The ‘Strengthening employment generation and skill development’ initiative was launched to support India’s response to large-scale employment losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. To develop a strategic roadmap for job creation, the Government of India constituted a Working Group of Ministers (WGoM) on Employment and Skill Development. MSC served as the secretariat to the WGoM and worked closely with the government and 18 sectoral experts to drive the initiative forward.
MSC provided comprehensive secretarial and advisory support to the WGoM. It helped coordinate consultations with key stakeholders, combining sectoral insights, and applied a structured framework to assess the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and time horizon of employment generation strategies. We ensured that the recommended strategies were gender-intentional and transformative. We particularly focused on increasing women’s participation in the workforce. The team facilitated discussions across line ministries and supported the finalization of a consolidated national action plan to inform government decision-making.
The initiative delivered a high-impact employment strategy with the potential to generate approximately 170 million jobs over five years. It proposed structural reforms that could positively affect more than 600 million women by addressing barriers to female labor-force participation. The strategy also projected investments of USD 170 billion from the private sector and USD 27 billion from the government. Covering 18 high-priority sectors and themes, the project laid the foundation for innovative institutional ideas, such as the establishment of a National Employment Fund. The final action plan was widely discussed with concerned ministries and positioned as a key policy input to boost employment across India.
The Gates Foundation and the Government of India commissioned the project.
The Swavalambini initiative was launched under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and NITI Aayog to strengthen women-led development in India. The program intended to shift the narrative from women as scheme beneficiaries to women as leaders and entrepreneurs by building structured pathways to entrepreneurship within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
MSC helped MSDE conceptualize, design, and implement the Swavalambini programme across multiple states. We developed a structured, stage-wise journey for aspiring women entrepreneurs and delivered key interventions, including the Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP) and the Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WEDP). It covered areas such as business planning, finance, compliance, and marketing. The team also facilitated Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) to build mentoring capacities within HEIs, while it also provided structured mentorship and handheld support to guide participants from ideation to enterprise.
As part of the initiative, MSC designed and managed business plan competitions to identify high-potential ideas, developed monitoring and evaluation tools, and worked closely with ecosystem partners to enable national-level implementation. Through these efforts, the programme established institutional mechanisms that support women entrepreneurs within HEIs and beyond.
The initiative trained 900+ women across 10+ HEIs in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and several Northeastern regions. Of these, 300 women were selected for intensive support through WEDP, with 10% expected to launch enterprises. The program enhanced institutional capacity for long-term mentoring and created a supportive, women-led entrepreneurial ecosystem within higher education. It also facilitated access to seed funding and recognition through a NITI Aayog-led reward initiative, to contribute meaningfully to India’s broader women-led development agenda.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and NITI Aayog commissioned the project.
The Swarambh initiative was launched under the Sewapuri Gram Panchayat Saturation Abhiyan, a model block development program spearheaded by the Prime Minister’s office and NITI Aayog. Implemented in the Sewapuri block of Varanasi district, the initiative sought to address the growing demand for digital and entrepreneurial skills among rural youth. It equipped college students, especially young women, with the capabilities needed to thrive in India’s evolving digital and gig economy.
MSC, in partnership with Medha (an NGO), supported the end-to-end design and implementation of the Swarambh programme. The intervention followed a three-phased delivery model, comprising orientation and training, one-on-one mentorship, and hands-on live projects. The curriculum emphasized real-world skill-building in areas such as digital freelancing, photography, handicrafts, and baking. With the support of local administration and multiple central and state departments, MSC successfully executed the programme across three cohorts and reached more than 75 students.
The initiative fostered entrepreneurial mindsets and built a cadre of self-reliant, digitally skilled youth ready to participate in the informal economy. It created income-generating opportunities through gig and freelance work and strengthened networks of collaboration among participants to sustain long-term engagement. By promoting localized economic development and sustainable livelihoods, the programme contributed to national development priorities. Swarambh also demonstrated a scalable and replicable model for rural youth empowerment across India.
NITI Aayog commissioned the project.
Reliance Foundation, in partnership with MSC, launched a one-year initiative to strengthen the entrepreneurial capacity of 100–120 rural women kirana entrepreneurs (RWKEs) across three districts of Madhya Pradesh. These women, often operating in low-resource and tribal regions, face persistent barriers in accessing markets, finance, and digital tools. The project was designed to address these challenges by enhancing their business skills, resilience, and access to essential services.
