Losing his eyesight at 23 was never a reason for Gujarat resident Bhavesh Bhatia to give up. Instead, he decided to lighten up thousands of lives.
Bhavesh, who worked as a telephone operator at a hotel, was fired from his job after losing his eyesight. As he was from a poor family, he didn’t have any choice but to find a way to make ends meet.
He enrolled himself at Mumbai’s National Association for the Blind, where he learnt candle making, and decided to use his learnings as an opportunity.
He began selling candles from a cart, and later, took a loan for Rs 15,000 under a special scheme for people who are blind.
With this, he set up his business venture Sunrise Candles, where he not only sells candles but also recruits and trains people with visual impairments. What started as a small business has now transformed into a huge enterprise that provides employment to over 9,500 visually-impaired people. Sunrise Candles also has around 71 manufacturing units in 14 states and exports their candles to nearly 67 countries across the globe.
Bhavesh is not just a businessman, but also a sportsman, who has received three National Awards from the President of India and over 100 paralympic sports medals.
Watch his story of unending determination:
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