About Us

WHO WE ARE

We are the only NGO in India focussed on University education for the visually impaired

Help the Blind Foundation (HTBF) is a registered Charitable Trust, established at Chennai in 2005 and has been functioning since 2010. Our vision is to successfully elevate the economic status of the visually impaired students in India, thereby improving their image in the eyes of the society. Our Mission is to achieve our vision by providing visually impaired students in India access to higher education and enabling them to get jobs in today’s modern economy.

VISION

Our vision is to successfully elevate economic status of the Visually Impaired and improve their image in the eyes of the society.

MISSION

Our mission is to provide access to University Education thereby enabling Visually Impaired students to get jobs in today’s modern economy

HELP THE BLIND FOUNDATION

Raise your funds for a cause that you care

trustee group photo, from Left to Right Mrs Mallika Ravi, Mr Nataraj Sankaran, Mr D K Sharma, Mr Sivaji Rao, Mr Narasimhan, Mr J V Ramani, Ms Kanthi, Mrs Deepa Krishnamoorthy, sitting Mr D K Patel and Mrs Niti Patel

Message from the Trustees of HTBF

India is home to the world’s largest number of blind people. Of the 39 million people across the globe who are blind, an estimated 15 million are from India. Reports indicate that more than 3 million are below 15 years old. Given poor educational and health facilities, it is the poorest visually impaired who suffer the greatest. Our efforts are focused in reaching this socio-economic group, many of whom migrate to cities, where colleges provide better facilities for the visually impaired. Research showed that integrated education, rather than education in segregated schools of the blind prepared them better for employability in the real world – that prompted Mr. D.K. Patel, retired Senior Economist, HSBC, Hong Kong, to start Help The Blind Foundation, with specific focus on higher education for the blind who wanted to study in integrated colleges.

OUR FOUNDER & MENTOR

DAHYALAL KAPURCHAND (D.K.) PATEL
(29.08.1932 – 10.02.2020)

An early morning walk by Mr. D.K.Patel, retired banker based in Hong Kong, led him to enter the premises of St. Louis School for the Blind in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and he was deeply impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the students of the school. He then started to wonder why many visually impaired people are unemployed when they are capable of achieving so much. He felt that a minimum of college education is a basic need to realize their full potential. Considering the fact that almost all visually impaired children study in schools conducted exclusively for them, he felt that it was equally important for them to get into integrated colleges where they would mingle with normal students. This would help them gain tremendous confidence to face the world and the college education would enable them to gain profitable employment which in turn would elevate their economic status. This quest made him float a Trust in Hong Kong through which he started giving financial assistance to visually impaired children in India to pursue college education. Thus Help The Blind Foundation was born. Mr. Patel, a graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, has vast experience of more than 5 decades in Banking and a large trading company. He retired as Senior Economist in HSBC, Hong Kong.

ABOUT TEAM HTBF

The Foundation is being managed by a team of experienced bankers, academics and professionals on a voluntary basis.IT is supported by 39 volunteers based all over india.

Mr. N. Sivaji Rao – Managing Trustee

B. Sc Madras University, CAIIB

Worked for 20 years with State Bank of India in various capacities in the North East region, New Delhi and Hong Kong. He then worked for 18 years as CFO with H. Daya International Co. Ltd., Hong Kong which is one of the top 5 Indian Trading firms in Hong Kong

Mrs. Mallika Ravi – Trustee

Bsc, Madras University, FCA.

She did her graduation in Chemistry and then did Chartered Accountancy to become a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. After serving the private sector for a few years, she is now a self-employed woman. She is also a Director of Brookefields Estates Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.

Mr. J.V. Ramani – Trustee

Master’s in management science, University of Pune, B.E, NIT, Nagpur, CAIIB.

Worked for 20 years with Bank of India and 15 years with BNP Paribas, Hong Kong. He has held several positions in cultural and social service organizations. He was the President in Tamil Cultural Association, Hong Kong, Patron of Young Indian Federation Club, Chairman of Banking Advisory committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Mr. S. Narasimhan – Trustee

B.Sc., Bangalore University, CAIIB, ACIB London.

He has more than 35 years of experience having worked with Indian Overseas Bank in various capacities in India as well as in Hong Kong. He retired as the Deputy General Manager of Law & Recovery Department, Central Office, Chennai.

Trustee Deepa Krishnamoorthy

Mrs. Deepa Krishnamoorty – Trustee

B.E. Chemical Engineering, MS Energy Technology and a certified English Teacher

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Energy Technology. She has worked several years in energy conservation. She also is a certified English teacher and has been involved in the foundation work for a long time

Ms. Kanti – Trustee

M Phil English

She is the first VI MPhil graduate in whole of Tamilnadu. She is formerly a professor of QMC. While in QMC, she was instrumental in starting BEC, Business English Course which is conducted by Cambridge University to train girl students in Business English. She is also co-ordinator for EMET program in Chennai

Mr. D. K Sharma – Trustee

M.Sc. Hons.,Punjab University, Chandigarh.

He has 38 years of experience in banking both in India and UK. He retired as General Manager of Bank of India.

Mr. Nataraj Sankaran – Trustee

Master’s degree, Madurai Kamaraj University, B.com., Saraswathi Narayanan College, Madurai.

He is an experienced Management Executive with over 30 years of management experience for a broad spectrum of companies. He worked in India, USA and Netherlands. His scope of leadership responsibility included international assignments with an emphasis on sourcing operations in Asia, Middle East, India and Indian sub-continent region. He was VP & MD of Ralph Lauren in India. At present he is Managing Director for Vétement Consultancy, Bangalore.