“People make an Organization”

I do get inspired by a story or an individual but not often end up utterly speechless. Only Nature does that to me- many a times. Ever since I joined IM-SOIR as one of its staff, exploring myself and my work through meeting people, unraveling new stories, getting new ideas/ways of doing my work has been one of the “IT” thing. The journey hasn’t been a smooth one; nevertheless it helped me grow as a person.There were lots of stuff that had me looking for resolutions and consequently overwhelmed me. There were many a times I have been discouraged by many factors in the course of carrying out my duty. I was taught to be patient but later realized I was only sulking. Doesn’t happen anymore though!

It did take some time for me to understand that Life is all about choosing an option. Even if that may not be easy or the optimum. The word “Fact” has many facets and each one has their own definition of “Fact” according to their own principles and perspective in life. One thing that never cease to amaze me is the Human behavioral pattern! I like to be inquisitive of the things around me. But it’s more about the mind and content of the subject that intrigue and at times baffles me.


I have met many good people during my 30 years of journey. It was when I met Mr. Dawa Tsering and actually spent some time with him that I realized his strong will to empower Tibetan society and especially those who are unemployed. I do not hold him in awe as a politician. But his conscientiousness behind the production of these beautiful and shining beads is something to marvel at. He knows that it’s people who make an Organization a success or a failure because he takes time to understand how well they are treated. And he is one of the reasons and inspirations for putting my thoughts into words.

As a Pioneer:
Mr Dawa pioneered an organization called Tibetan Unemployed Association for the unemployed youths from Tibet settled in Dharamsala. The main objective was and still is to form it as a wing for those unemployed to access job opportunities in Dharamsala.



Tara Beads was founded in the year 2005 by Mr. Dawa Tsering with the help from a Danish Couple. In the beginning, about 30-40 unemployed from the Tibetan Unemployed Association were trained for the bead making but only 12 were selected based ultimately on their skill and performance. However, the trading part of the bead production gradually happened- which now is running smoothly with majority of its export to the Danish Couple.
Mrs. Jampa Chodon (Mr. Dawa’s spouse) is currently the Manager of the unit. Under her, there are 16 artisans including 2 men and 14 women at present. Mr Dawa remains the Founder Director of Tara beads.

As an entrepreneur
I gathered after meeting with Mr. Dawa that he treats his artisans as a part of his family-taking care of them, listens and give importance to their suggestions, gives them chance to develop themselves through working on new designs, share information about savings and investments, share the profits of the organization, provides training with stipend, pays bonus, conduct language classes for the artisans, allows them to make decision for the Organization etc. I don’t know many entreprenuers but I don’t think
any one will match up to his level of understanding about his work and responsibility toward his artisans the way he does.

From my life’s experience, I have concluded one thing: Experience and age does not always make people wiser; it’s their perspective toward life and their upbringing that makes them a better person for giving other people an opportunity to grow and making this world a better place for others.

I just received one message from Yangzom (one of my colleagues) that makes for an apt conclusion: “A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them”.

Tsering Youdon
Fair Trade Coordinator