Bhavesh Bhatia battled a life-changing challenge when he lost his vision at 23 due to an internal eye-related issue.
This success story is extremely inspiring and serves as a testament to the fact that no matter how much adversities surround you, if you have passion, perseverance, and dedication to do something big in life, then you will eventually succeed.
Born in a small town, Bhavesh Bhatia always displayed an avid interest in technology and entrepreneurship from a young age. However, at the age of 23, he lost his sight due to a condition known as retina muscular deterioration.
Although Bhatia had completed an MA degree, he was unable to secure job due to his vision problems. The person who supported Bhatia during tough times was his mother, who later died after acquiring cancer. Bhatia's father had invested all his savings to pay for his wife’s medical care.
This was the lowest phase of his life and he was utterly disgusted at life as he was very close to his mother. Thereafter in 1999, Bhatia decided to make a shift and attend the National Association for the Blind School and learn how to make candles because he lacked a job or any other source of income.
After he had mastered the skill, Bhatia and his friend rented a cart for Rs 50 and started selling candles in a local market in Mahabaleshwar. He used to save Rs 25 to purchase raw materials daily. There, he also met Nita who used to come as a customer, and they later got married. Since Neeta's arrival, everything transformed in Bhatia’s life as he got a new ray of hope. Thereafter, Nita began helping in marketing the candles.
Despite his unflinching passion and determination, Bhavesh faced numerous challenges, especially when asking for a loan due to his visual impairment. However, his life took a turn when he secured a Rs 15,000 loan from Satara Bank, which particularly supported blind individuals. With this financial support, he bought fifteen kilos of wax, two dyes, and a hand cart for just fifty rupees. This laid the foundation of Sunrise Candles in 1994, which is now a highly successful multi-crore business.
The company has now scaled new heights and recorded an annual revenue of Rs 350 crores. Customers come from all over the world, and the company sells various candles, including plain, scented, gel, floating, and designer candles.
Inspired by his struggles, he has also hired over 9000 visually impaired people, and his wife, Neeta, supervises their vocational training.
The 52-year-old Bhatia now sells 12,000 different candle designs and goods to 1000 multinational corporations worldwide. Anand Mahindra has also praised Bhavesh Bhatia on social media and shared his success story.
Bhatia’s life is nothing short of a dream as such success feels impossible to achieve. Bhavesh shared the only secret to his stupendous success, “Now that I look back, I realize that the reason so many people turned me away when I asked for a loan was because the way the world does business is ruthless. Everyone thinks with their mind and not their heart. I have come to realize that the only way to run a successful business is to think with your heart in the equation. It will take time. A lot of time. Untold sacrifice and hard work. But if you are doing what your heart tells you to do, you will achieve what you set out to achieve.”
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