If you are educated and have a job, take some time out to empower another woman: Shipra Bhutani’s plea at Women on a Mission Summit 2019

‘You are a woman, why do you want a loan? Why don’t you ask your father or your brother?' 

‘Why don’t you start a salon or something else that is considered more women-friendly?’

These were some of the questions Shipra Bhutani faced when she decided to start her own skilling centre in Jaipur, with an aim to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to women who come from challenging backgrounds, some of whom are prisoners, war widows, sex workers, and manual scavengers. 

“I was educated and empowered— I am a BITS Pilani graduate, and I had a job. But my thought went out to the others who were not in a privileged position like mine. In India people get degrees but not everyone gets a job. And I realised that the missing link was that people lacked skill and vocational training,” the former Economics professor at BIT Mesra, Jaipur campus, said.

She was speaking at the recently concluded Women on a Mission Summit 2019, HerStory’s event to champion women entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders.

In 2008, Shipra quit her teaching job to set up a small skill centre, Quantum Career Academy, in the basement of her house. Through the academy, Shipra started helping rural youth get employment opportunities with various retail stores and MSMEs in Jaipur. Through a three-month course, students were taught English, and were exposed to the specific skills required in the industry. Further, to provide livelihood opportunities to women prisoners, she started training them as well, as beauticians, and taught some to cook, and also make products out of paper and bamboo.

Shipra’s message at the summit was simple: be more kind and compassionate to women, and empower them.

“If you are educated and have a job, take some time out to empower another woman who is at a weaker position than you. Educate her, give her skill training, build her up. If you empower one women, you empower four people indirectly— the lady, her parents, and her children. Imagine what would happen if you could empower one women every month. The world would be a better place," she said.

Presently, Shipra has more than 40 skill centres across the country, and she runs the Quantum Career Academy in partnership with National Skills Development Corporation (Government of India). She has provided skill training and employment opportunities to more than 20,000 people. 

Dignity with labour

Skilling is not just for young graduates, but is an important tool for any individual to retain a job. Skilling, Shipra added, is an art that has limitless potential, and it comes with hard work and practice. Through her skill centre she trains women in multiple vocations with an aim to secure their future. She pointed out that women prisoners are often more vulnerable as they get abandoned by their families. 

Hence, to help them financially after their vocational training, Shipra sells their hand-made products through her ecommerce platform—‘Aashayein, The Jail Shop’. 

“My aim was to provide dignity with labour, to showcase that there is a life beyond the prison, beyond what has happened in your life, your past. I wanted to tell these women that they are the master of their destiny and their future, and this can be made possible only through education.”

Connecting skill to industry

Shipra’s skill centres are operating out of seven states — Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. These are state-of-the-art training institutes that provide employability-linked training in various sectors such as electronics, electrical, handicrafts, mining, apparel, etc. Every year, around 6,500 women from vulnerable backgrounds obtain industry-oriented training in these centres. 

In 2016, Shipra started a new venture, ‘SkillconnectIndia’, which is a mobile app that maps and connects skilled manpower and industries. With Government of Rajasthan, the app is said to have a skilled manpower database of around 50 lakh individuals, 20,000 of which belong to Shipra’s pool .

A big shout out to HerStory's Women on A Mission sponsors – Co-Presenting Sponsor Microsoft, Sequoia Spark, Innovation Valley, NetApp Excellerator,Servify, ZOHO, Meesho, Arctic Fox, DROR, and Gifting Partners WoW, &Me.

“Any person can download the app, and register as an employer to access the pool of skilled candidates from government certified training institutes and skill centres. We take the full responsibility of the employee,” Shipra explained.