“KIBOW Social Investment Fund No. 2” operated by the general foundation KIBOW (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan, CEO: Yoshito Hori) invested 50 million yen in vKirirom Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, CEO: Takeshi Izuka), which is involved in school urban development focusing on university management and tourism business in Cambodia on October 18, 2019. This is KIBOW’s seventh investment and is the first overseas investment project.
In the complex business “vKirirom Nature”, vKirirom develops an academic city for growing companies seeking excellent human resources and young people in Asia who are aiming to play an active role in the world. This academic city will be a base for human resource development in Cambodia, a country growing 7% in recent years. The main project, Kirirom Institute of Technology, opened in 2014. With the benefit-type scholarship, the tuition fee is virtually free, and we are working to develop global human resources based on learning the latest IT technology in English. In Kirirom, which is also known as a summer resort, we are developing a tourism business based on the concept of ecotourism. It offers resort accommodation and tourism activities on 8,921 hectares of land.
vKirirom Nature produced the first graduates of Kirirom Institute of Technology in September 2018. Alumni Cambodians are employed by several Japanese companies. If you get a job at a Japanese company, the annual income of graduates will be eight times the average annual income of university graduates in Cambodia. In addition, about 20 Japanese students joined KIT, and while studying in Cambodia, they receive practical education such as planning and developing new businesses with client companies. In the tourism business, 13,000 people stayed in 2017 and received the “Ecotourism Award” from the Cambodian government. The KIBOW Social Investment Fund decided to invest in vKirirom Pte. Ltd due to the fact that it is creating a social impact by providing free higher education opportunities for young people in Cambodia through the development of an academic city centered on Kirirom Institute of Technology, and contributing to raising the income of students after graduation.
◆About KIBOW （http://kibowproject.jp）
The reconstruction support project “Project KIBOW”, which started three days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, was named after “hope” and “Rainbow”. With the desire to support the affected areas over the long term, we became a general incorporated foundation in February 2012 and are developing activities centered on the following three.
１）Provide “Place” (Event)
We are creating “places” where people who wish for regional reconstruction gather in various parts of the disaster area. Leaders from inside and outside the region get together and hold regular events to create exchanges.
２）Donation
We have provided approximately 100 million yen (as of August 2015), which we have collected with the cooperation of more than 1,400 people, to NPOs operating in the disaster area and leaders in each region.
３）Social Impact Investment (KIBOW Social Investment)
We will support the scale-up of our business by investing in social entrepreneurs who have the aspiration to “change society”, not limited to the affected areas.