MBA Success Story: Vishal Kumar Jain
Let your obstacles become your stepping stones
Obstacles are a part of every person’s journey. Including MBA aspirants. However, sometimes these obstacles can cause a person to completely give up on their journey. The ones who don’t give up are the ones who make big it in the world.
Vishal Kumar Jain is one such person.
Vishal Kumar Jain
Vishal hails from a small town in the state of Karnataka. At a young age, he was affected by a condition called as Retinitis Pigmentosa. It’s a condition that arises due to changes/damage in the genetic makeup of a person. As a result of these changes, the eyes’ ability to respond to incoming light is affected. The person suffers from night blindness initially, followed by other problems like tunnel vision. Eventually the person becomes unable to do activities such as reading, driving, walking, recognizing people, etc. Vishal had to stop his education when he was in Class 9 due to this vision deterioration. Due to a dearth of awareness in his town about this condition, Vishal took a break from school and joined his father’s business. During this time, his two siblings started showing signs of their own eye problems.
Life can get hard sometimes. But every cloud has a silver lining. And there’s a silver lining in this story as well.
Vishal came across some information pertaining to a computer training centre in Bangalore that helped people overcome their vision problems with the aid of computers. Vishal joined and soon began learning a lot of things about improving his condition. One big factor in his development was the internet. It helped him to get connected to others like him and learn about the various options available to him.
Fast forward a few years and Vishal was already done with high school and was now studying B Com. This did not mean that his struggles ended there. During placements, Vishal cleared all the rounds that he sat for. However, Vishal’s vision had deteriorated almost completely. As a result, he did not get any offers as the multinational companies simply weren’t equipped with the knowledge and facilities that would help Vishal in working with them. He still didn’t give up. He studied hard and secured admission in IIM Lucknow. And the atmosphere at IIM Lucknow was completely different. In order to make sure that Vishal was incorporated completely into their program, IIM Lucknow bought the software called ‘Jaws’. Jaws is a screen-reading software that reads out whatever Vishal types. Jaws also converts printed books into e-books, thus ensuring that Vishal doesn’t miss out on any study material.
Vishal was quite an active student at IIM-Lucknow, playing musical instruments and touring the US as a part of a musical group. He didn’t let his loss of vision stop him from securing admission in one of the top B-schools in the country.
Let Vishal be your inspiration in your path towards an IIM.
Related Links:
