Benesse Holdings, Inc.
Briefing on ESG and Sustainability
February 21, 2023

Event Summary[Company Name]

Benesse Holdings, Inc.

[Company ID]

9783‐QCODE[Event Language]

JPN[Event Type]

Briefing[Event Name]

Briefing on ESG and Sustainability[Date]

February 21, 2023

[Number of Pages]

29[Time]

16:00 – 17:05(Total: 65 minutes, Presentation: 56 minutes, Q&A: 9 minutes)[Venue]Webcast[Number of Speakers]

6
Hitoshi Kobayashi
Hidetomo Hashimoto

Haruna Okada
Shinsuke Tsuboi
Hisano Murakami

Koutarou Ueda

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Representative Director and President, CEO
Senior Managing Executive Officer CDXO
(Chief DX Officer), Executive General
Manager of Digital Innovation Partners
Managing Executive Officer, Executive
General Manager of ESG and Sustainability
Managing Executive Officer, CFO, Executive
General Manager of Finance and Accounting
CHRO (Chief Human Resource Officer),
Executive General Manager of Human
Resources
CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), Executive
General Manager of Corporate Planning andPromotion

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Presentation

Kobayashi: Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend our ESG andsustainability briefing today.
Today’s agenda is as follows. In the first part, Ms. Okada, Ms. Murakami, and Mr. Hashimoto will explain
Benesse’s ESG and sustainability initiatives. Following the first part, Mr. Ueda and I will explain change andgrowth toward the realization of a sustainable society in the second part.
Today, we will be in a large group, and several people will be present to explain the situation. We aredetermined to promote our business and manage the Company while firmly integrating Benesse’s future
growth, sustainability, and ESG. We would be very grateful if you would listen carefully.
Since this is Benesse’s first information session limited to ESG and sustainability, we have prepared a video tointroduce Benesse first. Please take a look.

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2Video: At a time when the world is undergoing major changes, we have a corporate philosophy that remains
unchanged and important to us.
Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd. the predecessor of Benesse Group, was founded in Okayama. In 1990, Benesse
was announced. In 1995, the Company changed its name to Benesse Corporation.
Benesse means well‐being. This is where the Benesse Group’s new challenge began, with well‐being at thecenter of its management.
Benesse has a special place in its heart that embodies this corporate philosophy, Benesse Art Site Naoshima.
With the Fukutake Foundation, art activities have been promoted in Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima. It is aplace where visitors are encouraged to think about Benesse (well‐being) and a happy community full of smilingelderly people.
With this corporate philosophy as our guiding principle, we have expanded our support for our customers’
well‐being in a variety of businesses. The Benesse Group has continued to move forward on Naoshima and inits business with well‐being as its guiding principle.
Well‐being in English is the vision of the future that sustainability and the SDGs aim to achieve. We have been
earnestly pursuing this corporate philosophy in our company name for more than 30 years. Toward the next
future, we want to rethink various social issues with people at the core, and create a sustainable society andfuture with the power of people and technology. Through our business activities, we are expanding various
possibilities, together with highly motivated employees.
Benesse means well‐being.
Kobayashi: Thank you very much. From here, we would like Ms. Okada to talk about Benesse’s current andfuture ESG and sustainability initiatives.

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Okada: I’m Okada. As you have just seen, Benesse is a corporate group that supports well‐being of people.
Therefore, we believe that the ESG and sustainability initiatives that society is now striving for are quite
inevitable for us.
Based on this premise, Sustainability Promotion Committee was formed concurrently with the formulationof the mid‐term management plan “Transform and Grow Benesse 2022”in 2018. Since it is important to solve
social issues through our business, we have established our sustainability vision and materiality in 2019,
starting with communication with our employees and receiving input from various stakeholders. Throughexternal ESG assessments and analysis, we visualize issues that are lacking, while selecting key themes andconsistently implementing strategies, initiatives, and disclosures.
In 2020, we started a human rights initiative to ascertain the actual situation through human rights due
diligence, and in 2021, we formulated and disclosed a human rights policy. In 2022, the ESG and Sustainability
Division was established to further integrate management, business, and sustainability activities. We promote
ESG throughout the Group.

