1.

Skill development in India- Way forward

2. Women Entrepreneurship in South Asia- Way forward

by

Natasha Arora
14PGHR41

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon 122 007
May, 2015

1. Skill development in India- Way forward

2. Women Entrepreneurship in South Asia- Way forward

by

Natasha Arora

Under the guidance of

Mr. Kamlesh Vyas
Director
EY LLP

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon 122 007
May, 2015

Contents

1. Introduction About the Company----------------------------------------------------- 4

2. Executive Summary------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

3. Methodology--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

4. Things done so far------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

5. Questionnaire for Women Entrepreneurs------------------------------------------- 9

6. Way Forward for the Project------------------------------------------------------------ 13

INTRODUCTION

About the Company:

Ernst & Young Global Limited (known as EY) is a multinational professional services firm
headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the "Big Four" audit firms and is the third
largest professional services firm in the world by aggregated revenue in 2014.
The organization operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in
individual countries. It has 190,000 employees in over 700 offices around 150 countries in the world.
It provides assurance (including financial audit), tax, consulting and advisory services to companies
The firm dates back to 1849 with the founding of Harding & Pullein in England. The current firm
was formed by a merger of Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co. in 1989.It was known as Ernst
& Young until 2013, when it underwent a rebranding to EY. The acronym "EY" was already an
informal name for the firm prior to its official adoption.
EY is the most globally managed of the Big Four firms. EY Global sets global standards and
oversees global policy and consistency of service, with client work being performed by its member
firms.
Each EY member country is organized as part of one of four areas. This is different from other
professional services networks which are more centrally managed.
The four areas are:

EMEIA: Europe, Middle East, India and Africa

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Japan

Each area has an identical business structure and one management team that is led by an Area
Managing Partner who is part of the Global Executive board. The aim of this structure is to
effectively cater for an increasingly global clientele, who have multinational interests.

Executive Summary

1. Knowledge and skill are the two critical factors that determine the extent of economic
development and social growth of a country. Countries with a highly skilled workforce have
better productivity and growth. India aims to have a skilled workforce of 500 million by
2022. Around 93% (at present) of the Indian workforce is employed in the unorganized
sector, which lacks any formal skill development system. For the GDP to grow at 8% to 9%,
it is required that the secondary and tertiary sectors grow at 10% to 11%, respectively,
assuming agriculture grows at 4%. This will necessitate the migration of a major portion of
the workforce from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary sectors. However, the
skill sets required in the manufacturing and the service sectors are very different from those in
the agriculture sector. Therefore, we can conclude that there will be large skill gaps in the
coming years, due to the migration, which can only be bridged with the help of large-scale
skill development. In the pre-independence era, skill development did not exist as the only
way a skill was transferred from one person to another was through lineage. However, this
has changed in the post-independence era. Currently, several agencies have been set up for
the purpose of building a strong network of skill development. The National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) has been set up with an aim to skill 150 million people,
i.e., approximately 30% of the workforce during 20152022. The recently established
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is envisaged to play an important role in
the Prime Ministers Make in India, Digital India, Clean India, Skill India and other priority
initiatives.
2. Entrepreneurship has been recognized as an enabler for increasing the economic productivity
of a country. Traditionally, entrepreneurship has been considered a male-driven field.
However, these stereotypes are breaking now with an increased number of women coming
forth and stating their entrepreneurial units. The perception about women better suited for
house-hold work is breaking and women entrepreneurship is now being seen as an untapped
field that can contribute significantly in employment generation and improve the social status
of women. In spite of these changing stereotypes, the percentage of women entrepreneurs is
less than 10% in South Asia as compared to 30% all over the world. Even though women
constitute half of the population of South Asia, the number of women participating in income
generating activities is dismal. Apart from the poor numbers of women in the field of
entrepreneurship, there is also not enough representation in different sectors across industries.
Primarily, roles taken up by women are in the agriculture, education and other low potential
service sectors. In light of the above mentioned aspects, a primary research has been
conducted by circulating a survey to 60 women entrepreneurs to understand their journey into
becoming an entrepreneur. Secondary research has also been conducted to study the current

landscape of women entrepreneurship development and the best practices globally. This
report finally aims to create an EY point of view that will encourage more women to break
the shackles that have prevented them from starting their own enterprise.

