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HEARTS TURNED TO THE COMMUNITY
Beyond my passion for creating surface solutions and
adding colour to life, thousands of AkzoNobel employees
worldwide share a big dream: to join hands in building a
better world.

For nearly a decade, AkzoNobel has partnered with SOS
Children’s Villages in numerous social programmes. The
“Let's Colour” initiative aims to reduce youth unemployment
through soft skills education, vocational training and
innovation, and has been successfully implemented in
countries including Argentina, Belgium, China, Brazil,
Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan and Indonesia. Besides job
and entrepreneurship training, the programme focuses
on character and capability development. For example, in
Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, Aceh Province, Indonesia, young
people are trained to make furniture from wood and iron or
learn about constructing nursery structures.

received vibrant, inspiring murals, creating a friendly space
for children to grow and create. Dulux EasyClean Anti-Virus
was used to ensure the projects were more sustainable and
provided a safe, healthy environment for the children. Once
again, a dual goal achieved by AkzoNobel!

Renovating community projects has become a hallmark
of AkzoNobel's social efforts. In Vietnam, repainting
historically significant local lighthouses like Dai Lanh, Vung
Tau and Cu Lao Xanh, has been well-received by local
residents and the young Vietnamese community. The short
film ‘Eyes of the Sea’, integrating the refurbishment of Dai
Lanh Lighthouse into a heartwarming family story, garnered
over 13 million views, linking Dulux Weathershield with the
image of lighthouse guardians in this tropical country. The
message of joining hands to protect lighthouses was also
spread to young Vietnamese. 

YouthCan! Initiative, another SOS Children's Village
activity in which AkzoNobel participates, reaches out to
orphans, providing them with the best language skills
to communicate with the world, opening up new job
opportunities.

In India alone, over 3,500 underprivileged youth have been
trained at AkzoNobel India's Paint Academy, and this number
continues to grow as training activities expand worldwide.

Notably, these community contributions, regardless of
time or place, always receive enthusiastic support from
passionate hearts. I am deeply moved by the images of
Indian AkzoNobel employees painting community halls
and family homes at SOS Children's Village Greenfield in
Faridabad. Similarly, in Indonesia, AkzoNobel employees
joined hands to renovate foster homes and kindergartens
at SOS Children's Village in Jakarta. These foster homes

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