Pratham Education Foundation and Citi have come together to pilot an ‘Education Entrepreneur Development’ program that, in one year, will build job skills for 5,400 youth in the rural and urban areas of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The Education Entrepreneur Development program is supported by Citi Foundation as part of its focus on youth, education and livelihoods. The grant of over INR 1 crore will equip 120 ‘Education Entrepreneurs’ - individuals from rural areas with good communication skills and an entrepreneurial inclination – to deliver Pratham’s Foundation Course for Employment, to young women and men in their villages and communities.

The Foundation Course provides basic employment readiness training and it is expected that at least half of those trained as part of this program will secure employment in the service Industry, earning INR 6,000 – 7,000 per month, right after the training. About 25% of the participants are also expected to opt for an advanced industry-specific course such as that in hospitality or construction training.

“The Education Entrepreneur model is unique as it does not require us to make large investments in infrastructure or human resources and instead capitalizes on a growing wave of young people who seek to be entrepreneurs” says Madhav Chavan, CEO and President of Pratham Education Foundation.

Using the grant, Pratham will support the Education Entrepreneurs to train them, providing the teaching material and a small stipend in the first year. 

The Education Entrepreneurs will not be provided a fixed salary, but will instead be incentivized to grow their enterprise by mobilizing more youth into their training. 

Entrepreneurs will be encouraged to tie up with schools and colleges in the vicinity to teach this Foundation Course to youth and students from the school, as well as to teachers. This delivery approach makes the model sustainable, scalable and economically viable.

At a small ceremony, Pramit Jhaveri, CEO, Citi India, launched the program with a certificate of partnership to Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Healthcare Ltd. and Chairman, Pratham Education Foundation and Dr. Madhav Chavan, Co Founder and CEO, Pratham Education Foundation.