HYDERABAD: A brain tumour took 16-year-old M Manohar out of the classroom for nearly two years, but his time away from school opened an unexpected path into coding, technology and entrepreneurship.
A first-year Intermediate student at Telangana Model School and Junior College in Shankarapatnam, Karimnagar, he was diagnosed in 2021, when he was in Class 7, and underwent three major surgeries at NIMS, four cycles of chemotherapy and 17 days of radiation.
As the long recovery meant spending much of his time at home, Manohar found himself with something he had never had before — time to explore. With a laptop provided by his family, he began teaching himself website development, chatbot engineering and artificial intelligence through online tutorials. What started as curiosity soon became a drive to build and experiment
Speaking to TNIE, Manohar says coding helped him cope with the difficult period. “I wanted to escape from those emotions and feelings. So I started learning coding and business and developed my skills,” he says.
Soon, the tutorials turned into experiments. Manohar began building websites and chatbot agents and then tried to find clients for his work. It was here that he encountered a problem that would eventually shape his next idea: finding the right people and opportunities was not easy.
“There is no business without revenue. Getting customers, investors and the right employees are major problems for startups,” he says.
Instead of stopping there, Manohar began thinking about how these gaps could be brought together on one platform. The idea took shape as M-GLAD, which he began developing in 2025 as a digital space for jobs, business opportunities, tenders, contracts and startups.
The proposed platform would allow job seekers to build profiles showcasing their skills, resumes and previous projects, while companies could post vacancies and assess applicants through their portfolios. Startups could register their ventures, while businesses could look for contractors, customers or other opportunities.
Information, Manohar believes, is another missing link. “Opportunities are there, but many businesses may not know about them. We want to provide the latest updates and notifications so that they do not miss opportunities,” he says.
He also wants the platform to place greater emphasis on what people can actually do rather than what they simply list on a resume. “If you have a skill, you have to prove that,” he says.
Manohar is developing M-GLAD largely on his own, with financial and personal support from his family, and is exploring collaborations with private institutions, government bodies and enterprises.
For him, the project is more than an experiment with technology. What began as a way to occupy himself during recovery has grown into an idea he is now steadily working to turn into reality.