George Abraham (Founder, CEO at Score Foundation)

He was just 10 months old, when meningitis permanently damaged his vision. Today, five decades later, George Abraham has become a legend and a true inspiration for all who dare to think beyond the constraints posed by disabilities. Mr. Abraham visited IIM Bangalore on 17th September, 2014 to share his life experiences in the first ever speaker session of ENPOSIUM - the Entrepreneurship Symposium. The event was held by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cell of IIMB in association with Vikasana- the social service initiative of IIMB and Office of Disability Studies, IIMB.
George Abraham is the Founder and CEO of Score Foundation, a not-for-profit organization located in New Delhi. Established over 10 years ago, it works towards disseminating information on living life with blindness, through its ‘project Eyeway’, in an effort to minimize discrimination and help empower the visually impaired community of India.
Mr. Abraham spoke about how a visit to a blind school and the sight of students languishing there inspired him to do something for the visually impaired and led him to create the Score Foundation. His entrepreneurial bent of mind coupled with a passion for cricket also led him to establish Blind cricket in India. He is the founding Chairman of the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) and the Association for Cricket for the Blind in India (ACBI).
During the session, it was emphasized that the main problem is not blindness but the attitude of others towards blindness. The traditional mind-set is one where blind people are considered a liability or a burden. To change this attitude, Score Foundation launched a TV Series called ‘Nazar Ya Nazariya’, a few episodes of which were also shown to the Enposium audience.
Mr. Abraham left the audience with a few parting words of advice on how the society must be more sensitive to the needs of the visually impaired and keep in mind the differences between individuals when it comes to designing products or systems. Universal designs and innovative technology and products can be quite handy in overcoming a lot of daily obstacles faced by people with disabilities.

Mr. Abraham’s entrepreneurial journey was very motivating and certainly inspired many amongst the audience which consisted of students, professors and representatives from the NGOs- Samarthanam, Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind and Enable India.

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