All about the 15-year-old Indian winner of International Business Olympiad 2021
Most Indians missed the news this September. In September this year, Sarvadh Sathiaram, a 15-year-old Class 11 student from Akshar Arbol International School in Chennai won the gold medal at the International Business Olympiad (IBO) 2021. He is the first student from our country to achieve this accolade. Anything but a bookish little boy, Sarvadh is good at chess and golf too, who can be a true inspiring story to any Indian student who wants to participate in an Olympiad. The upcoming HT Olympiad is great competition at the national level for school kids aiming to make it big in the global circuit.
Who is Sarvadh Sathiaram?
Sarvadh is not a freak winner who got lucky. Nor is this his first international win. In 2020, he won the Silver in the World Economics Cup 2020 competition. This is the biggest global competition for high school students who ace it economics. He also ranked within the Global Top 5 in World Business Future Leaders Cup 2021. Sarvadh loves economics. So, it was not a surprise when he finished a full 10 points ahead of other competitors in the Individual Aggregate of IBO, with the highest in the Interactive Objective Case category, and second highest in the Open Case Analysis team module.
Why is Sarvadh’s story important?
As the newspapers did not tell us, there is another side to Sarvadh. To know more about that, we have to visit his handles and his own website. Along with his international honours, he proudly lists how he has built a website for the Varshini Illam Trust (VIT) as a special social initiative. The website has allowed VIT to formally receive donations and grants, contact parents, and facilitate the adoption of abandoned kids. As Sarvadh puts it on his site, ‘it was a life-changing experience’ for him to work with abandoned children. He is working with the Trust now to figure out self-sufficiency models for the kids.
What is the take-away from Sarvadh’s win?
In India, the thrust on skill and curiosity, instead of syllabus and mugging has started, though it’s a bit late. Sarvadh Sathiaram is a good example for students who have the determination to follow their dreams. He started playing chess at age 7, continued with it along with his studies, and made it to the World Top 25 Rankings, which he calls his ‘proudest moment’ on his site. He also plays the piano, sketches, enjoys science fiction to the level of writing a few short stories himself, and maintains a very interesting site. Best of luck, young man, you have a long way to go!