How skilling is a Vital Support to Mushroom Entrepreneurs and Self-Employers, Directly or Indirectly?

As India is moving ahead to become an economic leader globally, the country needs to make its available talent pool skilled and employable to create a workforce to reckon with and make India a developed country. With more than more than 54% of its total population below 25 years of age, India is one of the youngest nations in the world currently and is slated to become the youngest nation in the world by 2022.

With this huge reservoir of manpower being available at its plate, India needs to create an ecosystem of the trained workforce of more skilled and cognizant individuals with tons of opportunities available to them. According to the fourth edition of the NASSCOM-Zinnov report titled “Indian Start-up Ecosystem – Traversing the Maturity Cycle – 2017”, India has witnessed an astonishing progress in the start-up ecosystem in the last 10 years. With the surfacing of new start-ups, 8 companies became unicorns or valued at least $1 Bn.

With new additions of Advanced Technology, start-ups are also witnessing a five-year CAGR of over 30%. With almost US$ 6.4 bn of funding flowing in first half of 2017, Indian ecosystem continued to remain attractive for investors. As per the statistics from the India Skills Report, India needs 700 million skilled workers by 2022 to meet its growing economy’s demand. The report further states that only 10% of the fresh graduates currently are skilled enough to be hired by a corporate. Skill development is no longer a matter of choice; in fact, it has now become a must to increase productivity with better efficiency and effectiveness in the economy.

Importance of Skill Development for Entrepreneurs:
Many researchers have shown that over 98% of start-ups collapse during their first 5 years, therefore, this is imperative for growing organizations to strengthen themselves with skilled workforce. Skilled candidates become more aware of the technicalities of the domain, they are also familiar with the tasks and challenges so they can adopt a pragmatic approach by efficiently using the resources available to them. They will always have a better control clause on the workplace and are more likely to be prepared for a sudden complication if it arrives. Apart from this, skilled people also have a better knowledge of legal compliances, processes and Rules & Regulations. They are more aware of official procedures required to run a business hence, it is highly unlikely for them to make a mistake and create legal troubles for the organization.

With right skill development programs, the trained workforce can help in introducing new innovations to organizations across industry verticals. This will create an advance ecosystem in the organization which will be more cost saving and efficient. With the help of technology, they can promote business effectively to a wider range and audience. This will definitely translate into bigger numbers commercially. The recent ‘Digital India’ and ‘Startup India’ are such initiatives from the government of India that have created wonders in boosting the entrepreneurship across the geography. The paradigm shift brought by the National Policy for Skill development and Entrepreneurship 2015 aims to skill and reskill about 400 million citizens by 2022.

Whether it is about established organizations or innovative startups, skill development will help companies in growing and flourishing. Moreover, Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) always have limited resources so it is very important for them to utilize the resources available at their disposal with utmost precision to make maximum out of it. With skilled people being in charge, there will always be the minimum wastage of resources. Skilled individuals can perform the task quicker and finish it on the given time limit. Well trained individuals know about their responsibilities, they also know what they are doing and are less likely to make mistakes. They can also give suggestions about the requirement of the changes to be made and steps needed to be taken for a well-sustained growth.

Unskilled individuals are more prone to accidents at workplace due to their lack of knowledge. In many organizations, accidents occur because certain individuals don’t know how to safely use the equipment so it is essential to have skilled individuals in an organization. A skilled individual with proper training and ample knowledge become more confident and, confidence inherits leadership. That person will not shy away from taking initiatives. It is very important for an organization to have leaders within its system. They add value to the company as a whole and take the whole team forward with them to create a work culture of harmony. Skilled individuals bring in the knowledge and experience with them to the organization. Their fresh and unique approach can help the organization to achieve loads of success.

The essentialism of skill development for future of India
Only a skilled and competent workforce can drive the economy successfully. Currently, India is developing at a brisk pace at 7.7% GDP growth, further creating opportunities for entrepreneurs in the market. As per the Niti Aayog, the formally trained workforce in India needs immediate acceleration rate, which is only 4.69% as of now with comparison to 75% for Germany and 96% for Korea. The importance of a skilled workforce has grown exponentially to meet the international standards of quality performance. As India is a country with a massive young workforce, it gives an edge to be the example for the other developing countries in the world. India can share its expertise through a skilled workforce as a part of a progressive nation and emerge as a global leader in the coming era.

(Preet Sandhu, COO- All India Technical and Management Council) aitmc.in