Prayasam Appoints Tim Forrest to their Executive Committee

KOLKATTA, India - Dec. 17, 2015 - PRLog -- Calcutta, India (Kolkata)

Prayasam Salt Lake City, which operates a NGO childrens welfare organization in Calcutta, India, named Tim Forrest to their executive committee Thursday. Prayasam reaches out to more than a million children in the slums of Kolkata, India.

Tim Forrest has been assisting the organization in creating a food catering vocational training program for the group. Tim shared enthusiasm over the opportunity to further assist the organization, “I look forward to further success and growth of the Prayasam mission in Kolkata. Also, in the coming year we look forward to expanding our internship outreach into American college programs.”

Tim Forrest is CEO and Senior Advisor at his consumer product consulting firm Tim Forrest Consulting.  He works with entrepreneurs, food startups and  the largest brands in the world assisting with growth initiatives.

About Prayasam:

Prayasam is helping children in slum areas of Calcutta, India in West Bengal to lead their communities in improving health, sanitation, and hygiene. The children call themselves “area health minders.”

The vision of a couple of committed individuals germinated in the slums of Kolkata in 1996 and led to the creation of Prayasam, an organization which today reaches out to a million children. With 18 years of experience working with children from both mainstream and marginalized communities, Prayasam established itself as a regional expert in child rights, particularly the right to participation.  Their work stems from the conviction that children possess the potential to transform their local communities by assuming the role of change agents. Through interactive workshops and trainings they are mobilizing group formation with children in diverse, neglected pockets of West Bengal, ranging from slums in the heart of Kolkata to peripheral brick kilns in the city’s outskirts.

Prayasam’s innovative work in child participation won its founder, Amlan Kusum Ganguly, the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in 2006. More recently, Amlan was invited to present his concept at the Global Summit on Urban Population Health by the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy for his innovative solutions to urban health problems in slum areas. Amlan was also selected as a public health leader to be profiled in Revolutionary Optimists, a documentary film headed by Stanford University’s Center for Biomedical Ethics, Program in Bioethics and Film.  Revolutionary Optimists was just not movie – it was a story, an inspiration and a wakeup call for many. The filmmakers, Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen had incredible insight regarding the change this documentary could harbour even before they began putting Prayasam’s story on celluloid.

UNICEF, which parented the birth of Prayasam, continued its support together with several prominent citizens of the city along with other organizations.

About Tim Forrest

Tim Forrest is a consumer product brand and distribution expert with over 30 years of experience transforming businesses through marketing and sales innovation.

With a highly successful career based on win-win relationships, Tim Forrest connects clients with opportunity and growth. Tim launched Keebler Cookies into Saudia Arabia almost two decades ago building considerable international success. His 2 years of innovative marketing, 100's of millions in sales, distribution, and international consulting experience have made him nothing short of an institution. He knows the North American Consumer Products industry like no one else and is a master at helping companies create and extend their success in this complex environment.

Building markets for Nestle, Unilever, the famous Mr. Wally Amos, or smaller food entrepreneurs; Tim powers growth and his clients agree sharing insight into how Tim's creativity doubled their sales volumes, developed 'sell out' consumer programs, and catapulted them into international markets, along with leading a record 20 vendors into the club channel, 10 items onto QVC Television, introducing food companies to Disney and Walmart, and he just recently pioneered one of the world's largest Organic product launches. When not traveling for work, Tim lives on an island with his family including triplet 14-year-olds and enjoys activities with them and seascape photography.

www.timforrest.com