Havas India Finishes An Internship Built Around Access
Havas India has completed Spark 5.0, the edition of its internship programme built around access for persons with disabilities.
- Programme: Spark, fifth edition, Havas India
- Focus: widening access for persons with disabilities
- Cohort: talent with invisible disabilities, neurodivergence and medical conditions
- Duration: three months of live projects
- Teams: digital, production, content, copywriting and media
What Spark 5.0 Deliberately Did Not Change
The standards. Havas India states the edition held the same professional expectations, the same learning opportunities and the same assessment as previous cohorts, with the adjustments made to onboarding, check-ins and workplace accommodations instead.
That distinction is the whole programme. An internship that lowers the bar produces goodwill and no hires. One that changes the route while keeping the bar produces people the agency can actually keep, which is the only version that changes anything.
Why Havas India Rejected A One-Size Approach
Vandana Tilwani, CHRO at Havas India, was direct about it, saying inclusion does not mean treating everyone identically, that no two experiences of disability are the same, and that a single approach would not have worked. The programme was built around each intern's strengths, aspirations and support requirements while keeping the rigour consistent.
Tilwani also named what the agency took from it: that inclusion in practice requires thoughtful design, responsive managers and the flexibility to meet people where they are, and that the responsibility now is carrying those lessons into how talent is attracted, developed and retained generally.
The Argument For The Industry
Rana Barua, Group CEO for Havas India, Southeast Asia and North Asia, put the case in terms of output rather than optics: advertising and media shape how communities are seen, so representing society with understanding requires a wider range of lived experience inside the teams making the work.
Barua's framing of the gap is the useful part. Persons with disabilities remain underrepresented not for want of talent but because access to the industry is limited, and the programme is offered as a route rather than a gesture. The edition has given the agency confidence to expand it.
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