Ahmedabad: The power of skills can transform lives. Aligning with this belief, Sodexo and Adani, together, have taken a significant stride towards community welfare and youth empowerment through a comprehensive skill development program.
Shared Ideology on Corporate Responsibility
Both organisations share a common ideology on the Corporate Responsibility front- that of a sustainable, hunger-free world which also means skilling, thereby providing the youth a chance at a livelihood that can help them improve their quality of life.
Collaborative Efforts for Youth Development
The collaboration is aimed at skilling, training and placement opportunities for the youth in remote locations. At the kick-off event, the Corporate Responsibility wing of the two entities united to announce the project’s pilot at Mundra and Bhuj comprising a batch of 150+ youth.
Training Initiative Details and Roles
Leveraging on its extensive subject matter expertise, Sodexo will lead the training initiative with the course module development, coaches and guides, on-the-job training and certification, while the Adani Skill Development Centre will recruit the youth and provide the infrastructure support. To this effect, an extensive eight-week-long program has been crafted for Food & Beverage (F&B), Cleaning Services and General Duty Assistance (GDA or patient care) profiles given their substantial demand and lack of skilled labour in the industry. Candidates will be trained on both NSDC NSQF level 3 and above, along with Sodexo modules. An integral part of the program is the four weeks of on-the-job training wherein the youth will be deployed on existing Sodexo or other sites thus making them job-ready. The program assures recruitment for the candidates at available Sodexo sites across the country or any other relevant industry players in the category.
Inclusive Growth and Future Scaling
“Dedicated to fostering inclusive growth by providing skill development opportunities to youth from remote areas, both organisations aim to bridge the industry skill gap and pave the way for sustainable livelihoods. Based on the success of the pilot, we intend to scale the initiative across the Nation where there is an acute shortage of labour in hospitality and facility management services. Our target is to enable first-time recruitment for 7,000 youth, of which 25% is women representation of our annual frontline hiring,” remarked Sambit Sahu, Managing Director, Sodexo India.
Transformative Impact and Recruitment Goals
Beginning with the train-the-trainer approach Sodexo looks forward to covering 166 candidates. While Adani meets its objective of skilling the youth and empowering them with a livelihood, for Sodexo it translates into the addition of fresh talent to its talent pipeline, which is an integral part of its recruitment strategy.
Vision for Future Initiatives and Impact
“This transformative initiative reflects a shared commitment to fostering talent, bridging gaps and creating a positive social impact. Both organisations look forward to witnessing the positive transformation of the youth involved in the program. Based on the success of this initiative in Mundra and Bhuj, Adani Skill Development Centre intends to scale similar initiatives in more tier II and tier III cities and remote locations with a target to upskill 500+ youths by 2024.” – Amitkumar Thakker, Operations Head at Adani Skill Development Centre.
Long-standing Partnership and Community Development
The partnership between Adani and Sodexo dates to 2008. With a team of 3200+ professionals, Sodexo offers a range of services including food and catering, cleaning and housekeeping, guest house management and technical services across 64 Adani offices. The two entities have been closely working on several community development initiatives in the areas of women empowerment, hunger eradication and skilling. The latest initiative reinforces the valued partnership and their contribution to the economic social and environmental development of the communities in which they operate.
