Witnessing the success of DigiPivot’s inaugural run in 2020, Google has partnered with Avtar Group & Indian School of Business (ISB) to announce the second cohort of DigiPivot, a curated skilling program in digital marketing, exclusively for women. Developed in association with Avtar & ISB, this free skill development initiative is aimed at creating a future ready workforce of women leaders in digital marketing.

The second edition of the program is set to be a 22-week virtual learning engagement that will enable participants with digital marketing knowledge as well as mentorship on strategic leadership skills. According to Google, the program is designed to build equity for everyone. All intersectionalities of women are invited to apply for this program including, and not restricted to, those with disabilities as well as from the LGBTQ+ community. The program aims to bring together a diverse and talented cohort of participants who want to pivot their careers into digital marketing.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President of Avtar Group, said, “The urban women’s workforce participation rate in India is a meagre 12 percent, one of the lowest in the world. National estimates suggest that there are at least 11 million women in India seeking viable career returns. Successful career pivots/re-entries for women often become difficult because of a paucity of market relevant skills – both technical and strategic.”

According to an ILO research, the skill deficit in India is flaring high, indicating a trajectory to get to 29 million by 2030. It also reveals that around 53 percent of businesses in India find it difficult to identify people with the right set of skills. Considering another set of data from CMIE, the impact of COVID-induced job losses has been disproportionately skewed towards women. It’s quite evident – the need for specially curated skilling programs for women. The program could a befitting solution to this dent. When replicated at scale, this holds the promise of enhancing employability and creating career opportunities for over 11 million women professionals in India.

"To build diverse organizations in India, we need to first focus on improving representation. We want to do our part at Google - through our products, resources, and people - to inspire and offer women and girls opportunities to learn and feel empowered while developing skills vital in the modern digital world. DigiPivot is one example, and we're incredibly proud to see our past DigiPivot attendees benefiting from this program, some of whom have even found exciting opportunities with us at Google. Together with like-minded partners like Avtar and ISB, we look forward to making the second edition of DigiPivot an even greater success." - Arijit Sarker, Vice President of gTech and DigiPivot’s Executive Sponsor.

The inaugural run of DigiPivot saw participation from 40 women professionals from across India who were selected from among thousands of applicants. DigiPivot, through its inaugural run, has established an up-skilling model that can be adapted by a cross-section of industries. Built on the foundation of industry-academia partnership, this upskilling framework is constituted by the triage of domain skills, strategic leadership skills and mentorship. Applications for DigiPivot 2021 are open from February 19th 2021 and the last date for registration is 12th March 2021.