Page 7 - Faizal Kottikolan

FAIZAL KOTTIKOLLON

SHABANA FAIZAL

Co-founders, Faizal & Shabana Foundation

I ndustrialists and philanthropists, Faizal Kottikollon and Shabana Faizal are the founder-di-
rectors of KEF Holdings, LLC, a multi-million dollar company with operations in the Middle
East, India, and Singapore. In 2007, they founded the Faizal and Shabana Foundation with the ob-
jective of Giving to Create Impact. Since then, the foundation has contributed over US$20 million
(Rs.150 crore) to fund sustainable social impact programmes in education, youth development, re-
generative projects, and humanitarian aid and assistance.

In India, the foundation’s most successful and celebrated project is PRISM (Promoting Region-
al Schools to International Standards through Multiple Interventions, aka the Nadakkavu Model).
Launched in partnership with the Kerala state government in 2013, this public-private partnership
initiative has totally transformed the Government Vocational Higher Secondary Schools for Girls
(GVHSSG, estb.1893), Nadakkavu, Kozhikode, from a run-down all-girls school into Kerala’s most
modern and highly acclaimed government primary-secondary.

“Our dream is to continuously establish replicable social transformation models to leave behind a
world that is more inclusive, equitable and fulfilling for future generations. Shabana and I started
the foundation to support the causes of public education, healthcare and sustainable development
in India and the UAE. Thus far, the greatest achievement of the foundation is that it has demon-
strated that the public-private partnership model can work well in Indian education. It’s a matter
of great satisfaction and pride for us that GVHSSG has been transformed into a thoroughly modern
all-girls school with excellent infrastructure, well-trained teachers, vastly improved student learning
outcomes and a national reputation,” says Faizal.