American Express and NASSCOM Foundation Team Up to Provide Digital Skills to 700 Women from Underserved Communities

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 28 September 2022

NASSCOM Foundation and American Express have teamed together to teach and upskill 700 women graduates through an employment-linked training project, "Women Empowerment Through Technology," laying the groundwork for closing the gender gap in digital skill. As part of this project, American Express and the NASSCOM Foundation are collaborating with the Friends Union for Energizing Lives (FUEL) and the Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship (RCED) to provide women with training in entrepreneurship and technology-based skill development.

"There has been a substantial uptake of technology across all businesses under Covid, but at the same time, the digital skill gap has become broader due to a lack of facilities and financial aid," said Ruchika Panesar, Vice President and Head of Technology at American Express India.

In order to support communities, American Express is dedicated to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion. We hope to empower women from underserved communities through our collaboration with the NASSCOM Foundation, and we'll help them develop the digital skills they need to find better work possibilities.

"India has one of the largest young populations in the world," said Nidhi Bhasin, CEO of the NASSCOM Foundation. In fact, the "youth bulge," a window of opportunity, is predicted to endure until 2025. It becomes the top priority of the nation to close the existing skill gap in order to ensure that we take advantage of this talent and demographic dividend. In order to do this, we must prioritise the development of digital skills and knowledge, for which access and opportunity creation are essential. We are thrilled to work with American Express to upskill 700 women beneficiaries for employment opportunities so they can live better lives."

The "Women Empowerment Through Technology" project aims to teach 700 women in a variety of technical fields, such as Blockchain, Machine Learning, Cloud and Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. The registered beneficiaries will also receive non-technical training in subjects like interview techniques, personality development overall, and communication skills. The program's female recipients will obtain professional certificates that have been validated along with job placements after successfully completing it.