Ola investing INR 100 crore to skill 100,000 drivers over next 3 years

Ola, India’s mobile app for transportation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The MOU signed is towards training, skill development and empowerment of 100,000 driver partners in the next three years.

The joint project will involve Ola and NSDC identifying people from various section of the society and skilling them to become driver entrepreneurs. Ola aims at investing Rs 100 crore in adding 100,000 drivers to its platform. This is part of Ola’s larger vision of adding 50 lakh drivers over the next 5 years.

The MoU was signed by Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO & Co-founder, Ola and Manish Kumar, MD and CEO, NSDC in the presence of Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, Member of Parliament, Kanpur, UP, Shri Ram Naik, Governor, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Devendra Singh, Member of Parliament, Akbarpur, UP.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-Founder, Ola said, “Ola is proud to be part of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. We believe skilling is critical to create sustainable livelihood in India. The mobility sector in the country is witnessing phenomenal growth and has the potential to empower aspiring individuals from all walks of life to become entrepreneurs. We are extremely excited to partner with NSDC to invest in the training and skilling of drivers as this would help us in realizing our larger goal to skill 50 lakh drivers in the next 5 years while contributing towards our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians.”

Manish Kumar, MD and CEO, NSDC said, “We are extremely happy to work alongside Ola, driving this campaign that has the potential to significantly improve livelihoods and contribute to the economic growth of lakhs of Indians. Such initiatives will go a long way in promoting skill development and creating an environment of entrepreneurship for the people of the country.”

Ajay Chhangani, CEO, Rise India said “We are immensely proud to participate in this initiative. Together with NSDC, and Ola we will be able to enhance the capacities of driving training programmes effectively enabling economic development for lakhs of people in the country. This is a one of a kind campaign that will not only contribute to the Prime Minister’s Skill India Mission, but also create a robust skill ecosystem for the youth.”

Skilling and promoting entrepreneurship has been at the centre of Ola’s business strategy since inception. Ola is also working closely with multiple state governments to create a skilled workforce that has access to lakhs of job opportunities. Moreover, Ola has partnered with leading Indian financial institutions and car manufacturers to give the driver partner community easy access to capital, insurance and vehicles at discounted prices.

Over the last 5 years, Ola has been successful in on-boarding over 5.5 lakh skilled driver-partners onto its platform. Ola recently launched India’s first state-of-the-art dedicated training center for drivers in partnership with Rise India and NSDC at Chapra, Bihar.