Meet woman who grew up in orphanage, got married at 16, worked as labourer for Rs 5, then built multi-crore company in…

Some success stories are testament to the power of determination, passion and self-belief. One such inspiring story is of Jyothi Reddy who battled all adversities to become the CEO of a billion-dollar software company. 

She was sent to an orphanage by her daily wager father at 8. The second of five children born in a poor family, studied at a government school while residing in a orphanage. 

She was then forced to get married at 16 and became a mother of two daughters by 18 years of age. 

With her financial difficulties accentuating, she worked in farm fields for a meagre daily wage of just Rs 5. The transformational moment in her life when a central government scheme helped her get into teaching. But the money wasn’t sufficient and she did a tailoring job at night to survive. 

Thereafter, Jyothi did a BA degree from the Dr BR Ambedkar Open University in 1994 and a PG degree from Kakatiya University in 1997. The degrees enabled her to earn more, but at Rs 398 per month, it was still not enough. 

The next momentous point came when a relative visited from US. This made her realise the opportunities abroad. Jyothi then did computer courses and left for the US when she was eligible to work there. 

In the US also, she had to grapple as she worked at a petrol pump, do a babysitter job, among other menial jobs. Her first decent job was as a recruitment professional. In 2021, with savings of $40,000 she founded her own business, Key Software Solutions. The company rose gradually to mark a turnover of $15 million and eventually turned into a billion-dollar company in 2017. The company gradually grew and is now valued at Rs 125 crore.