Prione Partners With Rasci To Upskill SMBs in India

Prione Business Services, a joint venture between Catamaran Ventures and Amazon, along with the apex skill development council for the retail sector, Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India (RASCI), have come together to upskill small and medium sized businesses (SMB) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The workshop focused on self-employed e-tailers and was facilitated by RASCI through its training partner where 30 SMBs from Indore participated in the training.

 Prione has an SMB base of over 50,000 sellers across the country and plans to organize similar sessions across India. These workshops enable small sellers in scaling up their business online by providing them training on pertinent topics related to the online marketplace. The sessions are aimed at helping SMBs grow their business and expand their customer base by informing them about the advantages of warehousing and use of marketing tools to enhance visibility.

RASCI is a section 25 company, not for profit organization set up under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). As a torch bearer of the Skill India Mission which aims to revolutionize the skilling landscape of the country, RASCI has taken progressive steps through its interventions in multiple areas like skill gap studies, development of Occupational Standards aligned to National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

RASCI’s intervention with Prione’s SMB e-tailer base was done through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program, which was aimed at providing a platform to recognize and certify existing skills acquired by these sellers through formal, informal learning or experience to get equal acceptance as the formal levels of education aligned to (NSQF).

“The training workshop conducted by Prione and RASCI has helped strengthen my skills to manage business online and the certification is a great value add to my business. It was also a great opportunity to directly interact with the leadership team from Prione and experts at RASCI and discuss the nuances of online selling,” said  Balmukund Patidar, who deals in healthy food products. “Such connects on a regular basis will definitely help us in getting a better understanding of the rapidly evolving e-commerce sector in the country, and adapt to the changing customer demands,” he added.     

The training program, which was a day long program, began with an orientation session for the sellers and was followed by an assessment of the sellers to test their skills. Participants who attended the workshop and passed the assessment will be awarded a Government recognized certificate.

 Prione works towards empowering SMBs by assisting them to grow their business online in India. Prione helps promising businesses in India's small and medium-sized towns, to mark their presence in the e-commerce marketplace. With over 30 offices across 60 cities in 14 states, Prione has already enabled more than 50,000 SMBs in just its first three years of operations.