A present to the industry

Essen. When the non-profit Sto Foundation was founded ten years ago with the aim of funding training for young architects and tradesmen, nobody could have predicted the success that would come out of it.

True to the motto "ensuring success in the future means laying the foundations today," since then the foundation has been able to invest more than EUR 2.2 million in the areas of funding of architecture and trade. From scholarships with renowned partners, through lectures across Europe, to international summer school competitions: both students and faculties have been able to count on the foundation.

Focus has been placed on funding the best candidates, including in trades. The educational pyramid concept can be matched to the needs of individual apprentices and encourages motivated painters and plasterers to become university graduates. Flagship projects such as the national team of plasterers show that learning a trade pays off.

The successful work of the foundation has prompted the Sto Executive Board to increase funding to EUR 600,000 per year, in the same year as their joint birthday (60 years of Sto SE & Co. KGaA and ten years of the Sto Foundation).

For Jochen Stotmeister, Chief Executive Officer of Sto SE & Co. KGaA and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for many years, "Each investment in the education of young people is an investment in the future of our society. We at Sto take this social responsibility seriously."