In a world of disruption, business as usual rarely works. We have to redefine our intentions and plan of action to unlock human and social capital.
Impact is a compact word but one that makes a big difference. After all, it is the final evidence of positive change. Whether our work changes lives for the better, makes communities stronger, unlocks talent & enterprise, preserves culture or makes the environment safer, these are all examples of positive change.
In today’s world, in an era of new challenges – technology disruptions, climate upheavals, social imbalance – there emerge unique problems. Work, life, the planet and the future are getting increasingly disrupted by unknown uncertainties as much as by known factors.
We need to re:think and re:imagine how we solve people, planet and community problems. How do we help impact warriors & impact organisations that are vested in making the world better? What always helps with solving problems are ideas. Ideas that are better. Ideas designed and delivered to impact.
Unique problems emerging out of such disruptions need unique solutions. Business as usual doesn’t work. We need a coalition of ideas, talents and interdisciplinary skills to solve these problems better, faster. The impact sector and its stakeholders can benefit hugely with a diversity of skills at their disposal that includes design, innovation, entrepreneurship, nimble technology, strategic management, marketing, branding and storytelling.
OUR PROCESS
Identify
Identifying and defining the problem right is often half the job. Our design research and tools help sharpen the intervention and frame better outcomes.
Empathise
A better appreciation and understanding of the social and business context – communities, local culture, markets and linkages – help in the solution design and strategy process.
Ideation & Strategy
Purpose-driven creativity and out-of-the-box thinking today are the most critical tools to tackle out-of-the-syllabus problems. This helps social enterprises, foundations and governments stay ahead of the curve.
Design
There are never “best solutions”. There are better solutions. Multidisciplinary design teams help creating solutions that are human-centered and outcome-driven.
Prototyping
Solutions and ideas must be tested and piloted right. If you need on-ground experiments, digital sketches, paper designs or product prototypes, you need entrepreneurial design partners who have the requisite experience.
Launch
Once the solution is designed, it needs to be deployed and taken to market and stakeholders. Here, mindful branding, communication design, social activation and storytelling are invaluable. They create traction.
Iterate and scale
Impact is best delivered at scale. After all, the purpose is served when you create the greater good for the greater all. Scaling involves marketing, distribution and the use of technology to deliver deeper and wider.
Swamy as he is fondly called, understands grassroots enterprise through two lenses – first as an advanced diploma recipient in molecular diagnostics further to an Msc. in biotechnology and second as the founder of a social enterprise called Kaskom, a farm to fabric collective that is revitalising India’s native cotton value chain. His passion for social enterprise and agro-ecology that weaves in local communities & practices runs deep. As does his understanding of the circular economy. He is also the Vice President at the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). He is involved in developing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all activities from seed to fabric, for the Indian short stapled indigenous cotton, along with Gandhigram Khadi Dindigul & Gram Seva Mandal, Wardha. Swamy has conducted numerous workshops around the revival of organic practices and indigenous cotton, held several lectures apart from being a core participant in impactful programs. These include “Reviving community based indigenous seed systems” funded by SWISS-AID India, exploring linkages between weather parameters, paddy cultivation and adaptation activities in collaboration with Earthnet Foundation, Thailand, state coordination of “Save our rice campaign” in Karnataka and the “Community biodiversity management and conservation programme” funded by GGF.
Creative. Honest. Relevant. Be it a campaign, product design or a whitepaper, Aakanksha’s mantra has never failed her. An alumna from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts – Singapore, specialised in design, media and animation, Aakanksha is first and foremost a storyteller, with a decade of experience developing brands across industries through consumer insights, advertising, marketing, branding, and content strategy. Conscientious and driven, Aakanksha prefers to use her creativity and understanding of human behaviour to craft impactful deliverables that do good. This has proven particularly beneficial for impact projects like Domex’s #ToiletForBabli and India’s Darwaza Band (Swachh Bharat campaign). She has worked with Lowe Lintas and The Glitch, with a portfolio comprising Flipkart, Tanishq, Carlsberg, Mumbai City FC, World Bank, Magnum Ice-cream, Arrow, and more. She has also worked on the Taj, Betterplace Safety Solutions, Nestaway, Botbot.al, and 2359Media.
Having spent over 25 years curating and designing high-end experiences and advising sustainable ventures, Philippa is passionate about discovering stories, culture and people and uses her empathy and passion to manifest unboxed ideas. Shuttling between Yorkshire and India, she helps clients reimagine the possible. A destination development specialist and, having worked on both sides of the industry, a consultant both to leading tour operators as well as DMCs, she is also the author of Escape to India, a columnist and advisor to charities and NGOs. Her adventures are literally a novel – skiing, trekking, white-water rafting, riding priceless Marwari horses, fine-dining with Maharajas, driving vintage cars, sleeping under the stars, discovering new-to-her wildlife species & being off the beaten track. Think Lara Croft, out of the box.
We call him our IP man. Having worked on building brand platforms for iconic brands like Harley Davidson, Ray Ban, Jack Daniel’s, Hard Rock Cafe, Raymond & Taj, Arpito’s body of work has been versatile and at scale. With a long foundational strategy stint, early in his career, with the Times Group in the President’s office, Arpito went on to become the Group Director at Rolling Stone and Man’s World India, launching and giving the cult brand legs in the brand activations and IP space. A Times School of Marketing alumnus, he is a hodophile, music connoisseur and possesses an uncanny knack for creative brand solutions. He revels in his understanding of community platforms, across scale, having engineered and conceived several initiatives for leading global brands. He is also the chief consultant to the Ministry of Music & Arts, Govt. of Nagaland, a consultant with Drishti and has led several initiatives with government bodies and social organisations.
Narrative could well be Anil’s middle name, which expresses itself to telling effect across his diverse roles as an entrepreneur, impact specialist, director-filmmaker, IP producer, business manager, festival director and Corp. communication. His earlier stint as the Editorial Director at Going to School Fund, a creative not-for-profit education trust, saw him ideate and design impact programs, content around sustainability, seeding entrepreneurial skills amongst young students in government schools. His work is powered by his extremely diverse life experiences. As a journalist storyteller with Times of India, HT, DNA and Mid-day, learning filmmaking at UCLA, as an assistant director on the National Award-winning film Fashion, writing a coffee table book with India’s first Oscar-winner, the late Bhanu Athaiya, titled The Art of Costume Design, published by Harper Collins with a foreword by Lord Richard Attenborough, being the India director of the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the world’s first global short film festival, co-creating the VOTE FOR INDIA platform and more. A polymath experience and perspectives are what he brings to venture design.
