Growing up in India, Tej Kohli often dreamed of becoming a success in America and around the world. After all, he had been blessed with the inspiration and talent to think big, and he wanted not only to improve his own life but to be able to someday turn around and help those treated as helpless in the rest of society.
But while he contemplated what field to enter for his life’s work – whether he wanted to study to be a doctor who could heal the sick, or a lawyer who would pursue justice to the “little man” – Kohli found that he had a particular fascination with computers. He also was attuned enough to changes in the world that he realized that the Internet could be the most revolutionary tool mankind created since the wheel, and that by harnessing its potential and showing others how to transform their lives through instant knowledge, he could reach thousands or even millions of people at a time rather than just helping one.
That’s why he founded Grafix Softech in 1999 after moving to the lush Central American nation of Costa Rica. It was there that he found a country similar to his own and decided not only to maximize the economic potential of its people but also to create a charitable foundation that could bolster the opportunities of its newer generations.
“It just seemed like the logical choice, because as the saying goes, ‘Do what you love and the rest comes,’” Kohli says with a smile. “I had a feeling that if I could find other enthusiastic young minds that were computer ‘wizards,’ we could really make a difference.”
Sure enough, as he spread the word about his new company’s vision – which would center upon improving the new world of Internet marketing – Kohli found that there were plenty of customers out there for whom his ideas were the answer to their prayers. He built his company upon a four-step process of pre-launch business website e-valuation, market targeting, campaign optimization and reporting, and from there he built a new consulting services division called Mobile Internet Consulting.
And just as he promised, Kohli has looked out for both his native countrymen in India and the interests of his children in his adopted nation of Costa Rica. In Hyderabad, India, he established Grafix Softech Asia Pvt Ltd, which provides cutting–edge marketing solutions while working on various Internet marketing products – and fully staffed by talented and world class engineers from across India and the world. By sweeping them along in the Internet revolution, he is helping a new generation see the value of its education and its essential role in being able to compete in a high-technology world.
But just as importantly, he’s setting a good example for life in his own community through his charitable work with the Tej Kohli Foundation, which has distributed $150,000 in funds since it was started in 1999. . Whether donating the funds for a classroom of students to have new textbooks, arranging for new computers or simply improving their outdoor ballfields so they can play soccer in as safe and fun an environment as possible, Kohli has led by example and is now seeking other charitable donors to help spread the charity’s impact into other nations.
“If you’re blessed with success, I believe you really owe something back to society,” says Kohli. “The Foundation has given me the joy and satisfaction of helping others and seeing the smile on their faces.”
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