Sriram Sabhapathy, 26, may seem like just another young man, brimming with hopes and aspirations of becoming successful. But what sets him apart is the strong inclination he holds towards giving back to the society. Starting off on a very small level, he donated money to poor children in his vicinity. Soon, he took to funding the education of few under-privileged kids by collecting small amounts of money from acquaintances. With an urge to take this activity to a higher level and to impact the society on a larger scale, he brainstormed to understand the nuances of development sector in the city. Given his educational background (a student of economics); he understood that unequal resource distribution was the root cause for many social and economic evils. Fascinated by the potential of an individual in bettering the society at large, he was overcome by strong will to play an active role in reaching out to the society as an individual. Drawing inspiration from this noble thought, SIFI was born.
Sriram is a graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi, and a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA). In addition, Sriram holds a leadership role at Deepam (http://deepam.org.in/) and is also an avid photographer who sells his photographs for social causes. More details about Sriram’s work can be found here. Having worked as a business consultant, he is now pursuing MBA at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
In May 2004, Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy lost one of dearest friends, Narasa Srivatsav. He then had a simple thought of building a school in his friend’s name (as buildings were named after people in his school). After completing his engineering from National Institute of Technology, Calicut he worked in the Marketing department of a leading Oil PSU. In 2008, he moved to AID India and travelled across rural Tamilnadu only to see how different his life could have been. Quite logically, he wanted to find solutions to larger challenges. In Sriram, he found the right companion to begin this journey. Though he loves creating impact, his greatest pleasure comes from the knowledge that his friend would be proud of this work.
Niveditha Viswanathan is passionate about India’s development. Niveditha comes from the quintessential middle class family in India where the most coveted asset is education. Having done well academically and earning laurels, Niveditha appreciated and valued the exposure that good education can provide. Driven by passion and urge to create small steps of change, Niveditha quit her consultant job to join a NGO called AID India. She feels deeply about the inequality imposed on all of us by accident of birth and is passionate about bringing enterprising fellow citizens together through SIFI to contribute positively to society.
Niveditha holds a bachelors degree in Physics (Hons.) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and is currently pursuing her MBA at Stanford University.
