Sujay Sathyanarayana - A Budding Educationalist And A Social Entrepreneur

Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], December 28: Some people get opportunities but misuse them intentionally or otherwise for their personal gains. Some create opportunities for themselves and for others and make a mark. An educationist, a futuristic thinker, a social activist, and a genuine believer in social service, a multifaceted personality is our beloved, young, and dynamic SUJAY SATHYANARAYANA who belongs to the second category.  

Saying ‘No’ to opportunities is difficult, though they would’ve come to us for being under someone else’s stature. Sujay has been able to say so repeatedly and build his career on his own.  

Being the son of Shri B.S. Sathyanarayana, who’s popularly known as Katte SATHYA, Bengaluru’s ex-Mayor, a politician, and a social & Kannada activist, Sujay had very many opportunities that came his way. But, today, Sujay Sathyanarayana is a self-made social entrepreneur serving several needy patients through his uniquely established Janaushadhi Kendra, serving many with social security services through his brainchild, ‘Basavanagudi One Seva Kendra and nurturing the ‘Generation Next’ through his other idea, ‘Sattva Preschool’.  

A Finance and Economics scholar from London University and pursuing his PhD, Sujay has grown up seeing his father’s social and political life very closely, which has influenced him greatly. His father himself has been a role model for Sujay.  

Known for his principled life even in politics, B.S. Sathyanarayana, alias Katte Sathya had led a team of Karyakarthas to Ayodhya during the Babri Masjid issue in 1992. He was a 5-time Corporator and Mayor of Bengaluru during 2013-2014 and one of the contact points in South Bengaluru for any developmental works or for reaching out to the general public with government schemes.  

Having such guidance under such a charismatic person’s leadership during his teenage, Sujay was a part of his father’s social activities that provided him exposure to the issues of the people and ways and means of meeting them.  

Sujay, an Educationalist 

Katte Sathya Foundation, initiated by Sujay, has been in social service since 2015. The organization focuses on the holistic development of individuals and has been actively working in health, education, food, and social security. ‘Sattva Preschool and Academy’ is one such effort to strengthen the roots of our future generations while they are budding. An unexampled innovation, a start-up in the education sector for young minds. Established in the academic year 2018-19, a three-year-old preschool has been well received and has been the talk of the town off late about children’s admission for pre-schooling.  

The much-talked-about ‘Dhyana’ introduced by the State Government has been one of the core activities in the Sujay-designed curriculum. ‘Sattva’ means ‘Holistic Strength’ in Samskrutha (Sanskrit). Sujay worked as an Assistant Professor in some of the reputed colleges and Universities such as Jain University, PES University, BNMIT Post-Graduation College, and APS Evening College. The idea of establishing an education institute from a preschool emerged during this period when he understood the importance of grooming from the roots. Despite of Covid-hit situation for two consecutive years, Sattva has 100+ admissions today. Sattva is considered one of the priority options in the vicinity for the Montessori group, i.e., Playgroup, Nursery, LKG, and UKG education. According to Sujay, the school has achieved this level of acceptance and popularity because of its services such as safety, security, exclusive Preschool infrastructure, cleanliness, noise-free and pollution-free environment, huge playground, well-ventilated 13 classrooms with an exclusive activity area and a wide variety of particle exposure through frequent field trips. 

Sujay provides a platform for aspiring Civil Servants, Doctors and Other professional students through his Well-Designed and Well-Equipped study centres. He takes pride in sharing that one of his study students has qualified as an India Forest Services officer.  

Sujay, a Social Entrepreneur 

Basavanagudi One Seva Kendra is one of the exemplary projects that provide various government and non-governmental citizen-centric services under one roof. This project was started in September 2021. In the last 14 months since its establishment in September 2021, Bengaluru Seva Kendra has provided services such as Aadhaar, Ayushman Bharat Health Card, PAN Card, Income Certificate, and Caste Certificate to about 25000 customers in last one year. Started with just 5 basic services, Bengaluru Seva Kendra is serving people with 1000+ products. The office is presently located in Thyagarajanagar, Basavanagudi, Bangalore.  

Janaushadhi Centre: A Janaushadhi Kendra, situated in a prime place serving 1000s of people in the Basavanagudi area, was on the verge of closing its service due to mismanagement and heavy undue payments. Katte Sathya Foundation took the service over and repaid the debt incurred in just 2 years, paid all the outstanding salaries and allowances to all the staff and brought it back to life. This is merely to continue a medical service that would have collapsed otherwise.  

Another important achievement of Sujay through the Katte Sathya Foundation is, providing dialysis services at a very low cost, a dialysis centre with a User-fee model. Those who could not afford the regular fees of Rs.1200/- for dialysis are being charged only Rs.500/- as a user fee. The centre provided home visits during the lockdown and was well appreciated by the citizens. Medical Grants (Medical Funds): Sujay and his team are facilitating BPL cardholders’ financial assistance from Mayor Grant and other funds and individual donations for medical treatment for health issues like cancer, heart problems, kidney, brain tumour, etc., that is being well appreciated by the general public. Basavanagudi Seva Kendra has become a common venue for such appeals and applications.  

An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.  A workaholic, tireless kind of a person, Sujay falls into the second category. Slow and steady, but firm and confident with this vision. He dreams for the holistic well-being of his neighbourhood, builds a huge team of young volunteers for society, and strives to realize his dreams with ways and means. Society is assured that another youth leader they can look up to has arrived.