MUMBAI: Media veterans Lynn de Souza (former Lintas Media Group chairman and CEO) and Meenakshi Menon (media audit company Spatial Access founder and chairperson) have joined hands to launch a one of a kind initiative named Social Access – India‘s first a communications firm to focus solely on the social sector.
The core objective of the company is to use strategic communication and creative ideas to re-orient society towards the social sector by building channels among the four key players – NGOs, corporates, government bodies and the society.
De Souza said, “The vision behind Social Access is to use the power of communications to help ideas travel across cultures, consumers and corporates to build a more equitable society with informed and involved participation from all constituents.”
Menon added, “Through our core values of equality, responsibility, sustainability and collaboration, Social Access aims to become the bridge between the corporate and the social sector. Monitoring and impact assessment will be a critical component of our offering”.
The launch of Social Access took place Radio Club in Mumbai on 11 April through an event themed ‘Bee the Change‘ and saw participation from the stakeholders of the company.
The event had international achievers seeking to inspire audiences with real action. These included Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy, the first Indian to circumnavigate the oceans solo, nonstop and unassisted, Mark Inglis, the only double amputee in the world to scale Mount Everest who is also Para Olympic silver medallist in cycling and cancer and avalanche survivor Sarah Wilson. The three spoke about overcoming their limitations and ways to battle their fear.
The event was attended by over 300 guests including 50 children who participated in the demonstration, NGO representatives, corporate head honchos and media.
Social Access‘ launch event found quite a few supporters like Aquasail (sailboats), Radio Mirchi (venue and radio campaign), Mercury Integrated (alliances), Sound Corporate Communications (PR and media relations) Catalyst (event management), Foxymoron (digital communications) and National Geographic Traveller (clothing).
De Souza was the face of LMG till she quit the organisation in November 2012. She had a successful run at Lintas having served in various capacities and roles while at the group. The office will be based out of Khar and currently Social Access has a team of five people, with more likely to join in the near future.
