Accenture (NYSE: ACN), Dr. Reddy’s Foundation (DRF) and the NASSCOM Foundation (NF) are working together to provide comprehensive training and career opportunities in business process outsourcing (BPO) for underprivileged youth in India.
The effort is part of Accenture’s corporate citizenship focus – Skills to Succeed – which educates people, building skills that enable them to participate in and contribute to the economy. As a first step, Accenture employees are updating DRF’s BPO curriculum, which will be distributed through DRF’s Livelihood Advancement Business Schools program, free of cost to NASSCOM’s Knowledge Network members and partner NGOs.
Additionally, Accenture and DRF will identify, recruit and train facilitators identified by NASSCOM. Accenture will also select potential BPO academy sites, based on job availability in those markets. Upon completion of the course, Accenture will recruit from among the graduates for its own BPO operations, and DRF will conduct follow-up workshops with NGOs.
“Bringing BPO training to disadvantaged youth is part of Accenture’s commitment to building skills that will help them sustain their families and their communities,” said Harsh Maglik, chairman and geography managing director, Accenture in India. “This effort, which draws on our people’s passion, experience and commitment to developing and nurturing talent, is aimed at making a significant, lasting impact on the economic well-being of individuals who might otherwise become marginalized.”
“This initiative provides the tools for rural youth to be trained in BPO skills suitably in order to be gainfully employed,” said Jitendra Kalra, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, “We believe that we will make a significant improvement to the lives of the disadvantaged youth, by sharing our training expertise in the Livelihood Advancement Business School processes. DRF will provide voluntary technical support, in terms of training, sharing of best practices and documentation of key learnings, which will boost this initiative.”
“With about 74 percent of Indians residing in villages, domestic BPOs can bring a revolution in employment opportunities for the rural educated masses,” said Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao, Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation. “With the growing demand for a skilled workforce in the BPO space, these initiatives provide a huge opportunity in securing sustainable livelihood for the rural youth. This needs to be capitalized and companies should collaborate to create more job opportunities for sustained equitable development in the country. Such collaborations are required in the industry to address the significant employability gap in our country and we want to encourage other BPO organizations to extend similar support. Only when we have large scale participation will programs such as these have the maximum impact and bridge the urban-rural divide.”
