The History of  KOTO

Jimmy Pham was born in Vietnam in 1972 and moved to Australia as a young child with his mother and siblings, growing up in Sydney. He was interested in tourism and travel, and studied hospitality at school. One night, on his first trip back to Vietnam, Jimmy went for a walk in Saigon and met some street kids. He noticed how dirty they were, and that they had blisters on their legs.

He asked, “Where do you shower?” and they replied, “We shower next to an open sewer.” The next day, he organised for that small group of street kids to have a proper wash. By the time he left Vietnam some two weeks later, word of his generosity had spread, and he was paying for 60 young people to wash and eat.

The concept of KOTO — Know One, Teach One — began when Jimmy asked some of these young people what they wanted out of life. They simply replied, “We need skills so we can find stable jobs.” He then decided that he wanted to come back to Vietnam on a long-term basis and make a difference. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, he just knew that he wanted to help.

Mission Statement

Empowering at-risk youth to pursue a life of dignity by providing training, life-skills, and opportunity.

Vision Statement

Positive permanent change for at-risk and disadvantaged youth through the transformative power of social enterprise.

Culture Statement 

KOTO is built on family values shared by Staff, Trainees and Alumni which creates the synergy necessary to deliver effective, meaningful training as well as livelihood creation for at-risk and disadvantaged youth, supported by our committed staff whose primary purposes is in the project and to engage our youth within society.

KOTO’s philosophy is ingrained in our name: Know One, Teach One. It is the underlying principle behind the expectations we have of our of Staff, Trainees and Alumnus. We believe in a just environment for all those who come in contact with KOTO. We are committed to excellence and take pride in our work. In addition, we also believe in and practice the following values:

– Respect

– Teamwork

– Performance

– Community

– Justice