Skill Tree and USAID-supported SAMRIDH join hands to promote entrepreneurship in healthcare sector

The SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Finance Facility, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by IPE Global, has committed INR 5.98 Crore (USD 8,54,541) to Skill Tree to provide healthcare-related skill development and livelihood support to 2,553 youth from remote locations across India, especially Maharashtra.

The objective of this project is to motivate and train youth from marginalized sections of society, primarily women, to pursue employment and entrepreneurship in the healthcare sector as their primary career option.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed major gaps in India’s healthcare system including limited medical infrastructure, insufficient number of trained healthcare providers, and unequal access to health services across geographies. This brought forth an urgent need to strengthen the health system, especially rural and remote areas.

Under the aegis of Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) and National Skill Development Cooperation (NSDC), the project will impart trainings to develop phlebotomy technicians, dietetic aides and tele-health service coordinators. The certified candidates will set up a total of 14 telehealth centers, take up door-to-door diagnostic tests and opt for wage-linked opportunities in the industry. For the candidates qualified to set up the telehealth centers, Skill Tree will facilitate subsidized loans through various government-led schemes and other financing sources.

Using SAMRIDH’s blended finance approach, Skill Tree, along with the funds secured by certified candidates for establishing telehealth centers, will mobilise additional capital to the tune to INR 12.71 Crore (USD 18,16,429), thereby getting a leverage of 2.12x over and above the SAMRIDH support. On project completion, approximately 1 lakh people are expected to be served from all the telehealth centers while skilled phlebotomy technicians will cater to 10 lakh people and dietetic aides will serve 1 lakh people.

Elaborating on the importance and potential of this partnership, Himanshu Sikka, Project Director, SAMRIDH and Chief Strategy and Diversification Officer, IPE Global, said, “At SAMRIDH, we strongly believe that innovation and entrepreneurship can be crucial drivers to address the challenge of insufficient healthcare infrastructure and skilled professionals especially in rural and remote areas of the country. We are encouraged to see our innovative financing solutions play an instrumental role in scaling-up Skill Tree’s initiative towards training youth, particularly women, and promoting an entrepreneurial culture in the healthcare space. This is an important collaboration to improve the overall accessibility and affordability of quality health services for the last mile.”

Nilofer Hasnain from Skill Tree, said, “With every step, Skill Tree Consulting aims to bring about a powerful on-ground change. We are delighted that through our partnership with the USAID-Supported SAMRIDH initiative, we are training and providing livelihood opportunities to youth from marginalised communities in Maharashtra, and hope to strengthen many more through this partnership.”

The project will be implemented in five stages, namely, mobilization of interested and eligible youth, training and assessment, entrepreneurship and wage-linked opportunities, monitoring and evaluation of the project, and support and impact reporting. Marking its first milestone, the project has successfully trained and certified more than 1,300 candidates till date across Aurangabad, Nashik, Pune, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur in the specified roles.