“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.” – Barbara De Angelis
Back a few years, billionaire Tej Kohli (also an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist) made his own world, created his own destiny and acquired more than a sustainable future for himself and his family.
But here’s the thing – even when you make the dream world for yourself, there still remains a void. Even when you have met your targets, grown as you expected to, there’s always a chance to become better. Mr. Tej Kohli filled the void and realized that scope of improvement by engaging in philanthropic activities. Billionaire Tej Kohli, made his life more than better, but now it was his turn to make others’ lives better as well. That’s how his journey as a philanthropist began. Here’s a brief of all the philanthropist activities he has been a part of.
- Tej Kohli might have never planned to become a philanthropist. But something changed when he was on a vacation to Costa Rica. He knew now that he has completed his checklist, he needed something new to put his mind and efforts to. This was his first philanthropic enterprise wherein after selling acquired companies at high values, he provided support to a group of disabled children in Costa Rica. He now knew there’s no joy like that of helping others and making their lives better.
- Later that year, he began his first project, ‘Funda Kohli’. The project established numerous free canteens for children to ensure no one sleeps with an empty stomach and gets the nutrition that is the basic need for every individual.
- In 2010, Mr. Kohli funded corneal transplants at Niramaya Hospital in India. He didn’t know much about corneal blindness, yet after witnessing the change it bought in the lives of the poverty-driven blinds, it became the most prominent project he has ever worked on, and what he calls, his “Calling”.
- Five years later in 2015, after tremendously working to eliminate corneal blindness in poor communities, he inaugurated the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute in Hyderabad. By 2019, November 2019 it had treated 223,404 outpatients and completed more than 43,255 surgeries.
- To make it the treatment more accessible, promising and for the development of innovative technologies for the people, Mr Tej Kohli Foundation donated $2m to Hardvard Medical School’s Department of Ophthalmology. This was how the Tej Kohli Cornea Program was inaugurated in Boston.
- In 2019, he went back to treating disabilities among the underprivileged. Mr. Kohli’s Foundation launched its ‘Future Bionics’ program in the UK. The project was to produce 3D printed bionic arms for young people with limb differences.
- In 2020, when the world was fighting Covid -19, Mr. Kohli donated $100,000 of emergency funding to Harvard Medical School that eventually enabled the researchers to develop a novel and experimental gene-based vaccine.
- In 2021, that is only in recent months, philanthropist Tej Kohli partnered with Dr. Sanduk Ruit to establish the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation. The foundation operates to eliminate cataract blindness in the unprivileged. It has already set outreach camps in third world countries like Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Syria. The foundation has succeeded in curing over 4,000 people of blindness, and serves every day to meet the goal of treating 5,00,000 people of blindness by 2026.
Philanthropist Tej Kohli’s motto and philosophy consists of just two words, “Rebuilding You”. The philosophy manifests his desire to use his experiences and tools of rebuilding himself to help rebuild others. In his words, only, “This philosophy is not about redemption, but my deep human desire to help others.”
