The Reluctant Hero, Unleashing Heroic Human Potential in others!
Inspirational Orator, storyteller, Author, Trainer, coach, mentor and Missionary PassioPreneur, Jeroninio Almeida, popularly known as Jerry, is a passionate soul always aiming to unleash heroic human potential.
Prior to choosing his vocation as a coach and personal development/ transformation expert, Jerry was a serial entrepreneur having started the first boutique creative advertising agency in India at age 17 in 1987, followed by the first Integrated marketing agency in 1989 and the first movie marketing agency in 1991. In 1996 he launched a dotcom venture and in 1999 he launched a large media & entertainment venture before hanging up his boots in the business sector in 2002 and moving to the non-profit sector to head an International NGO as the youngest CEO at age 31. In 2005 he blew the whistle on wrongs being done by the international aid agencies and therein began his journey as a Serial Missionary PassioPreneur.
As a Missionary PassioPreneur Jerry has launched several movements that have now been adopted globally like The Joy of Giving (2003), RIGHT every WRONG (2004-5), Karmaveer Awards (2004-5), REX- Not Just Talks, Ideas For action (2004-5) One Billion Rising (2013), One Billion Hungry (2006) and Swachh Bharat mission (2009), which has now been adopted as a national movement by PM. Narendra Modi. In 2005 in partnership with USAID, NASSCOM, CII, RAI, FICCI, Jerry also create iTEAM – Institutionalised Training, Empowerment & Advancement of the Marginalized which later became the Skill India Mission. iTEAM first began as a project to get people living with disability jobs in Call Centres, Hotels and retail spaces and was then extended to all youth from unserved and underived communities.
Right from his days as a forprofit entrepreneur, Jerry has always advocated Individual Social Responsibility (ISR – a term he coined which is now used in several forums) and used to give back 25% of profits from his ventures for social causes and he also designed and promoted some landmark fundraising events and annual franchises like Sound of the Sea at Gateway of India, Music for Life and the first online fundraising Auction with the Chivas Foundation and e-Bay in 2001.
Jerry also created a charity fundraising lottery program in UK which raises over 500 million GBP in revenue every year with a 20% margin that is plowed back into social causes. As a social scientist Jerry has implemented several programs like Caring Capital to empower farmers, India4Change to empower the homeless, disabled, sex-workers, people who are HIV positive and people from the LGBTQ community. Many of Jerry’s programs are case studies in several premier institutes around the world.
Over the years Jerry has received nominations for the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award, Eisenhower Fellowship, Yale World Fellowship, UN Volunteer Awards, WEF Social Entrepreneur Award and the Magsaysay award. However, Jerry strictly does not accept awards for 2 reasons, i) He does not like lobbying or sending in details of his work for awards as he feels he is not doing anything great through his work for social reforms and is only doing what he can to create a better world for his own children. ii) Many awards and fellowships are promoted by sponsors, governments, institutions, businesses and organisations that Jerry speaks out against and has blown the whistle on, so he does not want to get co-opted with any ideology that is promoted by vested interests.
In 2010 Jerry began his journey as an author. After the runaway success of his first Karma Kurry book Jerry signed the biggest book-deal in Asia for 120 million INR. He donated 100% of the funds to social causes and unsung heroes. He has also authored the moJOsh Inspirator book series with life, leadership and learning2learn lessons for personal societal transformation. Karma Kurry, a massive bestseller, has sold a few million copies and is now a bestselling book series.
The foreword for his first book was written by Nelson Mandela who said “The Karma Kurry stories have that power to inspire people to rise and act, to make a difference. Dr. APJ Kalam in his letter to Jerry said “ I found your human interest, real hero stories, more powerful than the features in the Chicken Soup series, which are also my favourite books. Jerry, you are India’s answer to Jack Canfield and a Rockstar Storyteller.”
In 2020, Jerry partnered with Bharti Foundation and Network 18 to unveil the Karma Kurry Kidpower book series. A philanthropist by heart, he contributed the royalties for sending children to well-equipped schools. In 2017, Jerry co-authored Mann Ki Baat, with Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, which is also a huge bestseller. Mode, an international business magazine, profiled Jerry in the 10 most influential authors in the world, alongwith Arianna Huffington, Brene Brown, Oprah Winfrey, Neil Gaiman, Khaled Husseini, Malcolm Gladwell, Thich Nhat Hanh.
Currently as a inspirational speaker/ leadership coach has touched the lives of over 7 million people from 75 countries and worked with over 85% of the Fortune 500 businesses, all Maharatna PSEs in India, UN Organizations (like WHO, UN Women, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNODC, UNV, etc.). Many start-ups and ventures like IndiaMart, Ola, Flipkart, InMobi, RateGain, Uber, etc., and some educational institutions have had the honor to receive coaching/mentoring from this global renowned speaker/ coach. Jerry’s rating as a speaker/ mentor is an average of 4.9/5 with 90+ NPS (Net Promotor Score). Jerry is also empaneled as a Leadership Subject Matter Expert with global organisations like Franklin Covey, Manpower Group, DDI and others. Jerry is one of the few Leadership Coaches to be exclusively invited and empaneled by the Indian Armed Forces in 2015.
Now is that not a reluctant Hero? While Jerry selflessly coaches people to empower the hero in every heart, he sure has become the hero of many hearts!
