Sanjeeva Reddy hails from Ganjam district in Coastal Odisha. His father had to leave his job due to health issues while Sanjeeva was only eight years old. The family had to sustain their livelihood with only two cows and Sanjeeva, as a young boy, had taken the responsibility to supply milk in the locality. While recollecting his childhood days he mentions about his strong desire to study however, due to very poor financial conditions he wasn’t able to continue further studies. At an early stage of his life he got a job to sit at a bangle store with a meagre salary of Rs 600 per month and had to take care of his parents along with 3 siblings with that limited resource.
Sanjeeva however, was very clear in his vision right from those days and decided to do something of his own, without being dependent on anyone. His personal interest in Plumbing works made him think towards joining a plumbing courses available. He got himself enrolled to the domain skilling on Plumbing offered at Government Industrial Training Institute in Berhampur town and post successful completion, he started doing small petty works privately and gained experience as well as popularity from his expertise and good customer behavior. And finally he got selected in the ten-day Nano Unicorn Training Program of Tata STRIVE that finally helped him realize his dreams with the loan assistance of one lakh rupees. Sanjeeva with this endeavored in starting his own Plumbing business by setting up his own unit in Ganjam district. A down to earth person by nature, Sanjeeva still remembers those days when he used to drink rice water (starch) and go to work. Today, he is an owner of an independent business with three support staff working under him. Sanjeeva on an approximate has an income of INR 40,000 per month. Sanjeeva is one such Nano Unicorn who within two years of receiving the seed capital of one lakh rupees, has been able to repay 100% back to the project.
As quoted by one of the Success Managers from the Repayments Team, Prafulla Kumar Sahu: “Sanjeeva is a highly efficient person who has also repaid his loan back to the project even during pandemic times – a man with vision and commitment”.
As a plumber, Sanjeeva is very popular in his locality and he states that he has been getting bulk work orders from Government institutions and other local authorities. Sanjeeva has a dream to establish a proper well equipped plumbing unit at his place and train and employ needy people like him.