Deshpande Foundation to set up India's largest skill development centre

The Deshpande Foundation, the decade-long philanthropic effort of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande, is setting up India’s largest skill development centre in the North Karnataka town of Hubbali that will open its doors in April this year.

Nestled on a seven-acre piece of land that’s on either side of Indian IT giant Infosys’ new Hubballi campus, the centre will be able to train over 5,000 people a year with the ability to accommodate 2,500 students at any given point of time. The three lakh square feet campus is almost complete and will begin dry runs by the end of February.

The Deshpande Foundation will use the facility to carry out its 4-6 month residential training programmes through which it has so far trained over 4,000 people already.

“We see this as a game changer for the people and their families, as most of them come from rural areas and never earn more than Rs 5,000. Now these kids are getting paid Rs 10,000 or Rs 15,000 and what we’ve noticed is that they are getting a chance to break that glass ceiling,” said Naveen Jha, CEO of the Deshpande Foundation in India.

The skill development centre will offer eleven different courses, with the foundation adding or replacing between 4-5 courses each year based on the industry requirements that exist. Rather than sticking to any curriculum, the centre comes up with its own activities that help students in areas such as vocational training to entrepreneurship.

Since the start of the skill development centre in mid-2008, the Deshpande Foundation says it has been able to place nearly 90% of the graduates. The remainder of the 10% it says look to become entrepreneurs, starting their own ventures and in some cases seeking incubation out of the foundation’s Sandbox incubator.

“In the past 7-8 years, we have decoded how to design the training for kids coming from smaller towns or rural backgrounds. We also don’t believe in these 10, 20, 30-hour training programmes. That may be okay to brush up the skills of an expert, but not for someone who knows nothing,” added Jha.

A majority of the $20 million that will go into the skill development centre has come from Deshpande himself or corporate sponsors who contribute through CSR. So far over half that amount has been ploughed into the construction, with plans to significantly increase the size of the training staff to cater to those many students.

The Deshpande Foundation is also looking to open India’s largest startup incubator on the same grounds as the skill development centre in September. The project will attract Rs 30 crore in the facility that will be able to seat 1,200 people at any given point of time.