NSN Connect 2022 – Re-igniting the Skilling Landscape in India – Episode 8

The eighth episode of the NSN Connect 2022 series broadly focused on connecting skills with entrepreneurship.

NSN Connect 2022 on Re-igniting the skilling landscape in India is an initiative by Team NSN to learn about these areas. The esteemed guest of the eight-episode series is Mr. Rajesh A R, CEO, LabourNet who is a thought leader and domain expert who will share his experience and expertise on various aspects that are crucial to re-ignite the skilling landscape in India.

Here is the excerpt from the eighth episode. To watch the full episode, please visit our YouTube channel.

NSN Connect 2022 – Episode 8: The connection between skills and entrepreneurship

Out of the 500 million people who are in the working population, let’s take around 80 per cent of them as the informal side which leads to 400 million. Of that, 50 per cent are self-employed. They are not self-employed or entrepreneurs by choice but are because of the circumstances. Lack of opportunities, lack of skillsets, education, and access to credit are the reasons to be self-employed. When you correlate 40 per cent of the country as below the poverty line, these statistics don’t match and are forced to be a self-employee.

We need to pull them to the daily or monthly wage workers by providing access to the skillsets, market information, building capacity and access to credit.

Entrepreneurship, self-employment and business

When we look at the numbers in terms of the formal sector, they become the torchbearers but directly employing people in the formal sector jobs is minimal. They may not be found by a lot of employment contracts.

It is very critical to have a role model as he/she is the informal sector needs to get formalized. Today, the value chain created by the formal sector needs to get compiled.

Access to funding, marketing and rural entrepreneurship

Life has changed post-COVID-19. Now, it is the era of platforms which are the biggest optimistic factor. Platforms like agriculture framing trades bring in the skill sets through which they can acquire skills to equip themselves as well. They have a better connection to the market regarding the price and products. Any entrepreneur should embrace the digital platform and then look to improve productivity, capacity and connection towards wages where they can acquire more skills.

Barriers to entrepreneurship: mindset, ability to take risks

Bringing an entrepreneurial skilling or training into schools is the first basic step. We need to identify the structure and nurture them from an early stage. There is a need to create incubation labs to be able to nurture.

Secondly, parents discourage their kids from being an entrepreneur because of the financial risk. The access to capital to be an entrepreneur today comes at an interest cost ranging from 26 per cent to 32 per cent. This makes their business plan more viable. Reducing this cost of interest to these sets of people will mitigate a lot of financial risks. By bringing in CSR, and credit guarantee schemes, the financial risk element is hugely subsided to make the business successful.

Also Read: NSN Connect 2022 – Re-igniting the Skilling Landscape in India – Episode 7 https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/nsn-connect-2022-re-igniting-the-skilling-landscape-in-india-episode-7/

Action items

1. Formal sector entrepreneurship – changing reality with funds coming from venture capitalists being associated and entrepreneurship ideas are getting funded.
2. Informal sector entrepreneurship – how do we create a group of like-minded people to create cooperative entrepreneurship where the community can come together and have financial support.
3. Ensuring entrepreneurship – awareness of the change in the mindsets, capability, financial and social risk should be created from the school level education.