NSDC comes up with initiative to empower women entrepreneurs

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in partnership with Britannia Marie Gold announced the launch of the second season of the annual ‘Britannia Marie Gold My Startup’ initiative. The country’s first-ever skill development program customized for women with entrepreneurial aspirations will provide assistance to 10,000 women homemakers to undergo an online certification course between April and June 2020 that is aimed at transforming them into job creators.

The online courses will be available through NSDC’s eSkillIndia portal that drives the Government of India‘s Skill India Mission will empower women to gain basic communication skills, financial literacy along with information and communication technology (ICT), and micro entrepreneurial skills for socio economic self-reliance. The online nature of the training provides easy access to the courses from the comfort of their homes across the country. The primary aim is to train women on key functional skills to boost their confidence at the start of their entrepreneurial journey. The training program will be available in two languages – English and Hindi. The digital



skilling content will be supported by formative and summative assessments, and eCertification will be awarded to the participants upon successful completion of the course.

Commending the campaign, Chief Guest, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, said, “In India only 22% women work while the global average is about 48%. A report by McKinsey specifies that if we reach the world average it would add another USD 700 billion to our economy and for India to grow at high rates of 9 to 10% would not be possible without the participation of women as key entrepreneurs. I would like to compliment this unique initiative by Britannia Marie Gold and the National Skill Development Corporation to transform homemakers to entrepreneurs.

Britannia Marie Gold launched the ‘My Marie My Startup’ campaign in the year 2019 on the back of a Nationwide Survey on Barriers and Triggers to Women Entrepreneurship in India conducted in 2018. The overwhelming response of 1.5 million entries in the first Edition of the campaign and the insights gained thereof encouraged the brand to add skill development as a core delivery in the initiative this year.