Serial Entrepreneur, Social Entrepreneur and Missionary Passiopreneur

An entrepreneur by heart, Jerry started his first advertising & marketing venture at the age of 17 and pioneered integrated experiential marketing, concept events and movie marketing in India. He then ventured into dotcoms at the age of 25 and created a series of dotcom ventures like emails4u, stardom4u, Love4u, weddings4u, sports4u etc. He then went on to launch a media & entertainment venture at age 28 and hung up his boots in the business sector at age 31 to serve in the not-for-profit sector.

In 2003 he incepted and created iCONGO (International Confederation of NGOs) that launched several social ventures and global movements like The Joy of Giving, Right every Wrong, One Billion Rising, One Billion Hungry, Karmaveer Chakra Awards and other movements in partnership with the UN. Jerry is the creator of events like Sound of the Sea (first event to be held at the Gateway of India) fundraising concert series (1995- 2003), Music for Life (with top Ustads, Pandits and Musicians like John Mclaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Saskia Laroo and others) and fundraising art auctions in India in partnership with Christie's, Sotheby's and Bowring's. Jerry also created 'The Magic Box' idea to raise funds for 'Save the Children' from Jet Airways passengers, which raised over 100 crores INR for children related causes.

Jerry who pioneered the concept of alternative movie marketing and in-movie product placements in India also produced the first Bollywood cause flick in India 'Ek Alag Mausam' to mainstream the issue of people living with HIV Aids and The Joy of Giving Docudrama to mainstream absolutely unseen, unserved and unheard communities from the hinterlands and the back of beyond in India.Jerry also produced the first cause music video titled 'Khushii - The Joy of Giving' to promote 'The Joy of Giving' in 2003, which is a global movement today. He created the first global online auction of '100 things that money cannot buy' to celebrate 100 years of Chivas in 2001. Jerry also created the white ribbon movement in 2002 after the Godhra pogrom to promote peace and secularism and many more such campaigns and movements to create social impact.

Jerry also produced the “Unheard Voices of India” with renowned movie maker Saeed Mirza who made notable global award-winning parallel films such as Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989) and Naseem. Mirza travelled for 6 months from Kashmir to Kanyakumari filming common people and Indian citizens about the positive changes for secularism, social justice [equality, parity, equity, fairness, and win-win equal opportunity for one and all], good governance they would like to see in India.

Learning2Learn – This is a framework created by Jerry to enable people to inherently learn rather than just study to get a percentage or a certificate/degree. Learning2Learn is now recognised by several think-tanks from around the world as the most essential skill of the future along with other essential skills like critical thinking, emotional intelligence, growth mindset, communication skills (especially listening holistically and not just hearing, with the intent to understand), empathy, etc.

moJOsh Inspirator (mI) – This is a self-help Book series with life, leadership and learning2learn lessons, framework that if adopted as a way of life would have huge benefits and advantages for all human beings to understand and unleash their strengths and powers.mI book series includes books like The 9th Habit, moJOsh coaching, moJOsh mentoring, moJOsh power of positive thinking, moJOsh selling, moJOsh productivity, moJOsh leadership, and Weekends with Zoe which is a poignant, profound and philosophical true story of a 16-year-old girl who is dying and appoints Jerry as her life coach 3 months before she departs from our world and leaves back a legacy of powerful and compelling life lessons.

The moJOsh magnificent 7 (Tmm7)- Tmm7 is the first and only one of its kind oratory, storytelling and CULTURETAINMENT experience that has inspired several people, youth and students in corporate events and conferences around the world organised by UN, BNI, Toastmasters, Rotary, Lions, Round Table, WEF, World Affairs Council, Global Mobile & Internet Conferences (GMIC) and Round Square, British Council’s Commonwealth Youth Forum & MUN (Student & Youth event). Based on the premise that ‘in life at some point and many we all break and when we break, we can choose to give up and breakdown or persevere and never give in to breakthrough. That’s the miracle within each and all of us. The choice to breakthrough!’

AnyBody Can Do Entrepreneurship (ABCDE Entrepreneurship festival) – These are huge events across India with the Government of India to inspire our youth to THINK ENTREPRENEURSHIP, especially as there is a scarcity of jobs in a world with failed economies in several countries, where companies are continuously downsizing and firing people. ABCDE is our exclusive Intellectual Property and Jerry's flagship program to inspire students and youth to develop an entrepreneur mindset and become job creators rather than just being job seekers. We have done 2 events in the past before Covid in 2018-19, with the Government of Maharashtra in Bombay and Nagpur for large audiences of over 15,000 and 6000 students.

