Grameen Foundation India Concludes the Jobs Conference 2019 at Hotel Eros, New Delhi

NEW DELHI, Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Grameen Foundation's major conference - 'The Jobs Conference' wrapped up last evening. The first ever conference dedicated to the theme of jobs, self employment and entrepreneurship deliberated on the issues affecting jobs in India over two days. The sessions looked in-depth into major employment creators in India, such as Agriculture and MSMEs to less talked about issues such as; the differently abled workforce and what could be done to make the work places more inclusive.

In his keynote address, Chief Economic Advisor Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian touched upon some key trends, such as movement of labour from agriculture to services sector, and from less remunerative to more remunerative sectors and encouraged the young generation to prioritize education and work hard. "With right education and skills, many opportunities would open for you," he said.

'State of Jobs in India 2019' report produced by Grameen Foundation India was launched and a keynote address was delivered by Dr. Manish Kumar, MD and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation and Mr. Kiran DM, CEO of ONGC Foundation. The issue around changing skill requirements in jobs, and the need to reorient education and skilling in line with the changing skill demand got the maximum prominence in the conference. Importance of entrepreneurship, startups, impact investment and green jobs as the driver for job creation and addressing climate change were emphasized. Falling workforce participation of women came out as an important concern and barriers faced by women in entering and continuing in work were discussed in detail.

Prabhat Labh, CEO of Grameen Foundation India said, "The nature of jobs are changing. We need to equip our young people with the right skills, education and support so that they can leverage new job opportunities and are encouraged to become self -employed and create jobs for others by pursuing entrepreneurship." "While being a business person is lucrative, it takes time to become successful, and it is difficult to sustain ourselves in the initial startup phase," said a young student Kanhaiya.

"This conference is held at the perfect time. NSDC is putting together a framework for recognition of prior learning in the skilling sector. We are also trying to put together a fund called 'Nirvana fund' to support startups," said Dr. Manish Kumar, the NSDC CEO.

To be held annually, facilitated by Grameen Foundation India, The Jobs Conference (www.TheJobsConference.org) is supported by Skill India under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the sector skill councils on agriculture, BFSI sector and People with Disabilities aims to

• Deliberate and learn about how to make progress on the situation of jobs, self-employment and entrepreneurship.
• How digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, platform economy and Data Science could create new opportunities, while traditional jobs see a reduction.
• Understanding the barriers faced by women, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups and action points to ensure greater equity and diversity in job market.

About Grameen Foundation India

Grameen Foundation India is a leading social impact organization, providing technical assistance to development institutions in India. Over the years, we have developed a rich and deep understanding of low-income segments. We provide technical assistance to some of the leading and fastest-growing development institutions. GFI has a core expertise in the financial and digital financial services space and helps create breakthrough solutions that reach underserved populations, particularly women. A unique aspect of Grameen's work is its deeply rooted research and analytics capability, which ensure that the products, channels and institutional strategies are aligned with the customer needs and also address institutional priorities.

Media Contact:

Ronisha Bhattacharyya
[email protected]  
+91-8697079508
Manager : Communications & Social
Grameen Foundation India

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