At VivaTech, IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna announced a new partnership with 30 global organisations including governments, community colleges, nonprofits and employment agencies, focused on improving underserved population’s skills and employability. 11 organisations from India will be part of the collaboration and will contribute to IBM’s total goal of 500,000 by the end of 2021 through the IBM SkillsBuild program.
According to the World Economic Forum, closing the global skills gap could add US$ 11.5 trillion to global GDP by 2028, but education and training systems need to keep pace with market demands. In addition, as reflected in a new study from the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), job seekers are facing big challenges, and one in four consumers surveyed globally plan to switch employers in 2021.
“Closing the global skills gap is one of the most pressing issues of our time. That is why I am proud of these partnerships, which will help people of all backgrounds acquire the skills they need to thrive in a fast-changing global economy,” said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM.
The alliances span 12 countries, close to 30 organizations, including 11 from India – The American Indian Foundation Trust, Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development, CSC Academy, CSRBOX, Edunet Foundation, Training Point, Reacha Foundation, Tata Community Initiatives Trust, Unnati Foundation, Uvi Jagriti Sansthan and Jeevitam-VSS Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd.
These organisations will leverage the online learning program IBM SkillsBuild with their members, mostly underserved populations such as veterans, women, minorities, refugees, and unemployed young adults. The program is designed to empower job seekers within six months with professional workplace readiness and technical skills, earn badges and credentials recognized by the market, in local languages, and with personal mentoring.
In addition, ManpowerGroup, a world leading workforce solutions company, plans to connect these job seekers to real career opportunities. ManpowerGroup’s Experis brand – global leaders in IT resourcing – will provide data-driven insight on the tech roles employers are seeking to fill, leveraging its experience developing talent and connecting people to positions in cloud and infrastructure, cyber security, data analysis, digital workspace and enterprise applications. ManpowerGroup’s Talent Agents will offer assessment, coaching and personalised support to help learners from organisations in this collaboration to access growth roles and build employability for the long-term.
“70 per cent of employers cannot find the skills they need for roles like data analytics, software development and remote customer service. The only way we can address this acute talent shortage is through partnerships across business, government and education. That’s why we are pleased to partner with companies like IBM who share our mission to create a more skilled and diverse workforce, so everyone is able to have a more equitable share of prosperity,” said Jonas Prising, Chairman and CEO, ManpowerGroup.
“IBM India is committed to empowering our nation’s workforce with the new-age skills required to build careers in the digital age. In 2019, we introduced the SkillsBuild program in India in collaboration with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) and Ministry of Skills Development (MSDE) and have trained over 100,000 learners through the program so far. Eleven Indian organisations joining the global alliance will give a huge fillip to not just bridging the skill gap in India, but also in initiating learners on the right career path by connecting them to the best opportunities,” said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India.