From a street vendor to founding Sunrise Candles, Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia turned blindness into a multi-crore success, empowering 10,000+ lives. Read his story.
Rashmeet Kaur Chawla
Can a man who lost his eyesight, his job, and his mother still build a multi-crore company that lights up thousands of lives? Can a street vendor with nothing but determination really go on to train and employ thousands of visually impaired people across India?
This is the remarkable story of Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia — Founder of Sunrise Candles — a man who turned darkness into opportunity and became a living symbol of determination, dignity, and inclusion in India's entrepreneurship landscape.
Bhavesh Chandubhai Bhatia was born in Maharashtra with a degenerative retinal condition that would eventually take his sight completely. His father worked as a caretaker in a small guesthouse in Mahabaleshwar, earning barely enough to support the family. Meanwhile, his mother battled cancer for years, fighting her own difficult journey while raising her son.
Growing up with visual impairment in rural India wasn't easy. Bhavesh faced constant bullying and was consistently underestimated by those around him. Teachers doubted his potential. Peers excluded him from activities. Society wrote him off before he even had a chance to prove himself.
But through it all, his mother taught him three invaluable lessons: courage to face any challenge, compassion for those struggling alongside him, and resilience to keep moving forward no matter what. These weren't just words — they became the foundation of everything he would later achieve.
At just 23 years old, Bhavesh's world collapsed. He lost his remaining eyesight completely, plunging him into total darkness. Shortly after, he lost his job — no employer wanted to keep a blind employee. And then came the devastating blow: his mother, his greatest source of strength and inspiration, passed away from cancer.
Standing at this crossroads with no income, no support system, and no vision — both literally and figuratively — most people would have given up. Bhavesh's dreams could have ended right there in that moment of absolute darkness.
But they didn't.
With no income and no support, Bhavesh made a decision that would change not just his life, but thousands of others. He enrolled at the National Association for the Blind (NAB) in Mumbai, where he learned essential skills including acupressure, braille, and most significantly, candle-making.
For Bhavesh, candle-making wasn't just another vocational skill to earn money — it was deeply symbolic. In a world that had become completely dark for him, he wanted to create light. Where others saw only his disability, he saw an opportunity to bring brightness into people's lives.
Starting with absolutely no funds and no business mentorship, Bhavesh began his entrepreneurial journey with just three things:
He began selling simple, basic candles outside churches and local markets in Mumbai. Each day was a struggle. Each sale was a victory. He saved just ₹25 per day — barely enough to buy materials to continue production the next day. There was no safety net, no backup plan, and no guarantee of success.
The path from street vendor to successful entrepreneur wasn't smooth or glamorous. People rejected his products. Potential customers doubted his ability to create quality candles. Some even deliberately sabotaged his products, thinking a blind man couldn't possibly run a real business.
But Bhavesh didn't break under this pressure — he adapted and evolved.
He developed an extraordinary technique to refine his craft. He would visit shopping malls and upscale stores, touching and smelling different candle designs to understand what made them special. He studied textures, analyzed scents, and memorized shapes — all without seeing a single design. His other senses became his greatest business teachers.
Among his early customers was a woman named Neeta, whose empathy and genuine belief in his potential would transform his life forever. Despite strong resistance from her family, who couldn't understand why she would choose to marry a blind street vendor, Neeta chose Bhavesh — not out of sympathy or pity, but out of deep admiration for his spirit and determination.
Neeta became far more than just his life partner. She became his business partner, his logistics manager, and his greatest supporter. She learned to drive specifically to expand their distribution network. She managed operations while Bhavesh focused on production and innovation. She trained blind women in candle-making skills, expanding the social impact of their work. Together, they didn't just build a business — they built a movement.
Banks refused to give him loans, citing his blindness as too much of a risk. Business professionals openly mocked the idea of a blind entrepreneur successfully running a manufacturing company. Every institutional door seemed closed to someone like him.
But persistence has a way of opening doors that seem permanently locked.
The breakthrough came when the National Association for the Blind helped him secure a modest ₹15,000 loan from Satara Bank. It wasn't much, but it was enough to scale up production and invest in better materials. A friend who believed in his vision built a simple website for Sunrise Candles — and suddenly, orders started pouring in from across India.
Sunrise Candles was no longer just a roadside cart operation. It was becoming a legitimate business with a powerful purpose driving it forward.
From that single mould in 1994 to today, Sunrise Candles has grown into a powerhouse organization. The numbers tell an incredible story:
Business Achievements:
Social Impact:
Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia has received numerous national recognitions for his work, becoming a celebrated role model under India's Divyangjan entrepreneurship movement and a proud symbol of "Make in India" built on dignity and inclusion.
Alongside building his business empire, Bhavesh is also an accomplished para-athlete. He has won over 100 medals in shot-put, javelin, and discus throw at state, national, and international competitions.
His goal with athletics isn't just about collecting medals or setting records. It's about proving something far more important to the world: that disability is not a limitation on what humans can achieve. It's about showing young people with disabilities that they can excel in any field they choose.
Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia's life is more than an inspiring biography or a business case study. It's a fundamental question posed to every person who faces obstacles:
Will you let the world decide your limits, or will you work until the world has no choice but to see your worth?
He took his biggest challenge — complete blindness — and transformed it into his greatest competitive advantage. His story proves that success isn't measured merely by money accumulated or awards collected, but by how many lives you lift up alongside your own rise.
"Where the world saw darkness, he saw possibility — and that's how one man lit up thousands of lives."
Because journeys like Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia's redefine what achievement truly looks like — not measured by personal wealth or individual glory, but by the lives transformed, the barriers broken, and the light brought into places that were once dark.
His story reminds us that the greatest entrepreneurs don't just build businesses. They build hope, create opportunities, and prove that human potential knows no boundaries.
Dr. Bhavesh Bhatia is a visually impaired entrepreneur and the founder of Sunrise Candles based in Mahabaleshwar, India. Despite losing his eyesight and job at age 23, he built a multi-crore candle manufacturing company that employs thousands of visually impaired artisans. He is also a celebrated Paralympic athlete.
Sunrise Candles was founded by Bhavesh Bhatia in 1994. After losing his sight and mother, he learned candle-making at the National Association for the Blind. Starting with a single mould, 5kg of wax, and a handcart, he grew the business into a global enterprise that now manufactures thousands of candle designs.
Bhavesh started with zero capital, saving just ₹25 a day from selling candles on the streets of Mumbai to buy raw materials for the next day. He later secured a small loan of ₹15,000 from Satara Bank with help from the NAB, which allowed him to purchase better moulds and scale production.
Neeta Bhatia is Bhavesh Bhatia's wife and business partner. She married him despite societal pressure and his financial struggles. Neeta played a crucial role in Sunrise Candles' success by learning to drive to manage logistics, training blind women in candle-making, and handling the administrative operations of the company.
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