the founder-director of Ideaworks Design & Strategy Pvt. Ltd. – India’s only communication design that specializes in place-branding and public diplomacy projects
Exploring Design for Tribal Communities
Sudhir John Horo is the Founder Director of Ideaworks Design & Strategy Pvt. Ltd. – India’s only communication design that specializes in place-branding and public diplomacy projects. Horo is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India with a specialisation in Graphic Design. He has worked in the communication design industry for the past 13 years in print, online, exhibition, multimedia and advertising for brands like The World Bank, Discovery Communications, Thomas Cook Publishing, Evalueserve, LG Electronics and Siemens Mobile.
In 2006, Horo co-founded theIdeaWorks, and since then, they have worked with various national and regional governments on nation-branding and public diplomacy communication; most notable of which is the UK Creating Tomorrow campaign – a Public Diplomacy Initiative of the British High Commission in India, in 2006 and Bonjour India – a multicity initiative of the Embassy of France in India, in 2011.
He has been associated with the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), (a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry that aims to effectively present the India business perspective and leverage business partnerships in a globalizing market-place) since its formative years. Horo has been instrumental in developing communication for India’s business brand, launched at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos, followed by other high-profile events like Hannover Messe 2006, India Business Exhibition in the European Parliament, Brussels, 2006 and IncredibleIndia@60 in New York, 2007. He has also worked for Incredible India, the tourism brand of India, having designed and executed its print and outdoor campaign in Singapore against the backdrop of the Singtel Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2008.
In 2011, as part of a privately initiated Brand India promotion programme, Horo initiated a discussion platform called InDialogues, which has brought India and world’s leading domain experts – designers, photographers, business leaders, social entrepreneurs, academicians, policymakers and government officials together to discuss India-centric issues. The platform serves as a venue to facilitate interactions between young students and the domain experts.
In 2011, Horo conceptualized INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future – a unique initiative that looks to engage the youth and young professionals in India and Africa through contests, fellowships, mentorships, collaborative projects, events and cultural exchanges. The programme is currently being supported by the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and is into the third edition. Till now, the programme has been able to reach out to the youth in over 30+ countries in Africa and has managed to garner a reach of over 45 million on the social media network. The programme can be followed at www.indiafrica.in.
Horo keenly follows public diplomacy, place-branding, social innovation and entrepreneurship, cultural and creative industry entrepreneurship and social development through design.
