ஆமாம்/இல்லை

India, Daniel? What are you doing in India?

It’s the question I get asked most often, even by my closest friends and family. Following two months of living here, I should probably get around to answering it.

After three years as a fixture of the ad agency and marketing workplace, I was tired and excessively curious. Not of the work so much, or even the prospect of where it could go, but of how and why I was pushing myself to do it. I got a pretty good job as a copywriter right out of university, and was able to wet my feet writing stuff for some pretty big clients at a very young age. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, tourism in Brazil (the on-site research was fun). I also had the opportunity to strengthen support for social causes I really believed in, crafting campaigns for public health awareness, voter outreach and urban education. I left having written my first on-air commercial at age 21, working with then-Senator Barack Obama and chairing a young professionals council for the United Nations—compiling a thick portfolio of meaningful words that I created.

Next came an offer to be an aide and speechwriter to the dean of what many consider to be one of the best business schools in the world. I accepted, with the promise of full tuition reimbursement at the very institution and a chance to expand my understandings of emerging economies and the broader corporate business community. After a few semesters of classes and a short time hob-nobbing with some of the wealthiest people and corporations in the world, adding phrases like “global innovation,” “responsible entrepreneurship” and “social impact” to my lexicon, I was keen to explore further their meanings beyond what I was taught in the classroom.

I left with the intention of brightening my ability to understand brands, businesses and products from a new perspective—one of which might not be commonly promoted with traditional advertising, marketing or communications. I needed to hear people speak a new language while still understanding what they required to live; I needed to immerse myself in a foreign culture, to start from scratch in acquiring market knowledge and conditions of choice and preference; I needed new insight to inform the old and influence an outlook of which I knew is increasingly global and diverse by the day.

I identified it in India, working on behalf of a small NGO, the Organisation for Development Action and Maintenance (ODAM). Located in the village of Tiruchuli, in the mostly rural state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, I have decided to dedicate my time to helping Indian-led entrepreneurial ventures and social programs profit the community, its people and land.

Currently, in cooperation with ODAM and American nonprofit, DesignImpact, I have designed and begun to conduct in-person interviews and extensive discussions surrounding cooking and heating habits with local women throughout villages in southern India. Using the ivasive and ample local weed, juliflora—which produces natural, ground charcoal—ODAM has introduced a smokeless, carbon-neutral briquette to Indian communities. The “beehive” briquette, which is modeled after similar models used in rural Nepal, could be produced and sold by local women, generating sustainable income for them and local farming communities. In an environment where wood, petroleum and kerosene represent the most commonly used burning materials, my job is to investigate if a market for such a briquette exists, and to build partnerships for distribution, manufacturing and product extension.

In addition, I provide strategic communications support for a number of other ODAM-led initiatives such as a organic soap production and corporate and government micro-lending programs to build strength for ODAM’s initiatives in a responsible and sustainable manner.

As much as I have here attempted to provide a basic explanation of my work here, I know it may be unclear (I have often been classified a wordy and laborious writer). If you have any questions, or wish to speak with me directly, please email at dedmundson@gmail.com. Also, feel free to peruse my Twitter (@americangrain) or flickr (/sonsofedmund).