Toyota Tsusho has pioneered businesses in areas where few precedents existed, such as through our African business development. These efforts are supported by our diverse team of 70,000 people in 130 nations around the world. They take on challenges without predetermined answers and create markets of our own through communication that spans national and cultural borders. This strength is the driving force behind our Group’s growth strategies. I have also been involved in our business in Africa, advancing projects together with colleagues from a variety of countries. I use the firsthand perspective I gained in the field, and my experience in collaborations with people with different values and cultures, in my work in human capital today.

The values underlying this spirit of challenge define Toyota Tsusho DNA. “Humanity,” acting with compassion and passion. “Gembality,” putting in the effort and tackling problems out in the field. “Beyond,” breaking down walls and creating the future. Of these, Gembality is one of our Group’s main strengths. Beyond making business investments, our employees swap their suits for work clothes and go deep into the field, tackling issues while driving our business. That’s one of the things that sets our Group apart.

As we pass on these values and fundamental philosophy to future generations, we must also ceaselessly evolve the human capital and organizations that support our growth strategies.

As a uniquely competitive general trading company, we have set forth a growth strategy whose central pillars are the four uniquely competitive areas where we have particularly notable strengths: “African business and the Gondwana economic zone,” “the circular economy,” “next generation of mobility,” and “renewable energy.” These strategies cannot be realized without supplying dynamic talents to these uniquely competitive areas. In April 2017, we established the Africa Division, our first regional division. In April 2024, we established a sales division structure aligned with our missions. We aim to develop professional talent who can turn changes in the business environment into opportunities for growth and build a human capital portfolio that supports our growth strategies. This will be done by Awakening of Our DNA, both in our people and our organization, and the creation of a Thriving, Living Organism to support the elevation of our business to a higher dimension through a diverse, global business portfolio.

In particular, for our Group, which includes over 1,000 Group companies inside Japan and overseas, the ongoing development of management talent capable of leading diverse businesses is a critical management challenge. In addition to our CEO Essential Program, a training program dedicated to developing future business leaders, we have established a mechanism for gaining insights and knowledge from actual experience at worksites and passing them on to successors in an ongoing cycle that produces the next generation of managers.

If development doesn’t keep up with business, we could miss prime opportunities. I believe that it’s my responsibility, as CHRO, to develop our human capital and an organization that can flexibly respond to change, so that our business can sustainably grow.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, we formulated our People and Organization Medium-Term Vision. Driven by the concepts of “Awakening of Our DNA” and “a Thriving, Living Organism,” we are developing the human resources and organizations that will realize our strategies.

“Awakening of Our DNA” refers to enabling the capabilities inherent in each individual to blossom and elevating them to a higher level. For our DNA to awaken, our employees must have opportunities to experience the unknown. In my case, balancing childcare and work was an experience that awakened my DNA. When I found myself in an environment where things didn’t go as I had intended, I discovered surprising aspects of myself, and my horizons broadened.

We also provide our employees with opportunities to discover new aspects of themselves. In addition to the overseas placement within the first eight years of employment, which President Imai discussed, a representative example of these opportunities is our Global Advanced Leadership Program (GALP), which develops new global leaders. Participants go to different worksites around the world, learning business, examining their own life goals and reasons for existence, and finding out more about themselves. This experience expands their own capabilities. We also have an internal open recruitment system that anyone can take part in, supporting autonomous career development.

The other core concept, “Thriving, Living Organism,” refers to being an organization in which each person thinks autonomously and realizes their potential while flexibly responding to change. Imagine an organization like that. Exciting, isn’t it? To make this a reality, once a month our Human Company Task Force (HCTF), a Company-wide meeting chaired by the President & CEO and composed primarily of senior executive officers, identifies and discusses issues concerning people and organizations. Group decision-makers all come together and meet as one, so improvement measures can be decided on the spot. One example, from discussions about creating a more comfortable working environment, resulted in the creation of a rule that generally prohibits the sending of emails at night, on weekends, or on holidays. This is a small first step, but I think there’s a great deal of significance in the fact that top management has approached employees in this way.

We are also promoting the use of AI to adapt to the changing environment around our talents and organization. By using AI for logical analysis and verification, we can amplify human capabilities and go beyond our individual limitations. On the other hand, consideration for others, establishing trust, and creating new value—these are things where people truly shine. We will identify which areas can be left up to AI and further polish our human qualities of “Humanity,” “Gembality,” and “Beyond” to build the foundation of an organization that excels at handling change.

Increasing engagement is an important task in developing our human resources and our organization. We dedicate special attention to fully disclosing the results of our engagement surveys. We’ve always focused on our surveys, which have been conducted after being discussed at our Executive Officers Meeting, but the intent of these surveys has not been fully conveyed to employees. That is why, starting with the results of the survey for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, we are now fully disclosing the results of the surveys to our employees. The results cover the strengths of each division, the issues they face, and the intentions of improvement initiatives. We will create an environment in which all employees understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own organizations and actively make proposals, driven by a desire to make a great company.

We are also dedicated to well-being management, which is directly linked to the employee well-being on which our engagement improvements are predicated. For six years in a row, we have been selected as a KENKO Investment for Health (White 500). We offer extensive childcare support to both male and female employees. In recognition of our stance of promoting co-parenting, in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, we were selected for the second consecutive year for the Next Nadeshiko: Companies Supporting Dual Careers and Co-parenting jointly operated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Among users of our childcare support systems, the awareness that “raising children is also an opportunity for self-development” is beginning to take root. An increasing number of employees are sharing their own experiences of this realization.

In conjunction with these initiatives, employees have led the sharing of information about people and initiatives around the world via our intranet and our internal video streaming platform, “ToyoTube.” The Global Human Resources Department also uses video to convey the philosophies and visions behind these initiatives. It is fostering a sense of unity among the Group’s 70,000 members while striving to better establish these systems and expand their usage.

Ever since I was a field manager, I have had a deep trust in all those that I managed. Now, as CHRO, I want to extend that commitment to all our employees and create an environment in which each individual can unleash their potential through their own initiative. I believe that creating an organization in which our diverse talents combine their strengths, take on challenges without fearing change, and respond with agility will strengthen the competitiveness of the Toyota Tsusho Group as we pioneer new markets around the world.