Marico Limited has announced that they have joined hands with ICT Academy to establish the Center for Women Empowerment in 25 Indian colleges and is poised to train 2,000 women students in colleges of Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. This latest move is part of Marico’s plan to further extend its Digital Women Economic Initiative, which aims to empower graduating women with industry-relevant skills and prepare them for employment. 

This partnership was inaugurated on 25th September 2021 through a webinar that included Indevar Pandey, Secretary- Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India as Chief Guest and Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Secretary-General of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) as the Guest of Honour. Speakers at the webinar included Prabodh Halde, Head - Technical Regulatory Affairs, Marico Limited and Dr. B Anbuthambi, President, ICT Academy, with B. Raghava Srinivasan, Head- Corporate & Government Initiatives, ICT Academy moderating.

Speaking about the partnership with ICT Academy, Udayraj Prabhu, Executive Vice President Business Process Transformation, IT and Head CSR at Marico Limited said, “We at Marico Limited have consistently endeavored to make a difference to all the lives it touches, as defined by our core values. This guides the tenets of our ESG framework, thereby driving every initiative we undertake to create a positive social as well as community-wide impact. 

He also added that the partnership with the ICT Academy would take Digital Women Economic Empowerment Initiative a step further in order to empower more than 2,000 women across India with the skills they would need to realise their professional aspirations.

Aligned with its commitment towards creating inclusive and sustainable growth across communities, Marico Limited, in partnership with ICT Academy aims to empower women graduating from higher education institutions by enabling them gain job-specific skills for IT and BFSI sectors. The students will be trained on skills such as data analytics, python programming, cloud infrastructure and services, and banking and financial literacy. The training will be delivered for 75 hours through virtual mode, followed by expert mentorship and placement facilitation for the certified candidates. For the sustainability of the program in the future, faculty members of the host institutions will be also be trained. 

Dr. B Anbuthambi, President, ICT Academy said, "The economic divide is a great challenge for every developing nation in the world. The growing technology and catastrophic events further expand the polarization and create social issues in terms of education for all, gender equality, access to technology, and so on. The timely support will help balance the divide by providing quality education, enhancing the skills of the future workforce, and improving the digital skills of citizens. We thank Marico Limited for its support in implementing major program that target women students. ICT Academy focuses on faculty development and student skill development as their core objectives. I believe this will create a positive impact in the society touching the lives of thousands of underserved women.”

The Digital Women Economic Empowerment Initiative by Marico Limited was announced on World Youth Skills Day in July 2021, through a collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as other implementing partners to digitally train more than 12,000 women and youth across the country via impactful upskilling initiatives. The largescale project will empower individuals to secure skill-based jobs and is expected to add around INR 31 crores in incremental income by helping women and youth secure 7,000 jobs.