Methodology:
Step 1: Understand the current landscape for Skill Development in India.
Secondary research focusing on review of:

Initiatives undertaken by several ministries and skill development agencies

Review of reports on skill development

Review of skill initiatives in other countries

Benchmarking with respect to different countries

Critiquing the current initiatives by skill development agencies

Step 2: Provide recommendations from EY on strengthening skill initiatives

Kaushal Sangam or India Skills Integrator

Gram Kaushal Sangam or Village Level Skill Development Integrator

Promotion of entrepreneurship at panchayat level

Step 3: Present the report at PHD Chambers event on Skilling India for Global Competitiveness

Release of the report by Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India

Analyze different perspectives on Skill Development by notable speakers from NSDC,

MoRD, PHDCCI

Step 4: Understand the current landscape for Women Entrepreneurship Development in South Asia
Secondary research focusing on review of:

Initiatives undertaken by the World Bank

Case studies on successful women entrepreneurs

Studying the major roadblocks currently in the way of WED

Review of different initiatives taken up by countries across the world

Step 5: Design a survey for 60 successful women entrepreneurs

Step 6: Administer the survey

Step 7: Collect and analyse the responses

Step 8: Prepare an EY point of view on Women Entrepreneurship Development

Things done so far:

1. Understand the current landscape for Skill Development in India.
For any countrys growth and development, it is imperative to create a skilled and capable workforce
that supports an inclusive growth. Skill development is a tool that enables the
growth of an individual, an organization and a country. Only 6%10% of the workforce in India is
skilled (1%2% formally trained and 5%8% informally trained), as compared to 96% in Korea,
80% in Japan, 75% in Germany and 65% in the UK. The Twelfth Five Year Plan targets a mark of
25%. It aims to set up 1,500 new ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes)/ITCs (Industrial Training
Centres) and 50,000 skill development centres by 2022.
By 2020, there will be shortage of 47 million skilled workforce globally, whereas India will have a
surplus of 56 million people. India requires to impart skills to around 12 million people every year.
However, currently, we have a capacity to train only 3 million people per year. India has the
advantage of the demographic dividend, due to an increase in the working population, i.e., the 1559
years age bracket. Utilizing this demographic dividend through appropriate skill development
programs will enable India to increase productivity, and also reduce skill shortage. 90% of the jobs
generated in the Indian economy are skill based. However, there is a gap in what the industry
demands and what the academic institutions offer. There are not enough vocational courses offered to
students in the education system through which they can acquire a skill set that will help them secure
a job. There are also not enough transparent progression pathways in the system that can offer the
students flexibility in choosing a stream, or the ability to make a transition to other streams.

However, the Government has realized the need for a skilled workforce for the countrys progress
and is already taking steps to build a comprehensive skill development system in India.

2. Recommendations from EY
5.1 Kaushal Sangam or India Skills Integrator
Kaushal Sangam, or India Skills Integrator, is an online platform to integrate all stakeholders
(corporations, training organizations, employment seekers, schools, focusing on vocational
education, and government bodies focused on skill development) on a single platform and create an
online market place for skills, skill funds, certification and employment. An online platform, such as
the one mentioned, is relevant in order to ensure that the stakeholders of skill development initiatives
do not work in isolation. It is intended to serve as a single platform that matches the demand with the
supply across the country.
5.2 Gram Kaushal Sangam or Village level Skill Development and Employment Model
Skill development and employment creation at villages is generally faced with the following road
blocks:
Lack of physical skill development infrastructure
Lack of trainers
Inappropriateness of urban skill development content in the rural context
Lack of telecom connectivity, making technology-enabled solutions difficult to deploy
Lack of reliable road connectivity to urban centres
Lack of employment opportunities in rural areas
In light of the aforementioned roadblocks we can use some of the existing resources that every
village most certainly has.
A few retired Army jawans, who retire at 38-40 years of age after their permanent commission,
have at least two decades of working life left.
A railway station where few trains stop but which has an all-weather shelter, reliable electricity,
potable drinking water, telecommunication.
Low cost of land
5.3 Design and rollout of a national program for promoting entrepreneurship at Panchayat
levels
There is need for developing and encouraging entrepreneurship at the gram level using the following
means:
An analysis for entrepreneurship opportunities can be conducted in select districts across the
country. Based on the results of the study, target business segments, skill standards and curriculum
for entrepreneurship, development can be identified.
Leading institutes in the area of entrepreneurship development can be brought on board to certify
the program.
An integrated program design including target districts, mobilization strategy, training program
content, entry tests for trainees, funding (micro-finance model), ongoing mentoring support after
launch of ventures, etc. can be developed.
Target districts can be identified along with the development of State Skill Missions, to seek buy in,
and support for rollout.
Pilot districts can be identified for the launch of the program.
The program can be launched and the pilot conducted. The learnings can be assimilated along with
updating the program design, if required.

 Thereafter, a final launch can be done across all the target districts.
A detailed program management structure to monitor effective rollout.
The program will help a larger section of the workforce, especially in rural areas, take up profitable
entrepreneurship ventures.

3. Presentation of the report at PHD Chambers event

The report was published and presented at the PHD Chambers event on Skilling India.

