Dear John,
By the time you read these lines, I’ll be gone...


No, it is not that kind of a note. It is my current reality: As we speak, I am preparing my volunteering deployment to Mumbai, India, as part of the IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) in September.

And by the time the above article gets published, I am in Mumbai and Ladakh, trying to make a difference.

India huh?

When I first found out I got selected there was a moment of complete and utter excitement, immediately followed by a more down-to-earth “Oh boy! How on earth am I supposed to combine this with my regular day job?”

Things to worry about later. First things first.

India. Land of rich colors and spices, Apu from the Simpsons’ Kwik-E-Mart, a former colleague named Harvinder, fragrant curries, a country where the company “Cable & Wireless” surely doesn’t have a subsidiary, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, Bollywood, yoga,…

To my shame, I quickly came to realize my list was merely a big pile of prejudices and commonplaces or some vague recollection of colorful documentaries.

This however soon changed when our team calls started at the beginning of June and reality kicked in. Don’t be mistaken: The program is not some leisurely trip to a far away country.

It is all about making a difference.

IBM wants to build global IBMers and instead of merely donating money to projects or organizations, IBM ‘donates’ its most precious asset: IBMers. IBMers and their skills, enthusiasm and experience.

Another motivation for establishing the CSC is the need for IBM’s current and future leaders to understand how differences in culture affect business. Our company is increasingly globally integrated, changing the way work gets done, and the way we engage with clients.

So, “CSCers” lead the way. In our team, there’s 10 of us from 8 different countries that will be deployed to Mumbai, working on 5 different projects.

The project that I recently got assigned to based on my background, skills,and experience is: berries.

Berries?? Exactly my reaction when I first found out about it. Not sure where they found a logical fit between the berries and yours truly but it seems to be serious business. Title of my scope of work: ‘The development of a sustainable business model and multi-channel marketing plan for Seabuckthorn.’

The almighty interwebs taught me that Seabuckthorn is a shrub, growing in the Himalayas, bearing a type of small orange berry, filled with vitamin C. It’s a fruit grown wild in Ladhak (Himalaya region, North-West India). Goal is to create sustainable livelihoods for a large number of Ladhaki families living in harsh, climate-prone conditions and to create an alternative revenue stream to tourism which is threatening the region’s fragile ecosystem.

So, from not on every moment of spare time will be consumed by research papers on the still to be determined medicinal value of Seabuckthorn, its currently known benefits; its juice, potent in vitamin C, its roots, used for areas suffering from erosion, its thorns used as a natural form of barbwire. But knowing our little berry friend is one thing, it is another to implement business model innovation, identifying value chain interdependencies and from there on, creating a sustainable organizational design while evaluating possibilities for a viable export plan (Kwik-E-Marts of the world here comes ‘the berry’).

Now that I am slowly starting to understand the breadth, depth and full background of this project it struck me again: This is why I entered. I get a chance at making a difference.

And who knows…The berry and I will soon act as extras in a Bollywood movie. Be on the lookout.

To be continued

Sandra Grieden

Marketing, Communications and Citizenship Manager IBM Belgium/Luxembourg