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4Next is the Group’s promotion structure for ESG and sustainability activities.
We place ESG and sustainability at the core of our corporate governance. The Sustainability and ESG
Promotion Committee, under the direct control of the President and CEO, will be the main driving force. The
Committee is composed of the CEO, full‐time directors, and all company heads who are responsible for thebusiness. This has created a structure that will enable us to better ensure the implementation of sustainability
activities through our business.
To further strengthen the promotion system, we established a headquarters as a dedicated organization in
April 2022, and have been promoting activities targeting all group companies. Since its establishment, theCommittee meetings were held 16 times, and matters discussed are regularly brought up for discussion andreported to the Board of Directors.

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5The next section provides an overview of Benesse’s ESG initiatives. From left to right are examples of themes,
issues, and initiatives.
First is the environmental area of E(Environment). In terms of environmental initiatives, Benesse Corporation
established an environmental policy in 2011 and environmental targets in 2012. In addition to being the firsteducation provider to endorse the TCFD in 2019, we are also committed to reaching out to society andchildren through our educational services.
Next comes S(Social), the area of social. We believe that social initiatives are the most important area ofBenesse’s sustainable growth. We have always believed that people are the key to success, and we consider
people to be our most important asset. We have strengthened our efforts to promote philosophy‐driven
management and emphasize independent work styles and growth support. After this, we will also present
some specific examples.
G(Governance) stands for further strengthening governance. The Board of Directors, of which half are outside
directors, makes management decisions from diverse and long‐term perspectives. We have conducted anddisclosed an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors since 2015, and are working tofurther improve its effectiveness.
In terms of risk minimization, since the 2014 personal data breach we have placed even greater emphasis on
maintaining and improving information security, and we continue to do so.

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We will then present some specific examples.
First, I will continue with the environmental case study. After that, CHRO Murakami and CDXO Hashimoto,the person in charge of DX promotion, will explain the case study of human resource enhancement along withgovernance.
This is a climate change initiative. We are conducting a scenario analysis in line with the TCFD
recommendations. Some of the transition risks have already become apparent, such as the rising cost of
shipping and energy prices, in addition to changes in the materials used in the seminar, and we believe thatfurther ongoing preparedness is necessary with regard to logistics.
We are in the process of analyzing risks and opportunities affecting our company from the two axes ofprobability of occurrence and degree of impact, and promoting strategies and initiatives based on the results.
Benesse Corporation, a major business subsidiary, has been a pioneer in this initiative, and has revised its
greenhouse gas emissions reduction target upward from the existing 2‐degree Celsius level to the 1.5 degree
Celsius level. In the future, we would like to expand our efforts to the entire Benesse Group and set targets.

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Next, I would like to introduce our environmental activities tailored to the characteristics of our business. For
environmental activities, we also value the social contribution that is typical of Benesse with its various access
opportunities for learning.
For example, for early childhood, we deliver content that fosters interest in nature around us through TV
programs with the Kodomo Challenge character, Shimajiro. It has received numerous international awards inthe past as an excellent educational program for young children.
In addition to our own activities, we also provide environmental education content for parents and children
in collaboration with other companies that support our efforts. For elementary school students and above,
we have incorporated environmental themes into our Shinkenzemi teaching materials service and into
teaching materials for schools, responding to new educational needs that are growing in tandem with the
spread of the SDGs.
In 2021, at the request of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we provided content for the STEAM
Library of Mirai No Kyoushitsu. This is an example of our efforts to meet the expectations of society and ourcustomers.
Next, CHRO Murakami will give an explanation of human resource enhancement.

