25-year old with muscular dystrophy builds e-scooter for disabled [Video]

A resident of Chennai, Naidhroven has made an electric scooter for disabled people. Naidhroven has completed his MBA and he wanted to work in global companies but was often rejected by employers because of his disability. So, he decided that he wants to help disabled people.

Rejected for Being Disabled, He Innovated a Special Scooter

Rejected by employers due to a disability, Naidhroven built a special scooter for the disabled. Today, he runs his own e-vehicle company. #respect #inspiration@anandmahindra @ErikSolheim pic.twitter.com/nRRVgrPxN6

— The Better India (@thebetterindia) May 9, 2022

Naidhroven’s father is an electronic engineer. Naidhroven was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at birth. What happens in this is that the skeletal muscles start breaking down over time. Because of this, the situation gets worse as time passes. This affects the mobility of a person severely. He was able to complete his B.COM and MBA before the situation got worse.

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He used to walk around 10 years ago but unfortunately in 2013, he met with an accident. Because of this, he dislocated his ankle and lost the ability to walk. This changed his lifestyle drastically as he was now forced to use a wheelchair at all times. Many companies did not hire him because of his disability.

However, he did not lose hope and started working on his own organization. It struck him that a lot of people are just like him and have difficulty in mobility. He wanted to help improve their standard of living, help people and create something for society. This is when his passion for engineering helped him.

He designed a special scooter and launched his startup. His scooter has multiple range options. The riding range is between 60 km to 120 km which is enough for city commutes.  The user can decide how much range he/she wants.

Naidhroven attended a workshop at the Tamil Nadu state government’s Entrepreneurship Development Institute at Guindy. He got a grant of Rs. 25 lakhs which was the highest among anyone who was in the program. Moreover, he was also the youngest in the program.

But the grant was not enough for his project. So, Naidhroven approached the bank for a loan. Several banks turned down giving him a loan. Finally, he got a loan from Canara Bank. The loan was of Rs. 8.5 lakhs with an overdraft of Rs. 1.5 lakhs and only Rs. 5 lakhs was sanctioned as loan amount.

He designed the e-scooter and it took him 2 years to do so. Because it was a government scheme, he had to go through a lot of checks, clearances and audits. All of this was done by state officials that ran the NEEDS (New Entrepreneur cum Enterprise Development Scheme) Scheme and Prime Minister’s office for loan approval under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). He applied for approval in 2014 but got it approved in 2016 because of the long process.

Naidhroven’s scooter is not only being used by disabled people. It is also being used by people for moving from one place to another. It is more compact than regular vehicles and runs on battery power which means it is easy to manoeuvre and does not cost much to run. Even some communities are used to moving people around.

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