Jerry also conducts the entrepreneurship mindset workshops for Campus to Corporate trainings for young students who are employed from campus for organisations like IDFC, HDFC, Oil India, ONGC, Hero Motors, BCG, Deloitte, PNB, GAIL, Pepsi, Michelin, HSBC, Walmart, TIAA, ATOS, EMC, Microsoft, Oracle, Seagrams, Diageo, Vanderlande, Syntel, Tata Capital, Britannia, Syngene, Baxter, Security HQ, Capgemini, BMW, Daimler, and several others. ABCDE is the fundamental learning where all students would learn to understand the Entrepreneur mindset and the important skills and tools needed to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.

More details about Jerry inceptions through iCONGO and REX Karmaveer Global Fellowship. iCONGO inherently believes that it is not mindless & arrogant charity, but humble & involved social justice that is wanting in our world. We passionately work with PEOPLE across the globe, for the mission of encouraging social justice through citizen action, with a vision of creating a just, humane, egalitarian, fair and responsible society. Over the past 21 years we have worked with various citizens & multiple stakeholders, to create win-win partnerships by bringing together a wide cross section of concerned citizens from Government, Corporate, Academia, Civil Society, Media, Celebrity, Youth and Student sectors to stand up, speak out and make a difference.

Besides raising funds for small, medium and grassroots NGOs/CBOs for over 2 decades, iCONGO has also led policy/advocacy programs with the UN to promote the Corporate Integrity Index and 2% CSR contributions (with Ministry of Corporate Affairs, EU, CII and Anu Aga as the chief mentor), encourage Volunteering in schools & colleges (with Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs), promote Communal Harmony Education in schools/colleges (with National Foundation for Communal Harmony – Ministry of Home Affairs) and led Electoral Reforms with Dalit Leader Mr. M.C. Raj (in association with the Chief Election Commissioner’s office with 3 CECs Mr. Krishnamurthy, Mr. Lyngdoh and Dr. Quraishi as the mentors).

iCONGO also created and promoted iTEAM- Institutionalized Training Empowerment & Advancement of the Marginalised with USAID support to create industry-based jobs for the blue/grey collar workforce in association with CII, NASSCOM, RAI and other industry partners. The iTEAM initiative which was created to employ the disabled and war wounded, was expanded to create workforces for all industry sectors and later adopted and adapted as Skill India. Jerry has also worked with skilled labour like cab drivers, beauty and make-up specialists, security, housekeeping, facility management professionals and others to train them for entrepreneurial skills (many of these people have their independent practices and businesses today) and other life & soft skills.

In 2009-10 Jerry also worked with farmers in the Vidharba, Dhule and Jalgaon area of Maharashtra in partnership with NABARD, Agriculture Finance Corporation, Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan (BNGVN), LetzDream foundation and iCONGO to create a vision and farming strategy & model called ‘Caring Capital” where farmers were given interest free loans and upskilling for farming and life-skills, in collaboration with the farmers and Nileema Mishra of BNGVN. The farmers returned all the loans within 3-5 years and the ‘Caring Capital’ model co-created by Jerry in alignment and consultation with the Farmers in Vidharba, Dhule and Jalgaon has been replicated in several other places today. Nileema and Jerry were both nominated for the Magsaysay award in 2011 for their Caring Capital model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjkKbd92hg & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L07WTcoP6KQ

iCONGO has also conceptualised, created and promoted ideas for action (which are now global movements) like The Joy of Giving, RIGHT every WRONG, One Billion Hungry (with UN Food program), One Billion Rising (with Eve Ensler, Vagina Monologues and UN Women to advocate for all gender rights), International Year of Volunteering (with UNDP/UNV), Rex Karmaveer Global Fellowship & Karmaveer Chakra awards (instituted with the UN) and Swachh Bharat Mission (since 2003), which was later mandated by PM Modi in 2014.

iCONGO also conceptualised and created THE JOY OF GIVING, the first charity lottery in the UK and FACE TO FACE FUNDRAISING initiatives in and from 2002, which have now become global movements. Our Passion mantra- Together as ONE, we can RIGHT EVERY WRONG.

Over the years, iCONGO has integrally involved several people around the world to support and stand in solidarity with social causes and raised over 25,000 Crores or over 3 Bn USD for non-profits globally. iCONGO are also the inceptors, creators and architects of global movements like Say No to Corruption with the UN & REX Karmaveer Global Youth Fellowship, Rex Karmaveer Education Change Champions Fellowship, moJOsh Inspirator learning2learn system, The moJOsh magnificent 7 (Tmm7) inspirational Oratory experience, and many more inspiring learning initiatives that offer the best life, leadership and learning2learn lessons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RDDIzu0yOE (This video has the iCONGO story by CNBC Young Turks).