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8Murakami: Let me start with engagement through permeation of our philosophy.
People have been an important part of Benesse since the Company’s founding, and our fundamental belief isthat Benesse’s assets are people with ambition. We believe that this is the most important aspect of oursustainability activities, so we will introduce some of our new initiatives as well.
As changes in the business environment accelerate, it is becoming increasingly important for each and every
employee to be aware of the raison d’etre of our business, in other words, why we are engaged in this business.
In terms of employee engagement activities, as you can see here, we are strengthening new initiatives as wellas continuing traditional activities such as morning meetings.
Sustainability study, an online study, was launched in 2019, with 4,000 students from 23 group companies. It
was an opportunity to gain insight into the future of society and connect it to their own work.
In addition, a philosophy booklet, BATON, was published in April 2022. This is a booklet that summarizes
business practices from the birth of Benesse. Based on this booklet, we held study sessions for employees tothink about how to put Benesse’s philosophy into practice in their businesses. Approximately 1,000 employees
participated in each study session, for a total of 3,000 employees.
As a result of these efforts, we have continued to maintain our A‐rating position in the biannual engagement
survey, which corresponds to the top 20% of companies participating in the assessment. It is our company’s
characteristic that there is a strong correlation between the penetration of empathy for the philosophy andthe satisfaction of employees. We will continue our efforts to link our philosophy with our business operations.

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9Next, I will explain the B‐STAGE group proposal system. It is even more important to not only empathize andshare our thoughts, but also to give shape to them in the form of a business, and we will stick to this.
As part of this effort, we have launched B‐STAGE, a group proposal system, in 2021. For quite some time,
proposal activities that make use of the voices of the field in management have taken root in our company.
The proposal system was revitalized when current CEO Kobayashi launched a project during his tenure as COO
to make it more active, involving the entire group.
What we valued was the autonomy of our employees and the seriousness of our management. Both theproposer and the receiver of the proposal must work with their own will and overwhelming enthusiasm. First,
management demonstrated its commitment and asked its employees. As a result, 1,782 proposals werereceived in the first year, exceeding the target, and one of these proposals was actually decided to becommercialized.
In the second proposal activity we recently conducted, we received nearly twice that number of proposals.
We have been surprised to hear from people outside the Company. They say it is very rare for the number ofapplications in the second year of such an internal proposal system to exceed that of the first year. The final
judging session here took place over a full day, inviting guests from outside the Company, and the heateddiscussion was open to all group employees. We are seeing many projects that have never been done beforeor that offer unique perspectives, and we will continue to study promising ones with a budget and structure.

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Continuing on, we are strengthening diversity.
We believe that in order to transform or sustain a business, something is needed to drastically change thevalues and ideas we had before, and that the catalyst for this change is the diversity of people andorganizations.
Gender diversity is one of Benesse’s great strengths, with many female employees working in career‐track
positions even before the Equal Employment Opportunity Law. Today, the ratio of female managers exceeds
30%, well above the national average, and the return‐to‐work rate after childcare leave is 95%. It is perfectly
normal for employees to work again after giving birth.
As a challenge, we see that there is still room for appointing women in senior management positions above
the general manager level, and we have already visualized the current situation in this regard and have alreadystarted targeted activities. And we will work on the next stage of diversity in female empowerment, taking
advantage of our inherently flat culture of diversity.
After this, CDXO Hashimoto will explain the challenge of learning culture to enhance DX.

