by Jose Tachil, Karl Kuebel Foundation (KKF), India, August 2009
Mr. Karl Kübel impacted lives, brought glory to millions and possibly created the sacred home for human dignity by laying strong foundations for peaceful human existence and co-existence in the modern world.
After I took over the work of Karl Kübel Foundation in India in 1993, I started reading about Kübel in the various handouts, brochures and flyers. He is described as a visionary, an entrepreneur, but in him, I saw a 'constructive philanthropy' at its very best ... the finest approximation we have to the creative utilization of wealth, for the well-being of humanity. He mentioned once, that his parents, particularly his mother, had played a more important role in shaping his success in life, especially making him conscious of poor children, who could not come up in life as they did not receive adequate parental support.
Three things that fascinated me, soon after I took up the work of KKF in India:
1.The precious words "The quality of life can only improve if the individual improves his or her quality".
2. As a successful entrepreneur, of one of the leading furniture business in Europe, he was sharing the profits of his organization with the workmen, as early as during 1940 or so, thereby he received whole-hearted support, loyalty and commitment from the workforce.
3. After his visit to India in 80's, he was able to assess the capacity, commitment and competence of the Indian project personnel and thereby fell for India. In 1985, the Foundation decided to concentrate more of its overseas project on India.