4. Understand the landscape for Women Entrepreneurship Development in South Asia

South Asia has the largest number of economically deprived and malnourished people. It is
extremely important to ensure economic progress in this region in order to alleviate poverty,
ensure peace and security and extend the benefits of trade to other parts of the world. One of the
ways to improve the economic conditions of South Asian countries is by engaging women in
economic development through entrepreneurial activities. However, in South Asia, less than 10%
of the entrepreneurs are women. As per a World Economic Forum report on Global Gender Gap
conducted for 136 countries, South Asia was ranked the lowest. While Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
ranked 55 and 75 respectively, India Nepal and Pakistan ranked poorly at 97, 101 and 135
respectively. Womens labour force participation in South Asia is among the lowest in the world
at just 36 percent. Women also face discrimination such as gender pay gaps, segregation in
occupations and glass ceiling. As of 2012, agriculture accounted for 69 per cent of female
employment in South Asia while 83 per cent of women were estimated to be employed in
vulnerable sectors.
There are some challenges within South Asia that are country-specific. For instance, some of the
challenges faced by Pakistani women are restriction on mobility, limited decision making,
childcare obligations and lack of role models. In Pakistan, in order to obtain a bank loan, a
woman needs to be accompanied by two male persons, one of them being a non-relative. It is
extremely difficult for a woman to get support from a non-relative male. Similarly, in Nepal,
gender disparity is quite evident in the literacy rates (42.8% for girls as compared to 68% for
boys) 5. In Afghanistan, women entrepreneurs struggle to get funds due to widespread corruption
and nepotism in the banking sector. In addition, the opportunities for starting businesses which
require foreign investment are limited as foreign investors are reluctant in investing in
Afghanistan due to security issues.

5. Survey design for 60 successful women entrepreneurs

Name: ____________________________________________________________________
Age group:
o Below 20 years
o 21-30 years
o 31-40 years

o 41-50 years
o Above 50 years
Educational background:
o
o
o
o
o

Primary education (Grade 1 to 10)

Secondary education (Grade 10+)
Tertiary education (University / college education)
Post-Graduate (MBA / M.Sc / M.Tech)
PHD holder

Work experience:
o
o
o
o

Less than 1 year

1-5 years
6-10 years
Above 10 years

Marital status:
o
o
o
o

Single
Married
Divorced
Widowed

Do you have children? If yes please state how many.

________________________________________________________________________
What is the legal ownership status of your business?
o
o
o
o
o

Sole ownership
Joint ownership
Family business
Cooperation
Others (Please Specify)________________________________________________

What is the sector of activities of your company?

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Trade
Retail
Technical (Hardware / software)
Manufacturing
Services
Handicraft
Agriculture

o Others (Please specify)_______________________________________________

What is the size of your enterprise?
o
o
o
o

Micro (1-9 employees)

Small (10-49 employees)
Medium (50-249 employees)
Large (Above 250 employees)

When did you establish your business? Please indicate year.

______________________________________________________________________
What motivated you to start up your own business? (Tick the ones that you find most applicable to
your situation)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Did not want to work for anyone else

Wanted freedom of decision making
Wanted to help out with the economic burden of the family
Wanted to set an example in the society
To make money/profits
To introduce a new product/ service into the markets
To pursue a passion/ fulfil a dream
Other (Please Specify)_________________________________________________

What were the obstacles that you faced while setting up your own business? (Tick the ones that you
find most applicable to your situation)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

No obstacles
Lack of funds/ financials
Lack of self-confidence
Lack of prior experience
Lack of information on how to start an enterprise
Lack of formal education/ vocational training
Gender discrimination
Lack of support from family members
Difficulty in managing work and family life
Other (Please specify)_________________________________________________

How did you acquire the skill for running your business?
o
o
o
o

Formal business education

Past experiences
From family
Other (Please Specify)_________________________________________________

Where did you find the funding to start your enterprise with?
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Personal savings
Household
Borrowed from relatives/friends
Micro finance institutions
Took loan from a bank
Assistance from NGOs
Other (Please Specify)_________________________________________________

Who was you primary role model while starting up your business?
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Father
Mother
Spouse
Other family member
Teacher
Already established entrepreneur
Other (Please Specify)_________________________________________________

What are the obstacles that you are currently facing while running your business?
o
o
o
o
o

No obstacles
Combining family and work life
Training/ upgrading skills
Low budget for PR and other marketing activities
Gaining acceptance of people

On a scale of 1 to 5, rate the following factors in running your business in terms of importance, 1
being extremely important, 3 being moderately important and 5 being not important at all.
Access to capital for current business needs
Access to capital for long term investment
Access to property, land
Business premises
Access to training and technical assistance
Acquiring and retaining qualified employees
Keeping up with technological changes
Reducing cost of public services
(Water, electricity)

1
o
o
o

2
o
o
o

3
o
o
o

4
o
o
o

5
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

What do you think is the most important support that women entrepreneurs can receive in their early
days?
o Financial support
o Legal advice
o Technical support
o Networking
o Moral support
o Other (Please specify)_________________________________________________
What do you think are the challenges women entrepreneur face in South Asia that a male may not
face or a women entrepreneur may not face in developed countries?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Any other inputs related to women entrepreneurship development?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________

Way Forward for the Project:

6. Administer the survey and wait for the responses
7. Collect and analyse the responses and prepare an EY point of view
8. Prepare the final report