MSC led the end-to-end execution of the initiative through a structured and participatory model. The engagement began with the mobilization and selection of RWKEs, with a focus on aspirational and tribal areas. We then conducted tailored needs assessments to understand the specific constraints faced by the entrepreneurs and designed a contextualized training curriculum to emphasize entrepreneurship, financial literacy, digital enablement, and leadership. The program further delivered capacity-building workshops reinforced through continuous mentoring. A key component of the initiative is the “pitch your business plan” event, in which selected RWKEs present their business proposals to a jury. Winners receive seed funding from Reliance Foundation to grow their businesses. MSC also provided post-training handholding, including exposure visits to successful enterprises and support for market linkages through local ecosystem actors.
This project is expected to significantly improve the RWKEs’ access to finance, markets, and technology, enabling them to transition into more sustainable and growth-oriented businesses. The intervention will result in a replicable training framework suitable for similar rural contexts and generate actionable insights to inform future programs targeting women-led microenterprises in low-income and tribal regions.
Reliance Foundation, in collaboration with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), commissioned the project.
Youth across Africa face persistent challenges in entering the agricultural sector due to structural barriers such as limited access to finance, land, training, and inputs, as well as outdated perceptions of agriculture as an unattractive livelihood option. In response, AGRA engaged MSC to develop the Youth in Agriculture Ecosystem Development Framework (Y-EDF) across Malawi, Rwanda, and Ghana. The goal was to transform agriculture into a viable and appealing employment pathway for young people through ecosystem-wide support and inclusive market access.
MSC provided end-to-end support for the design and implementation of the Y-EDF. Drawing on its deep expertise in youth development and agriculture, MSC mapped key ecosystem actors to assess engagement gaps and identified high-potential value chains for job creation. The team facilitated extensive consultations with over 200 youth and more than 60 stakeholders through FGDs and KIIs to ensure the framework was youth-informed and contextually grounded. MSC also developed three guiding reports—Country Opportunity, Youth Opportunity, and Ecosystem Mapping—and designed a five-year investment plan (2025–2029) to align resources, track progress, and mobilize funding for youth-led agricultural initiatives. To drive implementation, MSC facilitated country-level validation workshops, prepared policy briefs, and supported AGRA in stakeholder alignment and advocacy. The Y-EDF provides a roadmap for inclusive, youth-centric ecosystem building, offering AGRA and its partners an adaptable model for replicating this approach across other African nations.
The framework resulted in country-specific opportunity roadmaps and an actionable investment strategy to support youth employment in agriculture. It also contributed to stronger stakeholder coordination and cross-sector collaboration. AGRA is now integrating the framework into its wider programming, with the Y-EDF serving as a strategic tool to position agriculture as a viable livelihood for young people.
AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) commissioned the project.
In response to the persistent barriers faced by young entrepreneurs in Senegal, including limited access to technical skills, infrastructure, mentorship, and financing. MSC partnered with Expresso Innovation Hub as part of the Youth Livelihoods in Digital Financial Services (YLDFS) project to strengthen its incubation approach for youth-led startups. The initiative was designed to build a supportive and scalable ecosystem to nurture entrepreneurship among Senegal’s youth population and drive small business success in a challenging environment.
MSC provided strategic and operational support to the incubator, with a focus on strengthening cohort selection methodologies, embedding financial education, and delivering customized capacity-building support for both incubator staff and startup teams. The engagement involved strategy design, cross-program learning, and development of a structured mentorship framework. We also supported the integration of coaching, training bootcamps, and one-on-one mentorship to guide early-stage entrepreneurs from ideation to execution.
Over the eight-week incubation cycle, startups participated in 12 intensive training sessions and 3 networking meetups, to gain practical exposure to entrepreneurship. One-on-one coaching was provided to refine business models and support early-stage growth. As a result, 129 youth engaged in structured meetups, 23 jobs were created in the month following the incubation, and select participants secured contracting opportunities or advanced product development efforts. The program also led to improved understanding of formalization, financial management, and iterative prototyping techniques among youth entrepreneurs. For Expresso, the project strengthened its internal incubation methodology, promoted ecosystem collaboration, and laid the foundation for competency-based, scalable incubation programs. The initiative offered a robust model to prepare startups for market entry and financing and is expected to serve as a replicable framework for other youth-focused incubators in the region.
The Mastercard Foundation commissioned the project.