HYDERABAD : The Forbes India 30 Under-30 list was announced last week and 24-year-old entrepreneur from Telangana, Kotta Keerthi Reddy, has made the cut in this list. One among the 13 women featured in the list this year, she is the daughter of Medak MP Kotta Prabhakar Reddy.
Speaking to Hyderabad Express, Keerthi commented: “I am really happy to have made the list at this young age, I am just 24… this was one of my goals when I was younger and I am happy that I could achieve it.”Armed with a Masters from London School of Economics and Political Science, she is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Hyderabad-based StaTwig, which is a blockchain-enabled vaccine supply chain management platform to give stakeholders complete visibility of all vaccines.
Keerthi says being mentioned in this list is “a boost of confidence” and is going to help her reach better heights. She adds, “It is the shot in the arm I was hoping for… I think everybody needs such a push and I am happy that I have got it.” Excited about her career, and raring to go further, she says, “I am going to further push boundaries and do a lot better.”
She comes from a political background and her family, she says, has been in the transport and logistics business for 25 years. StaTwig was started in 2016 with the aim that vaccines reach maximum people, focussing on child immunisation, working with polio and MMR. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic, Keerthi who looks after the management and business operations says, the distribution chain of Covid-19 vaccines is now their focus. StaTwig is also associated with UNICEF, World Economic Forum and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.
Outlining her plans vis-a-vis the company, Keerthi shares, “Mainly we want our product, the Vaccine Ledger accessible to more regions. We want our product to be used by governments across the world.” She adds that currently, they are working with the Government of Telangana. She says, “As and when the vaccine is going to come out for the public, there will be more demand, and maybe not enough supply at the time. So our product will help make sure that there is no vaccine wastage because usually, 25 per cent of vaccines get wasted or spoilt in transit. Also, it will ensure that no counterfeit vaccines come out in the market.”
‘Carving my way forward’
Apart from the 30 listees, Forbes has also released a list of people to watch out for in 2021. Hyderabad-based, 29-year-old Sahithi Divi, co-founder, ImpactScientist, a rural innovator and empowerment influencer, features in the list of young people to watch out for this year. Sahiti has a Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship and started ImpactScientist in 2019. The social enterprise provides a rural innovation platform to economically empower weavers and skilled women artisans and drives impact through stories, rural tourism, and a design-thinking inspired approach to enhance women-led enterprises.
On the recognition, she says: “It is an impactful milestone to be recognised by Forbes. With the rise of social impact initiatives in India, this recognition will enlarge the outreach of women empowerment and economic growth equality. This is a path that doesn’t exist and I am carving it as I move forward, the Forbes mention shall strengthen my validation to keep moving ahead and travel nationwide discovering stories of power and sustainable businesses.”
On her future plans, Sahiti wants to create 1,000 documentaries about rural entrepreneurs by travelling the whole country for the next few years. “We envision successfully installing a spotlight on our villages where reverse innovation is churning into growth towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Through Impact Hour stories we would like to connect rural made products to various consumer markets, increase their outreach, and foster collaboration with government, corporates, NGOs and leaders.”
— Tamanna S Mehdi tamanna@newindianexpress.com @tamannamehdi