DigiPivot, a Google sponsored program for up-skilling women, announces its second batch

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 19 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Following the success of the program's inaugural run in 2020, Google has partnered with Avtar Group, India's pioneers in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Solutions and India's premier business school - Centre for Executive Education at Indian School of Business (ISB) to announce the second cohort of DigiPivot, a curated skilling program in digital marketing, exclusively for women.
The second edition of the program will be a 22-week virtual learning engagement that will enable participants with digital marketing knowledge as well as mentorship on strategic leadership skills. This program is designed to build equity for everyone, and all intersectionalities of women are invited to apply for this program including, and not restricted to, those with disabilities as well as from the LGBTQ+ community. This program aims to bring together a diverse and talented cohort of participants who want to pivot their careers into digital marketing.
"The urban women's workforce participation rate in India is a meagre 12 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. National estimates suggest that there are at least 11 million women in India seeking viable career returns. Successful career pivots/re-entries for women often become difficult because of a paucity of market relevant skills - both technical and strategic," said Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder - President of Avtar Group commenting on the launch.
As per ILO research, the skill deficit in India is growing, likely to get to 29 million skill-deficit by 2030. 53 per cent of businesses in India find it difficult to identify people with the right set of skills. In the absence of indigenous, industry led skill development programs for talent, this can prove to be a significant deterrent to economic revival.
As per data from the CMIE, the impact of COVID induced job losses have been disproportionately heavier on women. This accentuates the need for specially curated skilling programs for women to gain equitable access to job opportunities.
"It may be noted that women in India and world over are concentrated in lower order skills making their jobs most susceptible to disruption. Programs such as DigiPivot provide a stable platform for such women to emerge as tomorrow's leaders, by providing them the readiness to face the changing dynamics of the marketplace. When scaled across the cross-section of women talent and championed by booming industrial sectors, such skill building initiatives hold the potential to rewrite the narrative on women's workforce participation in the country - not only in urban India but also in Tier 2 and 3 locations," Dr Saundarya added.
The inaugural run of DigiPivot had 40 women professionals from across India who were selected among thousands of applicants, through a very rigorous selection process. The cohort went through an intensive 18 week-long virtual program and were trained on key technical and leadership skills needed for a career pivot, by Google leaders, ISB faculty and thought leaders from Avtar. The average growth rate of skills in this inaugural cohort was established to be 65 per cent.
"To build diverse organizations in India, we need to first focus on improving representation. We want to do our part at Google - through our products, resources, and people - to inspire and offer women and girls opportunities to learn and feel empowered while developing skills vital in the modern digital world. DigiPivot is one example, and we're incredibly proud to see our past DigiPivot attendees benefiting from this program, some of whom have even found exciting opportunities with us at Google. Together with like-minded partners like Avtar and ISB, we look forward to making the second edition of DigiPivot an even greater success," said Arijit Sarker, Vice President of gTech and DigiPivot's Executive Sponsor.
DigiPivot, through its inaugural run, has established an up-skilling model that can be adapted by a cross-section of industries. Built on the foundation of industry-academia partnership, this up-skilling framework is constituted by the triage of domain skills, strategic leadership skills and mentorship. When replicated at scale, this holds the promise of enhancing employability and creating career opportunities for over 11 million women professionals in India.
Applications are open from February 19, 2021 and the last date for registration at DigiPivot 2021 is March 12, 2021. Interested applicants can register at: https://dp.myavtar.com/
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