American Express and NASSCOM Foundation collaborate to empower 700 women from marginalized communities with digital skills

• Focus on skilling women beneficiaries through employment linked training
• Technical partners, FUEL (Friends Union for Energizing Lives) and RCED (Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship) to impart technology-based skill development and entrepreneurship training
• Beneficiaries to receive certificates upon successful completion of training; confirmed placements for women aspirants

Mumbai, September 26, 2022: Laying a strong foundation to bridge the digital skill gap amongst women, NASSCOM Foundation and American Express have partnered to train and upskill 700 women graduates through an employment-linked training project, ‘Women Empowerment Through Technology’. Under this project, American Express and NASSCOM Foundation are working with two training partners - FUEL (Friends Union for Energizing Lives) and RCED (Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship) to impart women with technology-based skill development and entrepreneurship training.

Ruchika Panesar, Vice President and Head of Technology at American Express India, said, “There has been a significant uptake of technology across all industries during Covid, and at the same time, the digital skill gap has grown wider due to lack of facilities and financial aid. At American Express, we are committed to backing equal futures and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion while serving communities. Through this partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, we aim to empower women from marginalized communities and support them in building digital skills for enhanced employment opportunities.”

Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, commented, “India has one of the largest young populations in the world. In fact, this window of opportunity, a “youth bulge” is expected to last till 2025. To ensure we leverage this talent and demographic dividend, fixing the existing skill gap becomes the top priority of the country. This will need us to prioritize digital learning and skill development for which creating access and opportunity is a must. We are honored to collaborate with American Express to digitally train 700 women beneficiaries to upskill them for employment opportunities for a better livelihood.”

‘Women Empowerment Through Technology’ project focuses on training 700 women on various technical courses including Cloud and Data Analytics, Blockchain, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The enrolled beneficiaries will also be groomed through non-technical courses including communication skills, holistic personality development and interview skills. On successful completion of the program, the women beneficiaries will receive a validated professional certificate and job placements.