You’re kidding, aren’t you?” is the incredulous response of Amit Chandra, MD of Bain Capital Advisors, to an innocuous question put to him. Have you walked down a ramp before? However, Chandra’s lack of credulity is only partly valid. For, come October 1, Chandra will don designer finery and sashay down a ramp at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai. And he won’t be the only business leader doing that. Forty other Indian executives, men and women, will follow suit. It’s not a sudden burst of sartorial vanity that’s inspiring these business leaders to walk down an elevated platform. Neither are men like Chandra or Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) CEO Nitin Paranjpe looking for an alternate career in the fashion industry.

“The show is part of the Joy of Giving Week being celebrated across India from September 27 to October 3,” explains Madhabi Puri-Buch, MD & CEO of ICICI Securities and founder of Toofles.com, the not-for-profit organisation that’s organising the show. “The ‘Style for Smiles’ show is a place where corporate India is making a statement of commitment to the social sector. I am happy to be a part of this initiative,” says former ICICI Chairman Narayanan Vaghul.

Toofles will distribute the funds raised to select NGOs. From fashion shows to corporate collection drives, Toofles—whose name is derived from the Hindi word tohfa (gift)—raises funds through many means, and gives it to NGOs.

The Joy of Giving is a nationwide campaign conceptualised by the NGO GiveIndia. It hopes to get people from all walks of life in the act of giving, be it time, money or other resources. “I thought that the fashion show was a great way of getting corporate India involved in it (the week),” adds Buch, beaming an incandascent smile.

Spread The Wealth

Buch hopes Toofles will put similar smiles on the faces of the underprivileged. In fact, a smile is something the 43-year-old Buch puts a premium on. One of her idols is Walt Disney. “For $100 spent on Disneyland, he put smiles on the faces of thousands of kids across the world,” says Buch.

Come October 1, about 40 Indian CEOs, men and women, will don designer finery and sashay down a ramp in Mumbai for Toofles.

The fashion show is an annual event that Toofles hopes to conduct. What Toofles does on a regular basis is conduct collection camps in companies (like Mahindra and Mahindra), colleges (Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research) and even housing societies for second-hand goods. “The premise I started off with was that it must be easy to ask from people, it must be easy for people to give. Used goods falls in that category,” says Buch. “If I were to ask you for a monetary donation once, you might give it willingly. But if I come to you again and again, you may have problems. Paisa haath se chootha nahin hai,” she explains.

Toofles doesn’t have an open window for contributions. It collects goods through the drives it runs at select locations. The goods collected are sold through several channels. Furniture is sold to seconds traders in Chor Bazaar or Muhammad Ali Road in Mumbai. The other items are sold in lots to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ground-level workers like sweepers and scavengers at discounted prices. They, in turn, sell the goods like a used pair of Levi’s jeans, for less than Rs 100.

The money collected is then given out to various NGOs. Organisations can choose the causes they want to donate to. To ensure the money reaches deserving NGOs, Toofles gives funds only to organisations that have been audited by GiveIndia. That’s a potential list of 200-plus NGOs, including organisations like the National Association for Blind, for which Toofles raises funds. “Toofles doesn’t compete with any NGO. We raise money for them...Toofles is just a channel,” explains Buch, who registered the organisation a year ago.

Her passion for social change is far older. After passing out from IIM Ahmedabad in 1988, Buch deferred her placement by a year and opted to work for an NGO, Pradhan, for a year instead. “I enjoyed the mainstream too much though,” she recalls. She plunged backed into a corporate career in 1989. The trigger to kick-start Toofles though came from her husband. “My son turned 18 and was moving to a hostel. I am an empty nester. My husband was worried that I would start obsessing about work, which would be bad for me, the company and my lifestyle as such,” says Buch.

Help On Its Way

True to her ICICI grooming, Buch now has a 10-year plan, including fundraising targets, for Toofles. Buch talks about the cost of a cataract operation with the same ease as coal tie-ups of the power companies whose IPOs ICICI Securities is overseeing. “Rs 1,500 is the magic figure,” says Buch. “That’s the cost of a cataract operation in a small hospital. That’s the price at which an 8-year-old child can get callipers to walk instead of crawling.”

Presently, Toofles operates with three people, including Buch. They organise collection campaigns and networks with NGOs. Buch says that the response of people willing to help out a good cause has overwhelmed her. Be it fashion designers like Wendell Rodricks, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Arjun Khanna, Narendra Kumar, or venues like the Taj Mahal hotel that allowed the use of its ballroom for free, or sponsors for the event like Tag Heuer, support has been beyond words.

“Most CEOs also readily agreed. Some were a bit shy. I spoke to their wives and they took care of it,” says Buch. HUL’s Paranjpe was not among those who needed much convincing. “When I heard about the idea behind the show, I was more than willing,” says the debutant ramp-walker. Paranjpe says he’s not worried about walking down the aisle. Bain CEO Chandra isn’t so sure. “Given how distant I am from being ‘model variety’, I’m sure I will have butterflies in my stomach closer to D-day. At worst, the audience will have a good laugh at my lack of style and fashion sense...but anything for a good cause,” sums up Chandra.