Paul Kronenberg, Co-Founder & Director, Kanthari

“Every organisation needs to be organised”

The Brand Called You is back with another inspiring episode with guest Paul Kronenberg. Paul is the Co-Founder of Kanthari. He’s a social ‘changineer’. Paul has received a knighthood in the order of the orange Nassau from the Queen of Holland. He is a much-awarded and appreciated professional. With host Ashutosh Garg, Paul is in conversation about his professional journey in the social sector. Paul’s organization works towards training people from diverse backgrounds and helps them start their own impact-making organizations. Paul has worked in a number of countries and helped a lot of people deal with adversities and come out stronger! Paul talks about the leadership that is needed for running NGOs and the importance of running specialized training. 

About Kanthari:

The journey of establishing this organization started back in the year of 1977. Paul Kronenberg along with his partner Sabriel, started schools, vocational training centers, printing press, and self-integration programs for blind people in Tibet. After realizing that all these participants were in need of a custom leadership program, they started their own organization called Kanthari, in India. The name Kanthari comes from a pepper chili that is indigenous to the state of Kerala and known for its extreme hot flavor and medicinal values. Paul decided on this name as he believes that it is a symbol for people who want to make the change and possess that fire to challenge the status quo! Kanthari equips the participants with tools and leadership programs and encourages them to run NGOs, social ventures and projects. Kanthari has worked with people from difficult backgrounds and helped them come up with innovative ideas and bring about positive change! Paul believes that providing hands-on experience is the best way to learn for the participants. He also encourages failure as it helps people to learn and figure out their mistakes. At Kanthari the curriculum is divided into 5 parts. Each part helps the participants to learn something new and work on their mistakes. In the last 11 years, Kanthari has trained 226 participants in 48 countries who run more than 130 organizations across the world and reach thousands of people who need help.