ISP Delhi Bureau
He met with a severe accident and became wheelchair-bound. But it was not the end of the road for him and his wife. Sooraj P A and Soumya from Delhi are enterprise owners and are doing innovative environment-friendly products to not just support themselves but also to enlighten other people like them to get up and go going.
Sooraj is the founder of Ecomade, a social entrepreneurship put up with an intention to promote and sell the products manufactured by differently-abled people and the society for their livelihood. The most sought after homemade product by Sooraj is a small but beautiful one. A recyclable pen with a seed fixed atop for children to grow a plant at their home. With innovative and eco-friendly products like this, Sooraj and Soumya are going places and talking to people to not just buy their products but also support ventures by specially-abled people.
In her efforts to promote self-employment among specially-abled people, Sooraj has provided free vocational training for around 2000 people with disabilities now and many of them are already running their enterprises successfully.
Sooraj met with a car accident in 2012 and got spinal injuries and the hip ball also got fractured. He came out of the tragic incident 90℅ paraplegic and in a wheelchair. A Commerce Graduate and holding several diplomas in his credit, for Sooraj and Soumya it was a challenging future ahead. The couple decided to not do a job but to start their own small business venture of eco-friendly stationery products.
“We were doing fine in the work but we thought we must travel to tell the world that an accident and an injury cannot be the end of the world to you. I and Soumya travel to a lot of places. Recently, we made a record-breaking journey to Kargil on our specially modified scooter. We plan to travel to everyone and give them the message of living with self-esteem and doing things creatively to become a job giver to others,” says Sooraj.
He is also the General Secretary of the Voice of Disabled, an organization working for the rights of persons with disabilities. They work for people with disabilities to empower them to conduct capacity building and to let them grow in their respective businesses. He received an award for the Differently-abled Social Entrepreneur of the year 2021 from Dryzha, Mumbai.
His work has received appreciation from the central Social Justice Ministry.
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