“Open The Window And You'll See A Cause. There Are Enough Things To Do — If You Want To”: Ramesh Narayan

In an industry that has long mastered the art of positioning products, services and people, Ramesh Narayan, Founder of Canco Advertising, believes that people need to better position themselves. His recent recognition with the AFAA Changemakers for Good Award celebrates more than a body of work. For Narayan, this award resonates deeply because it acknowledges the MarCom industry’s particularly immense potential to become a catalyst for societal good. 

It’s a shift he has championed for decades — leading major industry bodies like the IAA, AAAI and The Ad Club, pioneering the Olive Crown Awards for sustainability, and bringing together creative minds, media networks, and industry resources to serve causes that matter, none of whom ever asked him for a rupee in return.

“For me, it’s simple,” he says. “I open the window and I see a cause. There are enough things to do — if you want to.”

“One of the most heartbreaking sights for me is to watch women walking two kilometres with three or four pots on their heads,” says Narayan. “They walk down with empty pots, fill them, and trudge back — too exhausted to even speak — and still have a whole day’s work ahead.” The Vaitarna river, where Mumbai gets the majority of its water supply, makes its way through the Sahyadris. And the tribal villages atop the mountains don’t have direct access to the water.  

That image inspired the Integrated Village Development (IVD) Scheme, introduced through the Rotary Club of Bombay five years ago. Rejecting tokenism, Narayan designed a model focused on long-term, community-led change. Solar pumps draw water from rivers, ensuring year-round irrigation and household supply. Villagers contributed shramdaan — voluntary labour — to lay the pipelines, creating ownership and pride. Each home receives a water connection and filter, while solar-powered roads and schools extend the benefits to safety and education.

Through the initiative, they also addressed urban migration. After the monsoon, many villagemen are forced to leave their homes in search of employment. Through planned agriculture, rotational farming and the water supply, that whole concept was mitigated. In just four years, the IVD Scheme has transformed 43 villages, impacting over 14,000 people. “The goal is to show them that they can live completely self-reliant and with dignity.”

Inspired by India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan, Narayan launched Bhavishya Yaan — “Mission to the Future” — sixteen years ago. The idea was sparked by a grim statistic: over 60% of municipal school students dropped out by Class 8. “After that, they’re on the streets,” he says. “As for the girls, they’re asked to get married.”

At the time, India’s retail boom was creating new opportunities. If these children learned basic skills like spoken English and computer literacy, they could find jobs in stores and malls. Despite early skepticism — “People asked, is it scalable? Have you done this before?” — Narayan persisted. HR College designed the English curriculum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shared computer modules, and the BMC offered classrooms free of charge.

Today, Bhavishya Yaan runs in six municipal schools and has empowered over 5,000 students. “We thought we were teaching them computers and English,” he says. “We didn’t realise we were teaching them how to dream.” One alumnus, now a pilot at IndiGo, once told him, “You said this course would be the wind under my wings — I didn’t understand it then, but I understand it now.”

Ananda Yaan — a mission to happiness — was born out of an observation — in the afternoons, the roads are full of elderly people sitting around doing nothing. Narayan explains the phenomenon: in Mumbai’s old mill districts, workers would live in chawls nearby. When mills shut down, the chawls turned into SRA buildings. Today, each home houses about three generations of a family under one roof. And once the grandparents are finished with their duties of taking the children to school and giving them their lunch, they’re at a loose end. 

To change that, Narayan, along with the Dignity Foundation, launched Ananda Yaan, an elder day-care initiative offering community, conversation and care. From yoga and antakshari to birthday celebrations and movie outings, the program helps them reclaim joy and dignity in their old age. What began with one centre in Byculla now thrives across three locations, five days a week — each alive with laughter, music, and even Zumba sessions. “You should watch them groove!” 

The initiative’s spirit — Ananda Seva, happiness through service — has inspired many to sponsor celebrations and conduct classes for the elders. “It’s contagious,” he says. “When you give happiness, you receive it too.”

The Lighthouse Project began in Machimar Nagar, a modest fishing community surrounded by some of Mumbai’s most elite schools — Campion, Fort Convent, St. Anne’s. When the Right to Education Act reserved 10% of seats for underprivileged children, a few from the community finally gained entry. But joy soon turned to distress. “The kids were crying every day,” notes Narayan. It wasn’t a problem of class or status but of language. “While the rest of the class thought in English, these kids thought in Koli — a dialect of Marathi. And if you cannot communicate, you get isolated.” 

The Lighthouse Project was designed to teach spoken English in joyful, creative ways through music, acting and play. What started eight years ago with 38 children has grown to over 140, giving kids the confidence not just to attend school, but to belong there.

To those who say good work can’t be done — that it’s too expensive or too difficult — Narayan has one answer: “Think again.”

“I have personally planted a 900-tree forest right here in Cuffe Parade,” he says. “Everyone mocked me, saying, ‘On the real estate of Cuffe Parade, you’ll plant a forest?’ But it’s there for you to walk through today — alive with birds, bees, and oxygen.” Along with the IMC, he has planted another 2,500 trees at Raj Bhavan.

What makes these efforts remarkable is that he has never done them alone. The advertising fraternity has always stood by him. “People in the industry never say no to me,” he says with humility. “The best creative minds give their time, media houses offer space, and no one has ever asked me for a single rupee.”

It’s this blend of idealism and initiative that defines Ramesh Narayan — the incurable optimist who refuses to see obstacles as endings. For him, every campaign, every award, every sapling planted is proof that belief, when nurtured, becomes change. 

Published on: Monday, November 17, 2025, 12:54 AM IST