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Small Town SkillingCast asideWaghmare cannily observed how mostof the big players in this space were onlytargeting the big cities. Again, it wasonly the graduates and post-graduateswho got the most attention from theseplayers and consequently, the jobs.

No one was really looking at theboys and girls from Middle India whohad a basic level of education. "Youthin cities can manage to get a job after afew months of struggle. But people fromTier II and Tier III cities consistently faceproblems," believes Waghmare, FounderVertois Training and Consultancy.

In 2012, Waghmare built a modelto penetrate the interior parts ofMaharashtra and approached theRetail Association of India (RA!) with aproposal for a training program for ClassXII pass students. Retail was the rightsector, he believed, given the high ratesof attrition and the lack of trained staff.

The RAIpartnership gave Waghmarecontent for retail training designed byhuman resource (HR) managers fromvarious retail organizations. Traineesof this program receive a RAI certif-icate on completion of the course.Waghmare says that the first batch ofsix students from Pune was trained inmid-2012 and soon quickly placed in theretail sector.

Staying on course with regard to fill-ing the gap in sectors facing high attri-tion and constant shortage in staff,Waghmare targeted the quick servicerestaurant (QSR) sector next, where hewas successful in the training programhe conducted.

These two pilot programs encour-aged Waghmare to open a smalloffice in Solapur in October 2012.

Vertois Training and Consultancy trains job aspirants from Middle India

• ASHNA AMBRE

Last year, in a column for TheNew York Times, a senior part-ner at a well-known consult-ing firm brought to the

mainstream what people within IndiaInc. always knew-a major chunk of thenation's graduates. and post-graduateswere unemployable. The skills and theaptitude required by the industry werefound wanting though grades and marksheets were aplenty. Some of the basicrequirements, like a fair knowledge ofEnglish and technical know-how werenot being met with by India's secondaryand higher education system.

The Indian government took note ofit. One of its recently announced devel-opmental goals is to employ 500 millionyouth by 2020 and the National SkillDevelopment Corporation was set uptowards this aim. But experts know thatthe government can't pull this off alone.The private sector would have to pitch into solve its own headache.

The gapNiranjan Waghmare spent a decade anda half in corporate life after his engi-neering degree; 13 of them in Europe.In 2010, he came back to India to headan American firm, where he had a cushybut albeit restless tenure.

Waghmare was one of the many whosaw the need for increased private sectorparticipation in skills training. He hadbeen directly affected by this skills gap-the problems he faced while employingpeople from India during his stint inthe West were still fresh in his memory."Our managers in India would interviewa lot of people and select a very smallpercentage of that big group. I saw first-hand about the gap people were talking

about," he recollects. Waghmare quithis job in 2011, and in August of thatsame year, set up Pune-based skilltraining company, Vertois Training and

- Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. with a seed capi-tal of ns lakh. Waghmare knew thatthe gap he was looking to address waslarge-even one percent of the oppor-tunity could be a huge revenue driver.

ON THE RISEPOPULATION

INCREASE FROM2001 TO 2026

83PRECENTOFTHISINCREASEWILLEEIN15-59 AGEGROUP

~~If thisdemographicdividend isharnessedby 2025,then India'sper capitaincome will be

$4,100 (~2,21,400) in 2025

$9,802 (~5,29,308) in 2040

$20,836 (~11,25,144)by 2050

Source: UNDP India and NSDC July 2012 report

-~'t~~~"'~'S'S~"Q,\\'i:'S~'l'li&'!ii!ii&~'1i1ii!fiii!!!&ii!i!iiii!ii!iiii!!iII&~'!ii!ii&*'i; eThe power to do more

PROVIDING SKILLS: Niranjan Waghmare III NACHIKETGUJAR

From there, his company has beencarrying out training programs oneafter the other targeting the twoaforementioned sectors.

A right mixWaghmare says his training programsare a mix of theory and practical class-room training, where he uses external

specialist trainers. For instance, studentsof the QSR course will be trained inconversational English, operatingkitchen equipment, and understandingdifferent menus.

The idea is to apprise students withthe responsibilities expected of them,and then equip them with the skillsrequired to cater to the job profile.

Shruti Raghuvanshi, a former student,and now a customer care executive withShopper's Stop says that personalitydevelopment and communication skillswere an important part of the program."But it was the special emphasis on allaspects of the retail business with adescription of job profiles that helpedme a lot," she says.

Waghmare included corporate train-ing to his packages in early 20l3. Earlierthis year, he also diversified into thehospitality sector, and the underservedsub-segment of housekeeping services.For the retail and QSR sector, Vertois hasalready trained 120 students.

According to Waghmare, course feesare between ~8,500 to n5,000 withthe corporate training packages beingthe costliest.

Having established centers in Puneand Solapur, Waghmare now plans toenter Aurangabad, Nagpur and Kolhapurby 2014. Depending on the success,Vertois will enter other states in 2015.

Waghmare thinks aloud and artic-ulates his doubts about the abilityof students from smaller cities notresponding well to city life or gettingintimidated when they are on the job."We explain this challenge that studentsmay face during the program so theyare mentally prepared, but still thereare issues," he claims. He would know,being a small town boy from Solapur. [j 1

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