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Hashimoto: Sustainable growth still requires innovation. When we think of that innovation, we now think ofbusiness transformation using technology, which is DX. How can a company add the organizational capacity
itself to promote this DX? I believe this is the purpose of our learning culture challenge. So we are trying tomove forward with this DX first.
I know this is DX, but it is not easy to do, as you may be having trouble with it too. So, we are starting bydefining what kind of professionals and skills are needed for this DX.
Benesse has now defined seven job categories as shown on the left as specialized positions to promote DX. In
addition, all employees are being evaluated by experts in their respective professions to determine whichskills they possess and at what level, and their individual abilities are being registered in the talentmanagement system.
What kind of things will be able to be done when this is done are shown on the right side. The same indicators
will be used throughout the Company to determine how many people are needed in each position to advancethe business, how many people are currently being filled, and how this is being done at each level.
Now, according to the results in 2022, if we assume that 100% of these DX positions are necessary for thebusiness to proceed, we are now at 86%. This is a 15% increase from last year, but it is where we have beenable to keep people inside.
However, as you can see on the right side of this page, there are of course some areas in red, although wehave not included the numbers. Therefore, the first premise is that we are making it possible to discuss within
the Company whether to procure this red part from the outside or to cultivate the inside, and how to further
cultivate it.

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12Next is the human aspect.
As you can see on the left, we have created a training system. Of course, on‐the‐job training in the field is aprerequisite, but it is difficult to nurture people only with that.
Therefore, we are preparing a training program for the entire company, by the type of job that was justmentioned. This training itself is also being conducted with in‐house content created by utilizing examples
within the Company. In addition, we use external assessments to measure the degree to which theparticipants have developed their skills after receiving this training.
Furthermore, Benesse features are illustrated on the lower left side, but I think we need to add that literacy
at a minimum for all employees, including management. Therefore, Benesse has created a check test tomeasure literacy and recommend training programs based on the test results.
At Benesse Corporation, more than 80% of our employees are currently undergoing this DX literacy check,and from there they are receiving the necessary training for their various jobs. In addition, we are also
exchanging expert human resources across divisions and departments to ensure that the knowledge gained
is not limited to individual efforts, but must be converted into organizational knowledge.
The person on the right, who has been with the Company for 38 years, was very poor at math, but after much
hard work, she became a data scientist and is now playing an active role in the Company. We also have herteach young people who are aspiring to be in the industry, including her own experience.

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Next will be the G(Governance) of ESG. The case here is information security.
As you know, we had a personal data breach in 2014. Since then, we have continued our efforts to become acompany that takes the security of customer information most seriously.
Information security measures include the two so‐called hardware aspects of information management on
the left, and the software aspect, or the people who handle it, on the right. We are in the process of thoroughly
promoting both aspects.
In terms of hardware, system security has been strengthened. This is where the security and IT departments
are working together to speed up the process, as changes in attack methods are occurring at a dizzying paceon a daily basis. In the area of information and data management, we are also working on physical zoning.
In terms of human resources, we have training programs for all Benesse Corporation employees, hold the
Security Day every year, and maintain an information route that quickly conveys information about any
incidents, including near‐misses, to the top management.
Last but not least, Ms. Okada. Thank you.

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Okada: This is the last part of the first section, but it lists the latest external evaluations and index inclusion.
In the ESG indices selected by GPIF, all of the constituent stocks have been adopted. In addition to receiving
high praise from CDP for our environmental initiatives, we have also announced our participation in the GX
League this year.
In recognition of its human capital, Benesse Corporation received the Platinum Career Award, which is given
to companies that are committed to solving society’s problems with a view to the 100‐year life period, throughefforts to develop human resources from a long‐term perspective and to provide opportunities for employees
to play active roles regardless of age.
In order to continue to meet these external expectations, the Benesse Group will continue its activities firmly
and strive to disclose information in a highly transparent manner.
This concludes the first part, Benesse’s ESG and Sustainability.

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Kobayashi: Now let’s start with the second part. In the second part, we would like to introduce Benesse’stransformation and Benesse’s concept of growth and what we are currently thinking about in order to realize
a sustainable society.
Benesse means well‐being. We are a corporate entity with such a philosophy. What does Benesse think about
its future activities, transformational growth, and how this direction relates to the realization of a sustainable
society? How do we think about this? I personally see this as a concept that we must consider as the axis ofmanagement, which is very relevant to Benesse’s sustainable growth in the future.
In a society that is changing at a dizzying pace and where answers are hard to find, I believe that social issues
related to people are also becoming more diverse, complex, and extremely difficult. Benesse’s sustainablegrowth will contribute to solving social issues that affect people at all life stages. We believe that this is thevery essence of Benesse’s future growth. We are now working to reform our business with the belief that thiswill surely lead to the realization of a sustainable society for the world as a whole.

