EO interviewed EO New Delhi member, Jai Dhar Gupta, to learn how he’s using entrepreneurship to tackle air pollution. 

How did you take advantage of a health scare and turn it into a successful business?

EO was the root cause of my awakening. I signed up for the half-marathon at the EO Global Leadership Conference in Athens, Greece, in 2014, and I started training on the streets of Delhi. One evening, I developed a wheeze. Things went downhill pretty quickly. My lung function dropped 45% within two weeks! I went from feeling like a young man to feeling terminal in a matter of weeks. Desperate for a solution, I began visiting pulmonary specialists, all of whom threw the kitchen sink at it: tests, steroids, nebulisers, antibiotics, antihistamines … you name it, I was doing it.