HYDERABAD: At a time when students are getting disheartened when they score even five per cent lower than what they had expected and are not thinking twice before contemplating suicide soon after SSC or CBSE Board exams, the story of Dr Kotii Reddy Saripalli is perhaps an eye-opener. “As a Class X pass, I managed to become the first Indian to be granted a job at Microsoft without a degree in 2007. Although later I did manage to earn my doctorate too, I believe that attitude is what matters at the end of the day,” he says.
Kotii Reddy is known for his passion in entrepreneurship, having couple of startup companies based out of Hyderabad. Today, he is proud to introduce himself as CEO of Kotii group of ventures which has many verticals such as health, edu-tech and technology. He started his career as a data entry boy in a remote village of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. The journey saw him depart to US as one of the youngest JCP (Java Certified Professional) from India and return to Hyderabad as a founder of his own companies. The company has partnered with SVIMS and Harvard University to work together to digitalising the education. They are also looking at tie ups with top universities in Telangana, and with the help of its superlative innovation in digital education eco-system.
Born and brought up in Gudivada, Krishna District. Hailing from a middle-class family, completed his SSC in 1998 and studied PGDCA course in Gudivada. At the age of 14, he moved to Hyderabad to achieve distinction in field of computers, and worked as computer faculty of C Language and after a month got a immediate job call from ZITT. Being a Youngest Java Certified Professional (JCP) in India, he was selected as Chief Application Architect at Microsoft, a dream come true for software professionals. However, when the HR Department of the software firm insisted on a fair degree, he says he replied back, “When a college dropout can be founder of a successful company, I can do better with SSC”. Needless to say, the company hired him and he went on to become the first Indian to be granted a job at Microsoft without a degree. He later even went on to complete his graduation and also received Doctorate Honors from the University of Washington.
Entrepreneurial Journey
Kotii Reddy after serving Microsoft for a few years left his lucrative job to find a solution to unemployment in India. He felt turning an entrepreneur can help him support many talented but unemployed Indian youth. “I would have loved to stay in my cushy job and not take up entrepreneurship, but since no one came forward I had to take up the challenging task. I believe that give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will earn for a lifetime. My mission is to touch billions of lives positively by giving technology in their hand and help them build their own worlds.”
Today, the company aims at reaching 784 crore people around 238 countries in different sectors of health tech, edutech, fintech, philonthrophy through his venture such as Bharath Innovations, Digital Education, DZ Pay, Kotii Foundation, India Herald, Bodha, Seva Foundation, Crowd blood, Citrus Clinic which is intocreating jobs. Kotii group owns 70 percent of all these companies and he says that 33 percent of the earnings are pledged for the upliftment of underprivileged kids, widows and senior citizens. Last year, he adopted Government Jilla Parishad High School in Nandivada and Mandal Parishad School Jonapadu and about 700 students enrolled in the school. “Never give up. Stick to your dreams till you succeeds,” he tells Gen X.