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Continuing on, in considering such matters, I think it is very important to focus on what and how the Company
as a whole will work on this matter. As you saw in the first half, we have a strong and unwavering philosophy
called Benesse.
In order for each of us to further conceive and implement this concept at a concrete business site, we needto think of our purpose that is closer to the business, verbalize it, and use it as the basis for considering thespecific usefulness of the business. We believe that doing so would be a very important process.
We have already introduced this concept about three years ago, and we are currently reviewing the businessplans for the next fiscal year and beyond for each project, and I feel that we have already established astructure within the Group to clearly state the purpose of each business on the first page of the plan, and to
express it in a more concrete form in our business.
I believe that it is of the utmost importance for Benesse to confirm the relationship between Benesse andpurpose, and the sheet you are looking at now is what I always check in front of all the employees of theGroup in order to ensure the thoroughness of the Benesse Group.

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We have once again confirmed the group purpose for the Benesse Group as a whole. Today I would like toannounce it in front of you for the first time.
"Anybody can enjoy lifelong growth. Toward a world in which everyone can live their own life. Benesse willcontinue to aim for these ideals." We have established these words as the new Benesse Group purpose andintend to use them as the starting point for our future business direction and growth.

I would like to explain a little about the background of each of these group‐purpose words and why we chosethem.
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First, “Anybody” is inclusive of diversification and sustainability in the sense that no one is left behind, but all.
“Can enjoy lifelong growth” is the word for Benesse’s principle and appeal to believe in the potential of humanbeings.
The phrase "everyone can live their own life" expresses diversity and well‐being. We decided to use the word
"world" to describe the future, global, social systems, and other such broad meanings of the word.
And finally, "Benesse will continue to aim for these idealsl." It may not be something that has a goal. It may
not even be something that has an end. I believe that it is exactly what a person continues to seek for the restof his/her life, just as he/she is. Keep doing that. In business, we continue to make changes. This is our own
strong determination and will. This is what we have indicated at the end of the group purpose.
" Anybody can enjoy lifelong growth. Toward a world in which everyone can live their own life. Benesse willcontinue to aim for these ideals." This is the group purpose, and we will work together with our group
employees to make it a reality.

Continuing on, social issues related to people at all life stages in Japan. I would like to talk about what we arethinking about this view at this point.
As you are all aware, Japan is experiencing a declining birthrate at every stage of life, from pregnancy,
childbirth, and childcare, to infants, elementary school students, junior high school students, and high school
students. And the speed is about to accelerate. Benesse’s approach here is to dig deeper and evolve the issuesof the individual or society as a whole, and create a market for the issues that we have dug deeper into. Let’stake on the challenge there. We believe this is something our company must do.
On the other hand, there is an evolution of learning centered on the reskilling of university and working adults
that is now required in society regarding seniors. In addition, we would like to take advantage of the growing
social needs of the aging population, which is occurring among seniors, as an opportunity for growth for us at
Benesse. We would like to face each of them with these two major ideas in mind.

