that requires perseverance, sacrifice and letting go of the fear. I started mine when I overcame the fear of stigma, fear of failing and of doing something unusual,” said Bolla whose visual impairment did not come in the way of his becoming a graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an entrepreneur by founding Bollant Industries with a turnover in crores. He was placed in the list of World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and listed in Forbes Asia 30.
There were also presentations at the event from young entrepreneurs, showcasing their innovative business ideas, making their pitch to a distinguished panel.
Manjot Dhillon, Director and Ajit Dhillon, Chairman, called the event an attempt to encourage young minds to think differently and harness the talent and skills of students.
