AP State ropes in Alibaba to skill its youth

In a significant step towards improving the employability of youth, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has roped in the e-commerce giant, Alibaba, to impart technical and marketing skills to the job-seekers and absorb the talented ones among them.

Taking this initiative forward, Ministers N. Lokesh (Panchayat Raj and Information Technology) and Bhuma Akhila Priya (Tourism) held talks with Wonder Chan, the Chinese company’s India business development head, and Sanjay Sharma, Global Head of TDI International, a leading outdoor advertising firm and a partner of Alibaba, in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Addressing the media later, Ms. Akhila Priya said the collaboration with Alibaba would be helpful to those eyeing a career in sectors such as tourism, where skills play a crucial role in customer acquisition and retention. Alibaba’s expertise would enable the State bridge the skill gap, she said.

Under the agreement with the the company, it is to impart technical training in e-commerce to the unemployed youth and provide them jobs. Ms Akhila Priya said within 10 days, the AP government would sign an MoU with the Alibaba company in this regard. The Minister informed that initially she held discussions with the representatives of Alibaba company for employment generation in Tourism department.

However, it was proposed to expand the programme to other sectors also. In this regard, Alibaba company Business Development Head in India, Wonder Chang, TDI Global Head Sanjay Sharma held discussions with Mr Nara Lokesh. Mr Wonder Chang said the company would impart training to over 20,000 unemployed youth in e-commerce, marketing and technical training in order to augment their employment opportunities and help them getting jobs.

Alibaba is so far the biggest company dealing in e-commerce, and with which the government has firmed up a deal for skill development as it seeks to improve the quality of its human resource, particularly the educated youth who constitute the most valuable chunk of the State’s human capital.

This is against the backdrop of the focus laid down by the government on promoting the services sector, whose contribution to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) assumes greater weightage vis-à-vis the targeted double-digit growth.

Article Source: http://www.thehindu.com 

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