Wadhwani Foundation commits investment of INR 200 crore
·
Wadhwani Sahayata will skill 500K to 1 million
Asha, Anganwadi, nurses' aides and home-health workers in COVID-19 patient
care, using digital platforms
·
Wadhwani Sahayata will provide innovation grants
to up to 50 start-ups and early-stage companies to help accelerate innovation
in public health technology in India
India, July 7th, 2020: The Wadhwani Foundation (WF) today announced the Sahayata
Initiative to help distressed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by
the economic crisis and public health workers improve COVID-19
knowledge and skills. The Wadhwani Foundation is a leading non-profit Foundation
serving India and other developing countries with the mission of accelerating
job creation through large scale initiatives in entrepreneurship, SME growth,
and skilling.
Wadhwani Foundation has committed INR 200 Crore andis building an
ecosystem of partners, including government ministries and agencies, banks, and
consulting firms, to help operationalize this large and complex
initiative. The Sahayata Initiative consists of three programs: the Sahayata
Business Stability program, the Sahayata COVID-19 Skillingprogram,
and the Sahayata Public Health Innovation program. The Foundation builtall
three Sahayata programs over the last 90 days. Rapid deployment will begin in
August 2020.
Padma Shri Dr. Romesh Wadhwani,
Founder and Chairman, Wadhwani Foundation,said, “COVID-19 has created both a health and an economic crisis thatis especially
harming SMEs and jobs. Without proper credit and consulting support, the short-
and long-term damage to the SME sector will be enormous. TheFoundation’s large
investment in Sahayata supplements the government’s massive stimulus package by
providing 10,000 SMEs with consulting services that will help them survive,
stabilize, and ultimately grow into successful businesses and help save or
create 100,000 jobs.All of the Foundation’sown consultants, existing and new
content, and technology will be provided pro bono to SMEs.”
Sahayata Business Stability Program: SMEs are the core of every economy, but the economic crisis
triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has severely damaged this growth driver of
all emerging economies. Larger companies generally have larger, more robust
balance sheets, access to capital and management resources, and are more
resilient.SMEs are much less resilient and need both capital and expertise to
survive now, stabilize in the near term, and position themselves for growth. While
the Government of India recently established an extensive, vital credit program
for SMEs, these SMEs also need help with strategy and operational best
practices to address challenges with customers, broken supply chains, and disrupted
processes such as management and employee retention.
The Sahayata Business Stability program will provide upto 10,000
SMEs with transformational business consulting equipping them with the
expertise necessary to survive, stabilize, and grow.
Wadhwani Foundation has signed partnerships with SIDBI, Clix
Capital, IIFL Finance, Power2SME, and Magma Fincorp to select the SMEs for this
program, jointly. Wadhwani Foundation is expanding its internal team dedicated
to this program to 100 SME business consultants. Additionally, the Foundation is
planning to partner with KPMG, FlexingIt, GroCurv, Strategy Garage, Bada
Business, VentureBean Consulting, The Catalyst, Imbibe Consultancy Services,
Black Brix Services, KonektUp, CFOBridge, Midas CFO, Dhandabadhao.com, and
several curated individual subject matter experts, advisors and mentors, to
provide SME consultants to this Sahayata initiative, at pro bono or
substantially discounted rates. This combined team of consultants will use the Foundation's
comprehensive and growing digital video library of business transformation and
best practices content and the Foundation's advanced technology platform for
SME engagement. Wadhwani Foundation is also establishing an academy to train
SME business consultants in Sahayata-specific best practices, content, and
technology.
Starting in August 2020, this Sahayata program will sign up 50
SMEs per month,increasing progressively to 500 SMEs per month. After an initial
high-touch engagement model supporting companies with revenue up to INR 250
crores, Wadhwani Foundation will launch the next-generation, AI-powered
self-service GENIE platform in mid-2021 to scale the program to additional SMEs.
Arun.
M. Kumar, Chairman, and CEO, KPMG in India, said,“We are
pleased to put our shoulder to the wheel with Wadhwani Foundation’s Sahayata Initiative
to help SMEs that have been severely impacted by COVID-19. We are proud to
partner with the Foundation and Mr. Romesh Wadhwani in their visionary
intervention to help this section of the industry that accounts for a
disproportionate number of jobs and livelihoods.”
