LAHORE: NIPSEA Group, known throughout Asia as Nippon Paint, announces the establishment of the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (‘GSD’). The fund will provide financial aid to GSD students from Asian countries, helping to attract, enrol, and support talented design scholars from the region as they work to become leaders in transforming the social and built environment.
“We are humbled to be able to have the opportunity to partner with Harvard University Graduate School of Design to invest into the future generation of design students through the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship. Nothing can be more rewarding than to be a small part of creating an impact or making a change in the lives of Asian students and returning home bringing with them a better future for themselves and their country”, said NIPSEA Group CEO Wee Siew Kim.
Nippon Paint’s gift of $300,000 to establish the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund includes $50,000 for immediate use to benefit students at the GSD. The remainder of the gift is invested in the Harvard University endowment, leveraging these dollars for future support. As part of the Grounded Visionaries campaign, the GSD has increased the number of student fellowships by over 50 per cent, and there are now 24 endowed funds expanding opportunities for talented design students.
The Harvard GSD partnership brings with it an additional program for the Regional Winners of AYDA – rewarding both from the Architecture and Interior Design categories, a 6 weeks all-expense paid for Design Discovery program where the winners will have the privilege to learn and experience intensive studio work, lectures, workshops and field trips. Deeply immersed in a culture that is both challenging and rewarding, learning what education and work are like in design and planning professions emerging with a more profound understanding of the possibilities and the choices that lay before them.
The Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund represents Nippon Paint’s next step in investing in these young design leaders. This is in line with its company’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of talented designers, reflected in its Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA). Launched in 2008, the event has become one of Asia’s premier design awards, serving as a platform to inspire architecture and interior design students to develop their skills and to network with key industry players and peers in the region.
NIPSEA Group’s Inclusive Business strategy embraces the holistic approach by bridging the gap between education and poverty that essentially create the next generation of thinkers, innovators and game changers in their lives, families, communities and country. This gift is a continuation of the company’s strategy to extend its reach through GSD’s global presence in countries where they are present in providing designs students an opportunity to quality education and optimize the opportunity to build an inclusive economy that allows everyone to thrive.
“An experience of a lifetime with the Harvard GSD’s Design Discovery is worth much more than any cash prize can offer. Nurturing students is the most rewarding experience to see the renewed confidence and we are truly inspired by the young talents whose designs ideas and contributions will bring positive change to their own communities. We could not ask for more but privileged to have been part of their journey of change for a better future”, said NIPSEA Group Director of Corporate Affairs Teri Choong.
NIPSEA Group and its principal company Nippon Paint Holding Japan, has led the way in changing the landscape of the paint and coatings industry solidifying its position as Asia’s No. 1 Coating Solutions company. With more than 76 NIPSEA companies spread throughout Asia, it understands the local needs of its customers in every community. Each company embraces diversity and operates together with a strong Pan-Asia presence. Headquartered in Singapore, NIPSEA Group has more than 21,000 employees with more than 61 manufacturing facilities and operations in 16 countries. Gennosuke Obata, known as Nippon Paint’s “second founding father,” became the Nippon Paint Japan’s fourth president in 1924.
