Monday, June 29th, 2009 - 3:34 am
Why India? Why now?
These two questions, in this particular order, are by far the most popular that I get. Why would someone knocking on the door of 30 years old with 7 years of advertising agency experience under his belt move to India for a small startup company?
My story starts in October of 2008 when I came to the realize the following: I was in my waning 20’s, did not have wife, kids or a mortgage, but did have a strong desire for a personal and professional adventure. Along with that, I have always aspired to experience India. Growing up with strong ties to Indian friends and their families, it was a place that I had always wanted to more than simply travel, but rather experience for an extended period of time.
At the time though, this was all personal intellectual fodder, as America was inching towards a possible depression, and taking a leave of absence from my Agency job at the time was a professional and financial risk I was not ready to take. Fast forward to February 6th of 2009 though, and I am sitting in a room with nearly 25% of my agency being told by the CEO that we were all part of an unfortunate but necessary reduction of the entire agency. The room was quiet, some people cried, but I sat with a subtle smile of optimism as I knew the door to India had been opened.
Therefore, after an exhaustive two-month search I found a social enterprise startup called Sarvajal. Meaning “Water for all”, Sarvajal targets Bottom Of The Pyramid (BOP) consumers in northern India with pure and affordable drinking water, while simultaneously fostering local entrepreneurship through its franchise business model. Sarvajal was founded in July of 2008, and was looking for a Marketing Manager to build a complete Marketing Plan from the ground up - this was the absolute essence of what I was looking for. While working for Sarvajal, I would be living in a small India desert village called Bagar with American Fellows of a non-profit organization called the Grassroots Development Laboratory. After many calls, multiple emails and lots of thinking, I signed up for 6-months with Sarvajal.
So I now find myself in Bagar, and starting a great professional adventure. This Blog will document my efforts, thoughts and findings during these 6-months.
My story starts in October of 2008 when I came to the realize the following: I was in my waning 20’s, did not have wife, kids or a mortgage, but did have a strong desire for a personal and professional adventure. Along with that, I have always aspired to experience India. Growing up with strong ties to Indian friends and their families, it was a place that I had always wanted to more than simply travel, but rather experience for an extended period of time.
At the time though, this was all personal intellectual fodder, as America was inching towards a possible depression, and taking a leave of absence from my Agency job at the time was a professional and financial risk I was not ready to take. Fast forward to February 6th of 2009 though, and I am sitting in a room with nearly 25% of my agency being told by the CEO that we were all part of an unfortunate but necessary reduction of the entire agency. The room was quiet, some people cried, but I sat with a subtle smile of optimism as I knew the door to India had been opened.
Therefore, after an exhaustive two-month search I found a social enterprise startup called Sarvajal. Meaning “Water for all”, Sarvajal targets Bottom Of The Pyramid (BOP) consumers in northern India with pure and affordable drinking water, while simultaneously fostering local entrepreneurship through its franchise business model. Sarvajal was founded in July of 2008, and was looking for a Marketing Manager to build a complete Marketing Plan from the ground up - this was the absolute essence of what I was looking for. While working for Sarvajal, I would be living in a small India desert village called Bagar with American Fellows of a non-profit organization called the Grassroots Development Laboratory. After many calls, multiple emails and lots of thinking, I signed up for 6-months with Sarvajal.
So I now find myself in Bagar, and starting a great professional adventure. This Blog will document my efforts, thoughts and findings during these 6-months.