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The table here is a bit more organized by life stage and social issues related to people.
This section will organize the currently envisioned solutions by dividing them into four life stages: pregnancy,
childbirth, parenting, infants through elementary and junior high school, and University/working adults andseniors.
First of all, we would like to take on the challenge of providing detailed support for pregnancy, childbirth, andparenting to meet the diverse needs of parents and their children in this era of declining birthrates.
Then, for infants, elementary to junior high and high school students, there is a disparity in education or adecline in motivation to learn. We believe these are the major issues now. We will continue to strongly
develop Benesse’s unique educational support activities, focusing on the realization of education that
supports and motivates diversified learning.
Regarding university and working adults, we view the slow pace of university transformation, or changes inwork ability requirements, and labor shortages as major social issues in this area in Japan in the future. We
would like to conceptualize and provide a well‐developed business that will help individuals realize theirpersonal well‐being and success in their place of employment. We are working on this initiative right now.
Finally, it is a senior. I believe that the number of elderly people requiring nursing care will continue to increase,and now we face the shortage of nursing care personnel to support them, or the slow progress of DX in thisinevitably labor‐intensive field. These are the main challenges in this area that are occurring now. To address
this issue, we will work harder than ever before to provide support to the elderly people I have just mentioned,
or to improve the caregivers who support them, in a super‐aging society in which people live for 100 years.
After this, we will discuss more specific examples of new initiatives that are about to be set in motion. CSO
Ueda will explain.

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Ueda: Benesse will expand its business domains based on the group purpose, while sincerely addressing social
issues related to people and discerning changes in customer needs. Here are some of the new challenges weare taking on beyond our existing core businesses in the three areas of education business in Japan , university
and working adults, and nursing care.
First, in the area of education business in Japan shown here, more and more children are taking various forms
of intra‐year entrance examinations, such as recommendations and comprehensive type selection.
There is also a growing need for diverse learning that fosters curiosity and motivation, especially among
parents of school‐aged children.
In addition, there is a growing need for an optimal learning and teaching environment for children with diverse
developmental needs and challenges.
In response to these social issues and customer changes, Benesse is taking new initiatives as shown on theright. The career achievement program, which supports high school students as they consider various career
paths; Mirai Campus, where students learn while interacting with instructors who are active in the real world;
Challenge School, an online learning school that helps students discover and develop their individual likes andstrengths; and Maru Grand, which supports learning and guidance tailored to each individual’s developmental
characteristics. We have already begun offering these new products and services.
Incidentally, the first program we introduced, the career achievement program, has already been used by 500
schools and 110,000 customers in the second year of its release.
The last service, Maru Grand, was created by a team of employees who won an award for excellence in an in‐house new business proposal competition, and was awarded the top prize in this year’s e‐Learning Awards.
Through these activities, we will support all children and students to have hopes for their future and to learn
in their own way.

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Next is the university and adult area.
As we have indicated, the demand for relearning and reskilling of working people is increasing due to theprogress of digitalization and the shortage of human resources. According to an OECD survey, Japan is said tobe the country where adults are the least likely to learn.
Furthermore, the number of foreign nationals working in Japan is expected to increase significantly as asolution to the labor shortage.
Based on this view, Benesse is further expanding Udemy, an online learning service that already has 1,000
companies and more than 1 million users. We will then help companies and individuals to relearn, improvetheir skills, and realize their careers.
We are also planning to provide new services such as doda Campus, which will provide employment support
for new graduates, and inbound support for foreigners, and will further focus on employment support thatlinks learning and working.
Through these efforts, we will support organizations and individuals to realize a society where people cancontinue to learn.

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Finally, the nursing care area.
Japan’s rapidly aging population is certain to lead to a serious shortage of nursing care personnel. In addition,
the increasing number of elderly people with dementia, among others, will make it more difficult to deal withthem in the nursing home.
In response to this situation, Benesse will expand and strengthen its placement and temporary staffing
business beyond its core business of improvement at nursing care facilities. Moreover, we will also expand
our contacts with the general nursing care workforce beyond our own company through our service called
Kaigo Antenna, which is designed to return our deep nursing care knowledge to society at large.
And for the elderly with dementia, we will develop a solution called Majikami AI, which was developed by
combining the knowledge of Majikami, our master caregivers.
Through these efforts, we will work to resolve issues related to nursing care personnel and improve the qualityof life of the elderly through these efforts.

