“My eyesight is weak, not my vision for myself” is the tagline of Vineet Saraiwala.
“Your vision is limited only by you. See yourself as the truly capable human being that you are.”
The future is a blank canvas waiting for us to paint our dreams upon it. It’s an opportunity to create a world that’s better than anything we’ve ever known before. A futuristic vision is more than just imagining what could be; it’s a call to action to create a future that’s worth fighting for.
Vinnet Saraiwala is such an example who proved that once you find strength and perseverance to surpass any obstacle, no one can stop you from becoming a hero.
Vineet Saraiwala is the founder of Atypical Advantage who has achieved a tremendous amount of success by creating livelihood for disabled people.
Vineet was born in Jamshedpur in a middle-class family. Quirk of fate, he and his younger brother were diagnosed with a genetic eyesight problem namely retinitis pigmentosa. This disease causes a loss of vision over a certain period of time. After multiple surgeries, he was left with 40% vision and lived in fear of going blind. But his family was the biggest support for him and they transformed his life. His parent’s efforts never let the brothers feel disabled. Both were outstanding in their studies.
As time passed, Vineet’s vision dropped down to 10% and things seemed impossible. But his self-motivation made him crack the CAT exam. And the biggest achievement in academics for him was getting into IIM Bangalore. He then joined the Future Group and moved to Mumbai with his brother. Plus, he handled the logistics, analytics, operations, and hiring process in the company. He hired almost 500 people. He also introduced ease of access for people with disabilities.
How Covid changed Vineet’s Life
Life is sometimes unpredictable. Things can change within a day or overnight. Covid hit India and people started being jobless. People with disabilities had the most difficult phase then. Vineet’s mail was flooded with people who went jobless. And then Vineet realized that there was a missing platform in their and his life as well. So he decided to do something different for these people.
With enthusiastic and professional support, he built his own start-up – Atypical Advantage. There were many hurdles to establishing this start-up. But with time, Vinnet was successful in clearing all of them. Atypical Advantage is a platform for disabled artists and people to showcase their talent. In the past two years, this platform has provided jobs to over 1500 PwDs and some of them have made a great amount of money over a short period of time. Companies like Amazon, TCS, Pepperfry etc. have hired staff through this company.
And one of the biggest accomplishments in his life was grabbing a deal in Shark Tank India with Namita Thapar and Aman Gupta.
Between the lines of Vineet’s active life
Besides being the founder of Atypical Advantage, Vineet is a marathon runner, avid cyclist, trekker, and active volunteer. His passion led him to participate in seven half marathons and ten treks. He also completed a cycling race from Pune to Goa in 32 hours by covering a distance of 642 km.
Another big achievement was cycling from Manali to Khardung La (550 kilometres) with Lt. General Surendra Nath
The successful and adventurous events of Vineet’s life are too much in number. And the word limit for this website doesn’t permit me to mention them all.
Vineet is a motivation for all the disabled people around the globe. His dream to create livelihoods has transformed the lives of many and still counting. He has proved that the ability to clear hurdles is a crucial factor in achieving success, and it requires discipline, determination, and resilience. Salute to Vineet Saraiwala and all the efforts he made to make their lives easier.
Instagram – @saraiwalavineet
@atypicaladvantage
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