Nasscom ties up with SNDT varsity to launch entrepreneurship courses for undergrads

If a matriarch is cooking for three at home, could she not use her skills to cook for five more people and sell the food to offices nearby where people would prefer to buy home-cooked food than buy from restaurants? This was an idea that Dr Sandhya Chintala, Executive Director, SSC Nasscom and Vice President Nasscom kindled in a chat with faculty members at the Sreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University today.

Women entrepreneurship does not entail women going out of their homes, if that is a constraint that puts paid to entrepreneurship, pointed out Chintala. The platter for entrepreneurship is wide like cooking, making handicrafts,candle making, glass painting, et al. All these talents can be made commercially successful too.

One of the ways Nasscom is tapping into the entrepreneurship skills of women is to harness potential entrepreneurs at universities by providing them with the necessary training. In Mumbai for the first time the IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council Nasscom (SSC Nasscom) signed an MoU with Sreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University to launch the Global Business for Foundation Skills (GBFS) and Foundation Skills in IT (FSIT).

Need of hour

The IT-BPM industry has a huge requirement of students with the right knowledge, aptitude and skills who could be life-long learners empowered to meet the challenges of this dynamic industry, said Chintala.

The Indian IT–BPM Industry currently employs about 3.1 million people directly and offers about nine million people indirect employment opportunities.

As per Nasscom’s research report “Perspective 2020”, this industry has a potential to create about 30 million employment opportunities (direct and indirect) by 2020.

Warehouse for students Nasscom has set up a warehouse in Vashi which will be functional within a fortnight. Experts from the startup industry will provide mentorship to faculty and students at SNDT. However, this is open to other colleges in Mumbai who are interested in the concept.

The warehouse will function as an incubator where students will be taught about the legal, financial, taxation concerns with regard to business for a six-month period. It will also hold hackathons, debates etc to hone the business talent of students.

As a first step, Nasscom will train faculty which is used to a classroom-based teaching method and giving assignments to students that they can do at their homes. Chintala said the aim will be for teachers to get students to come up with business ideas, debate them in the classroom and do field studies in a group. Students will be encouraged to use Google and Wikipedia to enhance knowledge on business and take notes online.

A movement such as this can help bring more women into the entrepreneurship arena, said Chintala. “When one woman in a family is trained towards entrepreneurship, the entire family benefits as many more members then chip in towards that venture,” she added.

What students can learn

Under the MoU, SSC Nasscom will also provide guidelines and recommendations related to aspects of the GBFS and FSIT program, such as faculty selection, student selection, infrastructure for training and evaluation etc.

The strategic alliance with the institute will offer GBFS & FSIT program to all undergraduate students as an add-on course to enhance their employability skills.

The university will be introducing these skill-based courses under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to students (technology/non-technology) from the next semester January 2016, said  Dr. Vasudha Kamat, Vice Chancellor, SNDT Women’s University. The courses will be opened to non-IT course students at the University.

SSC Nasscom is the skill standard setting body of the IT-ITeS Industry and is the education and skill development initiative of Nasscom. The council works with Nasscom industry members, select academic and skill development institutions to help improve the quality and quantity of the employable workforce available to the industry.

Though this is the first university SSC Nasscom has inked the MoU with in Mumbai, it has tied up with universities in Kerala, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, and Chennai and plan to set up warehouses in these states with the collaboration of the respective state governments. A warehouse has been set up in Bangalore.

So the next time a student has an idea for a business, he/she can seek expert help and be job ready even while in college itself.