Amway India, one of India’s largest Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) direct selling companies, has reinforced its alignment with the Government’s Skill India by conducting a series of training sessions for its direct sellers in association with Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India (RASCI).

Amway India held a three-hour intensive training workshop in Mumbai in collaboration with Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India (RASCI) for its direct sellers to certify them as ‘Individual Sales Professional,’ a certification based on National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

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Till date, Amway has certified its 8600 Direct Sellers as ‘Individual Sales Professional’ by conducting training programs all over India and now it plans to scale the training and skilling initiatives and get 51,000 direct sellers certified by 2020.

The company recently renewed its partnership with RASCI traction to benefit a maximum number of direct sellers  across the country who will be certified under the category of ‘Individual Sales Professional.’

Speaking on the initiative, Achinta Banerjie, Head of Sales, Amway India said, “The direct selling industry follows a non-retail format leveraging the communication and sales skills of the direct sellers. While the industry is growing at an exponential pace with lakhs of Indians have been leveraging the opportunity to become entrepreneurs, this certainly makes skilling important to maximize sales proceeds.”

Rajat Banerji, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Amway India said, “Micro Entrepreneurship and self-employment through skilling are key priorities for the government of India. We too have aligned our training strategy with a focus on building competencies of our direct sellers to further the government’s agenda.”

According to a World Bank Report, it is estimated that more than eight million jobs are required every year in India as the working-age population continues to increase by 1.3 million every month. On the contrary, only seven million jobs are being created annually in the country. There is a huge employment gap that needs attention. To address this, Government of India is driving entrepreneurship and self-employment through its skilling initiative.

Looking at the exponential growth of India’s youth population, and with nearly two-thirds of the population under the age of 35 years, the growing young workforce in India will soon be the largest and youngest of the world.

It is estimated that only 4.69% of the total workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to European and American countries. The absence of adequate training channels in the country limits people from entering the workforce to acquire skill training and certifications. As a result, a majority of the workforce gains skills through informal means which go unrecognized across formal platforms and industries. This also restricts them to explore any formal employment opportunities.