Originally published at newsroom.wf.com. Wells Fargo ranked No. 11 on The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2020.
Wells Fargo India and Quest Alliance have partnered to train youth in employability and 21st-century skills across vocational training institutes (VTIs) in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
“With our holistic approach towards youth engagement and building employability skills, this partnership with Quest Alliance is the logical next step in our commitment to communities around us. Our intention, as we go forward, is to also support this with increased employee involvement, role-model interactions, and mentorship initiatives, especially for women,” said Bandana Jha, head of Social Impact & Sustainability for Wells Fargo India & Philippines.
The skills program, which runs throughout the year, will provide training to 1,300 VTI students from marginalized communities, with women constituting at least 40% of the group. It aims to equip young learners with essential skills as well as a self-learning mindset that will enable them to build and confidently navigate their careers in the future. With Wells Fargo’s financial support, the program will be run in all 16 learning centers across the three locations, with the required faculty to facilitate the year-long training of these students.
Aakash Sethi, CEO of Quest Alliance said, “We are excited to be associating with Wells Fargo on this learning journey. India has over four million youth who are expected to enter the workforce every year. As new avenues for employment and entrepreneurship emerge, particularly via the gig economy, it is imperative that young people are empowered with skills that will help them build and navigate their own career pathways.”
Critical skills, such as effective communication, professional etiquette, and digital literacy, among others, are embedded in the program’s curriculum, which uses a blended-learning methodology to help learners with career training, job readiness, and customer interaction skills. In February, Quest Alliance started work with the three centers to build capacities of faculty and curriculum. It also introduced self-learning tools, such as the Quest App that features over 200 hours of content, into the VTI ecosystem to ensure the modules are being embedded in the curriculum. Virtual and physical learning spaces will be used to support 14 partners and 16 centers across the three cities.