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In order to solve social issues that affect people and achieve sustainable growth through these solutions, weconsider our most important asset to be the points of contact with our customers and the trust they place in
us. Aside from Kodomo Challenge and Shinkenzemi, we are now connected with many customers throughdiverse digital services such as Tamahiyo, Udemy, Kaigo Antenna, as well as various apps and services forschools.
We cherish each and every one of these valuable contacts, relationships, and trust, and we are committed totaking on new challenges to realize the group purpose. Now, CEO Kobayashi would like to conclude with a few
words.

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Kobayashi: This is an introduction to the concept of sustainable growth that we are currently considering, anintroduction to the group purpose, and some specific business topics that we are planning to start or havealready started.
How can we achieve Benesse’s sustainable growth? In this regard, how to set goals and KPIs is also a very
important point. In setting these goals and KPIs, it is very important to firmly state the three values mentioned
above, place the group purpose in the middle of the three values, and set each of these three values as thestarting point, and continue to implement them. I am now thinking that this is the way Benesse should set its
goals, integrating the solution of social issues with its business activities.
The first of the three values is social value. I believe that social impact or ESG perspectives are very importantin the education and nursing care businesses.
Second, we would like to incorporate the value and reputation of our company from the perspective of ourcustomers, who are the recipients of our services, into our goals.
Then, by operating the business with a focus on its social and customer value, the Company will create solid
economic value as a result. We are now discussing the possibility of turning this cycle around, which is a
Benesse‐like way of growing the business, and a way of holding the goal.

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Continuing on, I would like to introduce a few of the non‐financial KPIs that we are currently considering.
The left side is for education and the right side is for nursing care. We are still in the process of verbalizing thecustomer value and social value for each as shown in this table. We would like to sublimate these KPIs into
non‐financial KPIs that are more convincing from the standpoint of the business or from the viewpoint ofsociety and customers.
We also believe that it is important to set firm targets for ESG within these non‐financial KPIs as well. E is thetarget in environmental issues as explained. As for S, as I explained earlier, we are working on specific annual
targets for employee engagement, the addition of female executive directors, and when we will be able tointroduce and appoint such people to the Board of Directors.
These are the things that I, as CEO, am actually in the process of trying to address and working on by listingthese items in the evaluation itself.
In addition, we would like to strengthen the governance of the Board of Directors by conducting an annual
survey on the effectiveness of the Board of Directors, so that we can improve its effectiveness.
So far, we have talked about change and growth toward the realization of a sustainable society.
Now, we have a comment from an outside director of Benesse Holdings regarding the current Benesse
situation, which I would like to share with you.
Please watch this Video.

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Video: The first thing that permeates our minds is what well‐being means to us. I think this is very thorough,and I feel that the philosophy is firmly connected to the actions of each and every one of them, when we see
work sites.
I feel that they need to reconstruct and change the way they want to provide this kind of happiness, and thatis why they are in this business. I feel that there is a tremendous desire to make things better. I think this is agreat strength.
In terms of a person’s life, the university and adult life were a bit thin in the past, but now that part is really
being strengthened, and I think the overall connection is taking a good shape.
I see a sense of crisis on the part of enforcement and how to deal with it, as well as the speed with which it ishandled. After all, I think that it is very dynamic to change immediately, including the organization, like this. I
am looking forward to the new medium‐term management plan.

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Kobayashi: That concludes my explanation. Last but not least, I would like to share with you some of thethings we are thinking about for the future.
The Benesse Group is currently in the process of developing a transformation business plan. As we havealready announced in our Q2 financial results announcement, we are now considering the possibility ofannouncing our transformation business plan to you in May 2023.
Today, we have held this ESG and sustainability briefing, and we talked about what Benesse should aim for inits future growth, the relationship between business, customer value, and social value, as well as Group
Purpose. Using this as a starting point, the report summarizes the areas and forms in which the Benesse Groupplans to grow its business in the future. We are planning to present this plan to you in May, when we will giveit a solid form as a business plan for reform.
We look forward to continuing to communicate with you in a variety of ways.

[END]

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