Jimmy Pham

Founder of KOTO (Know One, Teach One)

"Everyday, these kids say hello and smile at me, thanking me for giving them a future. I think that is definitely worth working for."

Jimmy Pham was born in 1972 in Vietnam but his family migrated to Australia when he was a child. In 1996, having the opportunity to visit Vietnam for the first time, Jimmy saw how young children were living on the streets of Saigon. He found them a place to clean up and fed them. When asked what they needed, their answer was that they needed skills in order to find stable jobs. At that moment, Jimmy set a long-term goal of returning to Vietnam to help change the lives of underprivileged youth.

Three years later, Jimmy's restaurant KOTO (short for Know One, Teach One - implying that knowledge needs to be shared) opened in Hanoi, starting out as a small sandwich shop with a team of nine young people living in disadvantaged circumstances. Gradually, KOTO became a pioneering social enterprise that created great impacts in Vietnam by providing holistic employment support for youth in difficulty. They are admitted to the vocational training course, that includes practice at KOTO restaurant, as well as an official vocational certificate from the Box Hill Institute (Australia). They receive access to job opportunities in major hotels and restaurants in Vietnam, in addition to a chance for a scholarship to Australia.

After over 20 years in operation, the number of young people receiving training at KOTO has reached 1,500. Notably, 100% of KOTO trainees secure a job, of which 33% are in managerial roles, and 78% contribute financially to their families. Around 20 people have been able to study abroad in Australia under the scholarship program that KOTO created with its partners.

With his outstanding contributions, Jimmy Pham has been given numerous prestigious accolades, such as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011 and Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2013. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham), actively assisting trade connections between the two countries.

Australian companions have always been by KOTO's side from its first days of establishment. Jimmy said about this connection: "When I opened KOTO in 1999, the then Australian ambassador was KOTO's very first customer. Over the years, we have welcomed many diplomats at KOTO, and we have also been working with Australia for more than seven years in the development project Her Turn (*) that offers economic empowerment to women."

For Jimmy Pham, his cultural background is one of the things he is most proud of. "I was born Vietnamese, I am an Australian citizen". Jimmy is also proud that KOTO is taking the lead in training and providing human resources for 5-star hotels in Vietnam. He takes pride in his role as a driver of change, inspiring the young generation with the motto of investing in and effectively creating impacts through developing beneficial, socially meaningful products and services.

In September 2023 there was further good news for KOTO with the groundbreaking ceremony for its Vocational Training Centre in Bac Ninh Province. The facility receives funding from the Kind Heart Foundation (Quỹ Thiện Tâm) of Vingroup following their decade-long partnership. The new KOTO centre will double its training scale to 300 trainees, compared to the current 150.

(*) Her Turn is a hospitality and entrepreneurship skills development project aiming to transform the lives of young rural and ethnic minority women in Vietnam with support from the Australian government.