Dr Reddy's Foundation, the social arm of the Hyderabad Dr Reddy's Laboratories, has started a Livelihood Advancement Business School (LABS) centre in Hanoi, Vietnam in partnership with Plan International. This is the first LABS centre to be set up outside India.

Livelihood Advancement Business School programme was started with the objective of providing unemployed youth from economically weak backgrounds access to new economy jobs. Since the inception of LABS in the year 2000 over 12,500 youth have been trained and employed. The programme, which was initiated in Hyderabad, has now been extended all over India.

The Foundation operates 14 LABS centres in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi and in various towns across Andhra Pradesh. It will be extended very soon to the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, official sources said.

The Hanoi LABS centre is operational and currently 124 students are undergoing training in the first batch. The courses offered include IT Enabled Services, Hospitality (hotel industry), Customer Relations and Sales.

Nalini Gangadharan, executive director, Dr Reddy' s Foundation said, "We are very excited about the launch of the first international LABS training centre at Hanoi, Vietnam. It is a significant milestone in our efforts to reach and empower unemployed youth across the world. It reaffirms our belief that the LABS model is adaptable to any livelihood development situation."