Good deeds, great returns dentsu clocks its ninth One Day for Change

MUMBAI: Sometimes, the biggest shifts begin with the smallest switches flipped. At dentsu India, that switch was thrown once again with the ninth edition of One Day for Change (ODfC), the network’s annual volunteering initiative that turns a single day on the calendar into weeks of collective impact.

Built around the idea that everyday choices can ripple outward, this year’s ODfC reflected dentsu’s Sanpo-Yoshi philosophy good for business, good for people, good for society and brought its Business to Business to Society (B2B2S) promise to life in distinctly human ways.

Far from a symbolic exercise, ODfC has become dentsu’s practical proof point that sustainability and social impact are not side projects but part of how the business works. Anchored in the company’s 2030 value creation strategy, the programme feeds real-world learning back into how dentsu designs inclusive, sustainability-led strategies for clients across markets.

For the 2025 edition, dentsu India partnered with Enabling Leadership, a Pragatee Foundation initiative focused on building life and leadership skills among children from underserved communities. Over four weeks, 122 dentsu volunteers worked with 73 students across multiple cities, combining hands-on building-block workshops hosted at dentsu offices with structured online mentoring sessions.

The sessions focused on skills that rarely fit neatly into textbooks communication, digital literacy and financial literacy while also nurturing creativity, adaptability, problem-solving and confidence. For dentsu’s employees, the experience offered something equally valuable: a close-up view of values-led leadership in action, mirroring the same approach the organisation brings to client work.

“One Day for Change reminds us that impact doesn’t always come from grand gestures,” said dentsu CEO for South Asia Harsha Razdan. “It often starts with the intent to do something small, consistently, for someone else. This initiative has grown into a reflection of who we want to be as an organisation responsible, empathetic and present.”

Dentsu president and chief strategy officer for South Asia Narayan Devanathan described ODfC as a working model of the company’s B2B2S philosophy. The value, he noted, lies not in scale but in sincerity, with moments that shape culture internally while sharpening how dentsu guides clients on their own sustainability journeys.

From the partner side, Enabling Leadership CEO Ravi Sonnad highlighted how the collaboration translated abstract ideas into lived experience for students, helping build skills around teamwork, resilience and creative thinking.

Now in its ninth year, One Day for Change continues to underline a simple but persuasive argument: when creativity and sustainability meet consistent action, business outcomes and social progress do not compete, they compound.