Plugging the skill gap

It is a shortcoming that India Inc. is familiar with. Vast number of job seekers whose existing skill-sets make them unemployable. Now a new venture, Vocational Academy, has created a business model to fill this gap.

The company, headed by its MD, A.P. Srivatsan, promises to provide employable skills to rural youth at a cost of up to Rs 7,499 for a three-month course. Language, computer skills and work-environment-related concepts are taught here.

The Academy plans to spend Rs 100 crore over the next seven years in rolling out learning centres in every district of India.

It has been seeded by funds (Rs 3.5 crore) from the Chennai-based IFMR Trust.

—Shalini S. Dagar