When Daichi Konuma was a Hitotsubashi University student, he and his friends used to talk passionately about a future of building a better world. Whether at an investment bank or at a trading company, they had resolved to help small businesses or to focus on projects to reduce poverty.
So when Konuma graduated from college, he went to Syria, enlisting in a program by the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers to help local farmers.
After about two years in the Middle East, Konuma returned to Japan, eager to make a difference in his home country by using his new experience. But when he had drinks together with the same college friends who had previously shared his idealistic outlook, Konuma observed that they had been molded into corporate workers whose passion had been snuffed out.