NSN celebrated World MSME Day with a Panel Discussion on “COVID-19: Its impact on skilling for the MSME sector”

On the occasion of World MSME Day, Team NSN organized a virtual panel discussion on “COVID-19 its impact on skilling for the MSME sector” on 27th June 2020. The esteemed panelists, Mr. Vishal Jindal Chairman, Skills and Entrepreneurship Committee PHDCCI; Ms. K Rama Devi Founder, ALEAP: Manish Kothari MD, Rhino Machines; and Mr. Ashish Garde Director, CMIA Skill Hub Aurangabad for engaging in an enlightening conversation with Dr. Madhuri Dubey, Founder, NSN.

World MSME Day is dedicated towards raising awareness of the need for greater investment into small and medium businesses in developing countries and celebrates the gigantic contribution by the smaller companies to the global economy.

The virtual panel discussion was moderated by our founder, Dr Madhuri Dubey where the panelists shared their thoughts on reviving the MSMEs on the occasion.

The panel discussion began with Mr. Vishal Jindal who talked about the importance of skill development in the MSME sector and how it needs to match with the current requirements of the industry. The nature of the job is going to change post COVID-19, for which the skill development should be aligned with the industry needs. Only a few sectors will create a demand. Skill development and training for the priority jobs is a challenge. The shortage of workforce because of reverse migration should be addressed properly by the skill mapping and upskilling of the local workforce. PHDCCI is working closely with the industry representatives to understand the needs of the present situation to prepare for the future.

Talking about the challenges in the MSME sector, Ms. Rama Devi, enlightened the audience with many aspects of the MSME sectors. Talking about the skilling needs of MSMEs, she talked about the need for vocational education from school level. Giving the example of the work integrated learning in Germany, she focused on the high level training of women for their better livelihood and not stereotyping them to fit into certain low level job roles. She emphasized on the importance Dual skilling at the school level.

Mr. Manish Kothari talked about the need for industry integrated education. He also talked about the strengthening of ITIs through various initiatives by giving the example of various training programs at Rhino Machines. With their practical and hands-on training, MSME owners should be invited into the education system. Their practical knowledge will help the students gain required knowledge.

Mr. Ashish Garde talked about the importance of MSME sectors in our country. He emphasized on the various happenings and initiatives taken by CMIA’s skill training. He also enlightened the audience regarding their partnership with GIZ to improve the skilling operation through industry intervention. With the current scenario and changing job roles,  The need for industry intervention is much higher than ever. For the sustainability and growth of MSMEs, the skilling should be provided to the local manpower to reduce the skilled workforce challenge faced by the MSMEs in the recent crisis.

MSMEs are an important part of larger national and global value chains and their health has a bearing on supply chains overall and indeed the ability to supply numerous goods and services. MSMEs have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and recovery will only be possible proper industry and government intervention.