Shri Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman and Managing Director,
SIDBI,said,“In the
extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19, we believe that leading organizations
should partner with each other to help MSMEs. As a responsive measure to
facilitate revival and thriving of MSMEs, we are glad to know that Wadhwani
Foundation, our existing MoU partner on mentoring MSMEs, is launching Sahayata
Business Stability program. It shall provide free access to webinars, Do-It-Yourself
tools, a curated bench of advisors, and mentors. This shall facilitate the emergence
of stronger MSMEs, thus giving a fillip to the national mission of Aatmanirbhar
Bharat.”
Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, Clix Capital,
said, “While the government
through various measures has ensured that affordable credit is available to
MSMEs who need it, expertise and specialized talent across specific areas
continue to be a major handicap. Through our partnership with the Wadhwani
Foundation, we aim to create a support program to plug the skill gap for our
MSME partners with measurable outcomes.”
Sahayata COVID-19 Skilling Program: In addition to physicians and nurses at city hospitals and
clinics, India's public health infrastructure includes almost three million
Asha and Anganwadi workers, home health workers, and nurses’ aides, as well as
police and other volunteers. All are a crucial part of the public health
response to COVID-19. However, most have limited access to needed knowledge to
protect themselves anddiagnose and care for COVID-19 patients. Information on the
World Health Organization and other government websites is often difficult to
find, understand,or use. The Sahayata COVID-19 Skilling program provides
essential information in an interactive video format through a variety of
digital channels. Basic information on COVID-19 will be available on a
dedicated YouTube channel. Additional information, including interactive
Q&A and knowledge testing, will be provided via WhatsApp. Even more
detailed skilling content and certification will be available on the Wadhwani Foundation's
digital platform/portal and throughother partnersand government portals, such
as iGot.The program will launch in August with an initial goal of skilling
5,000 existing and new public health workers per month and increasing to 50,000
per month, ultimately serving 500,000 to one million existing and new health
workers.
Sahayata Public Health Innovation Program: The COVID-19 crisis has shown how unprepared countries are in
dealing with a pandemic. Most countries underinvest in public health
infrastructure,and this hobbles rapid response in a crisis. Anenormous
opportunity for innovation in public health exists, especially using today's new
digital technologies, including telemedicine, real-time diagnostics and
testing, and patient monitoring and care. Much of this necessary innovation will
come from start-ups and early-stage companies that struggle to find sufficient
venture capital to achieve their mission. The Sahayata Public Health Innovation
program will provide innovation grants or investments to upto 50 start-ups and
early-stage companies to help accelerate innovation in public health technology
in India. Each award will be betweenINR 25 lakhs to INR 1 Crore. The Wadhwani Foundation
has already made several direct and indirect grants; the number of candidate
companies for such grants and investments is growing rapidly.
Sahayata Program for Other Countries: Wadhwani Foundation deliverson its global mission through teams
in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with a focus on Mexico and
Brazil, all of which have been severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Wadhwani
Foundation will launch Sahayata inMexico in August 2020, in partnership with
states, including Mexico City, Jalisco, Chihuahua and Yucatan, and major
consulting firms, including EY, KPMG, DELOITTE, Santander, GCG,
CCMX,CAREINTRA,CONCAMIN, KONFIO, Fondeo Directo, FIDEAPECH and IYEM. Wadhwani
Foundation plans to expand Sahayata to Brazil early in 2021 and in Africa and Southeast
Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh) in mid-2021.
For more details on the Sahayata Initiative, please visit: https://sahayata.wfglobal.org
About Wadhwani Foundation
Wadhwani Foundation was founded in 2000 by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, with
the primary mission of accelerating job creation in India and other emerging
economies through large-scale initiatives in entrepreneurship, small business
growth, innovation, and skilling. The Wadhwani Foundation operates in 20
countries, including India, South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines),
East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda), Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana,
Namibia), West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), Egypt, and Latin America (Mexico,
Brazil, Peru, Chile). The Wadhwani Foundation
works in partnership with governments, foundations, corporations, and educational
institutes.For more details on Wadhwani Foundation, please
visit https://www.wfglobal.org/
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