Patna: ICICI Academy for Skills (ICICI Academy) yesterday announced the launch of a centre in Patna, to provide vocational training to the youth from the economically weaker sections to help them earn a sustainable livelihood.
The centre will offer courses in four disciplines Рelectrical & home appliance repair, refrigeration & air conditioning repair, pumps & motor repair and retail caf̩ operations.
Rameshwar Singh, Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Bihar and Nimesh Shah, CEO, ICICI Prudential AMC, inaugurating the ICICI Academy for Skills in Patna
ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation) started the ICICI Academy in line with its plan to promote inclusive growth. ICICI Academy aims to train 5,000 youth at nine training centres across the country in the first year of operation.
Announcing the launch, Nimesh Shah, MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential AMC said: “The ICICI Group, through its CSR and business initiatives, has worked towards building a social infrastructure that can help every person engage in productive and remunerative economic activity. The ICICI Academy has been set up as an extension of this belief wherein, we will look towards developing vocational skills in youth to help them earn a sustainable livelihood. We hope that the skills learned through this academy will equip individuals to play an important role in driving India’s growth story in the coming decades.â€
Over the past five years, the ICICI Group and ICICI Foundation’s CSR philosophy has been focusing on four key areas namely primary healthcare, elementary education, skill development for sustainable livelihood and financial inclusion, enabling people to participate in the economic opportunities arising in India. These initiatives have impacted the lives of more than 10 million people across the country.
After launching its maiden centre in Jaipur in October 2013, ICICI Academy launched centres in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Coimbatore and Narsobawadi (Maharashtra). Guwahati Centre of the Academy is being launched next week.
In addition to the training offered at the centres, ICICI Academy provides uniforms, meals and all relevant course material to the students. Each centre also has a library for the students to use.
The key highlights of ICICI Academy are:
Total eight courses on offer: electrical & home appliance repair, refrigeration & air conditioning repair, pumps & motor repair, central air conditioning repair for class VIII pass –outs; selling skills, web designing, office administration and retail café operations for class X pass-outs.
The courses are 12 weeks in duration.
ICICI Foundation has tied up with several partners for generating the content of these courses. The partners are: Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd. for electrical & home appliance repair, Blue Star Ltd. for refrigeration & air-conditioning repair, Crompton Greaves Ltd. for pumps & motor repair, Voltas Ltd. for central air-conditioning repair, NIIT Ltd. for web designing, Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd. for office administration and Café Coffee Day (CCD) for retail café operations.
ICICI Academy and CCD are introducing a course on retail café operations which will be taught at the Patna, Guwahati and Pune centres of the Academy. CCD will assist the Academy in the design of the course curriculum, setting up of the labs and in the development of professional trainers. Additionally, they will also employ the students passing out from the Academy. CCD has worked with several NGOs with an aim to bridge the gap between urban and rural youth by training the economically underprivileged and making sure they find employment. However, this is the first time that they will be working on this kind of initiative with a corporate.
ICICI Foundation has created an online job portal where the trained youth can
register themselves. The portal is promoted among potential employers. It was founded by the ICICI Group in early 2008, with a view to carry forward and build upon ICICI Group’s legacy of promoting inclusive growth.