Mohan Kommanaboina has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Southern India. He has come a long way from walking 16 miles each day to read at a “local” library. A long way from selling buffalo milk on the streets while his parents farmed from four in the morning to eight at night.
A long way from a lifestyle funded on the $100 a month that his family lived on.
Now 35, the Robbinsville resident is an internationally renowned figure, a man at the apex of the consulting profession. Consulting Magazine named him to its 2015 Rising Stars of the Profession list, a group of 35 established professionals selected from a pool of 4 million consultants across the nation. On Sept. 26, he was honored by NJ BIZ as a 2016 recipient of the 40 under 40 award for his excellent client and community service work in the state.
While it may seem impossible, these awards represent just half of Kommanaboina’s lifetime achievements. The others come from his volunteer work, a focus Kommanaboina has established since he was in eighth grade.
Here, he began helping with Urban and Rural Development Society India, where he would collect donations for the program that helps the poorest people in India. A month in, he had raised more money than all others, and was the best volunteer URDES India had.
It was the beginning of a service-filled life.
“Since then, I’ve never had a chance to look back,” Kommanaboina said. “Since then, I’ve been helping in many forms with different organizations in whatever what I can with the time I have.”
As Kommanaboina continued with his education, which was funded by scholarships he earned, his volunteer work expanded. It truly took off after Kommanaboina had graduated and began a life in the United States.
“I started an organization called BNPEF,” Kommanaboina said. “The main intention of the foundation is educational literacy.”
This literacy includes the sponsorship of eight schools, from Northern New Jersey to India. Kommanaboina supplies the schools with everything they may need, from laptops to water plant systems to books. He has donated more than 50,000 books since starting his organization.
In addition to these schools, he also sponsors the lives of many young children who need additional help. While taking care of his own family, he does this sponsorship for 20 other kids in need. He is married to Anuradha Kommanaboina. The couple has two children: 5-year-old daughter Jahnavi and 3-year-old son Divyesh.
“My intention is to make sure the next generation can be successful,” Kommanaboina said. In order to do so, he allots a certain amount of his salary these volunteer ventures, now to the tune of 15 percent of his income.
In addition to his own foundation, Kommanaboina donates to the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and the American Heart Association. He is also an active member of the American Red Cross.
All of Kommanaboina’s volunteer work has been recognized at many levels, including Consulting Magazine’s National 2016 Excellence in Social and Community Investment. In addition, his company KPMG awarded him the national 2010 Chairman’s award for “Excellence in Volunteerism.”
While all who receive Kommanaboina’s help are in need, one such case stands out more than the rest. This is the relationship between Kommanaboina and Paralympic shot put and discus athlete Venu Vinukoti.
Vinukoti is the child of Kommanaboina’s childhood neighbors, and comes from a family who earns $50 annually. To compound matters, Vinukoti was diagnosed with polio at the age of 5, something that would disable him for life.
And as one would expect, once Kommanaboina met Vinukoti, he decided it was time to help.
“The only thing he’s lacking is he doesn’t have proper training equipment,” Kommanaboina said. “No multivitamins or supplements either.”
Kommanaboina knew that Vinukoti would not be able to fare as well against international competition without these benefits. Once Kommanaboina returned stateside, he did what he does best. He ordered $8,000 worth of equipment and supplements for Vinukoti.
But Kommanaboina wasn’t done yet.
“On top of that, a friend told me about an organization in the United States called CAF, which stands for Challenged Athletics Foundation,” Kommanaboina said. “These are the people who can help.”
CAF is a San Diego-based program that aims to recognize athleticism of people with physical challenges, providing them with opportunities to succeed not just in sports, but in life, as well. The caveat is, CAF charges registration fees for events. Enter Kommanaboina.
These fees came in around $1,000, but Kommanaboina knew the worth it would have for Vinukoti.
“My sacrifices, on a scale of one to 10, are less than .001,” Kommanaboina said.
He wants to create a system of paying it forward, knowing that many helped him along the way. And with Vinukoti, the help came to fruition, in the form of a silver medal at the 2016 IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Beijing.
“He called me from China, and he was literally crying,” Kommanaboina said. “Crying because of all the training and equipment and supplements I gave to him.”
Then, Vinukoti broke the big news. He got a job paying at least $2,000 a month. It’s a long way from the $50 annually his parents brought in.
“He changed not only his life, but his entire family’s,” Kommanaboina said.
And this is what Kommanaboina wants. To see positive change. To turn lives around. And with Vinukoti, Kommanaboina has certainly done that. A special relationship formed from a communal bond that began in a modest Southern India neighborhood.
“I don’t want to hear, Mohan is good, he is great,” Kommanaboina said. “I want to hear that people support communities in respect as to where you stay, where you are living, and who you are supporting. Make sure that your hard earned money goes to the right people. And that will make their life happier, and in turn they will make other people’s life happier.
“I stand in front of my mirror and think, ‘If you are going to die tomorrow, do what best you can do in 24 hours to your family, to your community and to your friends.’”
Robbinsville resident Mohan Kommanaboina donates up to 15 percent of his income to causes, including an effort to promote literacy. He sponsors eight schools around the globe, donating laptops, water plant systems and more than 50,000 books.,
The family of aspiring Paralympic thrower Venu Vinukoti earned $50 a year, so Robbinsville resident Mohan Kommanaboina sponsored Vinukoti to pay for the training and nutrition he needed to compete.,
