AkzoNobel to accompany KOTO renovation to give wings to children's dreams

AkzoNobel is accompanying KOTO to renovate its centres, helping to give wings to children's dreams

AkzoNobel, under AkzoNobel Cares, has just announced to support KOTO, the first legally-recognised social enterprise in Vietnam, in renovating its training centres around the country.

Founded in 1999, KOTO (Know One, Teach One) was originally known as a non-profit training school operating in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to give at-risk and disadvantaged youth the opportunity to break the poverty cycle by forging a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities. KOTO’s learning framework includes not only vocational training such as cooking, customer service, and restaurant management skill but also life skills, communication skills, and foreign languages. Up to now, after 21 years, KOTO has been helping and changing the lives of thousands of disadvantaged and at-risk youth in Vietnam.

Accompanying KOTO in this effort, AkzoNobel will support all paints for the repainting project to refresh learning spaces in KOTO centres in both cities.

AkzoNobel will accompany KOTO in renovating its centres for disadvantaged and at-risk children

Pamela Phua, general director of AkzoNobel Paints Vietnam, shared that using colours to create inspiring living spaces is always one of AkzoNobel's top priority in their sustainable development goals. In addition, the company pats huge attention to supporting the education and fostering of young generations.

“We highly evaluate what KOTO has been doing to change the fate of vulnerable teenagers in the last 21 years. This matches our business philosophy to give back to the community so we are delighted to contribute to inspiring and energising KOTO’s trainees in this repainting project,” said Pamela Phua.

Jimmy Pham, KOTO founder, said: “We’re humbled to have the support of AkzoNobel, a partner who cares about the well-being of disadvantaged youths in Vietnam. The Paint with Love initiative, which was generously sponsored by AkzoNobel Vietnam in 2016, has created colourful and positive living and learning spaces for our KOTO trainees. We are forever grateful for the support that AkzoNobel has been giving us over the last 10 years."

This partnership is the latest activity of AkzoNobel under AkzoNobel Cares, a collection of social programmes including Let's Colour, Education Fund, Community Day, and more that shows how AkzoNobel cares all over the world. They aim to help people and their communities and use paints products and expertise to improve people’s lives under the company's motto “delivering shared value”.

In previous years, under this initiative, AkzoNobel supported thousands of litres of premium paints to repainting projects in Vietnam such as Dai Lanh lighthouse (Phu Yen), Vung Tau lighthouse (Ba Ria-Vung Tau), Canh Duong mural village (Quang Binh), Be Island (Ly Son, Quang Ngai), and impoverished schools across the country.