ABOUT RK
Ram Kamal is a renowned mass communication professional and internationally acclaimed journalist with a strong focus on social engineering. He has worked with leading English newspapers and global news agencies as both a journalist and photojournalist. In the 1980s, he gained recognition for his branding and advertising films for major Indian brands, including Kerala Tourism and several prominent textile and consumer brands. Later in the decade, he transitioned into journalism, covering major global events such as the Gulf War and international sporting events for Reuters, Associated Press, SIPA Press, and leading Middle Eastern English dailies.
As news trends shifted views from reporting to opinion-based journalism in the mid-1990s, he refocused on branding and mass communication, contributing to the development of major international brands such as Arabian Adventures, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Dubai Shopping Festival, Harley Davidson, Toyota, GMC, and Mahindra & Mahindra, Hilton, Accor, Sheraton, Pizza Hut, Ponderosa, TcBY, Zao KPP etc.
His involvement in sports branding began with the Qatar International Desert Marathon, attracting celebrity endorsements from Hollywood legend Patrick Swayze, TV heart throb Ms. Katherine Kelly Lang, and Duchess Sarah Ferguson, with media coverage from major international outlets. By the early 2000s, he expanded into larger sporting brands like Nike and worked as a branding and event consultant for FIFA, the Olympics, the Asian Games, and the Commonwealth Games. He also contributed to branding, marketing, and event design for PGT, ATP, ITU, and other international sporting events.
In 2010, while consulting on AVIVA’s You Are the Big Picture campaign—an initiative that helped provide homes and education for 20,000 street children in India—he witnessed the severe challenges faced by children with special needs. Moved by their plight, he dedicated his life to improving equitable education and skill development for children with disabilities. Collaborating with major technology firms, startups, and IITs, he focused on digital accessibility solutions, Inclusive STEM to break learning barriers for children with learning differences and worked on major policy changes in Inclusive education and amendments of Indian and International Copyright laws with his friends and associates.
Alongside legendary energy scientist Prof. V.K. Damodaran and globally renowned economist Dr. Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi of UNIDO, and under the guidance of Dr. T.V. Raman of Google, Ram Kamal co-founded Chakshumathi (Intuitive Mind), an assistive technology research center. Today, Chakshumathi supports students with special needs in 13 countries and 22 Indian states through a vast network of engineering student volunteers from IEEE. The organization collaborates with Google and Microsoft to make popular reading, writing, and learning tools accessible. Rather than operating as a conventional charity with large offices and overhead costs, Chakshumathi innovated a cloud-based, volunteer-driven model, enabling thousands of trained individuals worldwide to sustain its mission at no cost or funding.
Ram Kamal also pioneered a Digitally Accessible Pedagogy, enabling children with special needs to access quality education and mainstream learning. Recently, alongside Dr. T.V. Raman, he launched Ram Parivar – Champions by Design, a movement empowering children with special needs to become future changemakers and leaders.