Ambuja Foundation Partners with Yes Foundation to Provide Skilling Opportunities for semi-urban youth across 6 states

Ambuja Foundation, in collaboration with Yes Foundation, has launched a two-year skilling initiative (FY 2024 - 2026) to provide meaningful livelihood opportunities for underserved communities across six states—Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.

The program will train over 1,000 youth in the next two years in 12 Ambuja Foundation Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (SEDI), bridging the gap between education and employability by equipping them with market-relevant skills. Training will focus on the BFSI, IT, and Micro Finance sectors, designed in alignment with industry needs.

The initiative places a strong emphasis on gender inclusion, ensuring at least 55% female participation through targeted outreach, job-readiness training, and support for placements and self-employment. In addition, the partnership will strengthen digital learning infrastructure to expand access to resources and enhance learning outcomes.

With over two decades of experience in skill development, Ambuja Foundation has built a vast rural skilling network across India. Through its Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (SEDI), the Foundation provides youth with market-relevant training and entrepreneurial opportunities that help lift entire families out of poverty.

Operating 51 centres across India, SEDI has already trained more than 1,34,000 young people in 42 accredited courses spanning across 12 sectors. Backed by personalised counselling and strong industry linkages, nearly 77% of graduates have transitioned into stable jobs or small businesses.

According to government estimates, over 180 million young people will enter India’s workforce by 2035, while the service sector alone is projected to create 100 million jobs by 2025. This initiative seeks to harness India’s demographic dividend by preparing youth for sustainable, future-ready careers.

Yes Foundation, an independent non-profit, focuses on employability and entrepreneurship for underprivileged youth while promoting environmental sustainability—often serving as a partner and force multiplier in the development sector.

By working together, the two Foundations will promote off-farm livelihoods and sustainable income for the youth from urban and semi-urban areas by providing them required skill set.

“This partnership between Yes Foundation and Ambuja Foundation is more than a collaboration — it is an investment in the future of our youth. By combining our strengths, we are creating pathways to skills, confidence, and meaningful livelihoods. Together, we can empower young people not just to participate in the workforce, but to thrive and become changemakers in their communities, said Garima Dutt, CEO – YES Foundation.

Speaking on the partnership, Ms. Pearl Tiwari, CEO, Ambuja Foundation, “At Ambuja, we have always believed in the power of generating rural prosperity. By empowering youth from marginal rural households, we diversify household incomes which are largely dependent on unreliable agriculture. Through this dedicated two-year partnership we will focus on our aim to skill youth and prepare them to enter the right industry,”.

About Ambuja Foundation 

Ambuja Foundation is an independent, pan-India development organization, committed to generating prosperous rural communities. We believe in the vast, untapped potential of rural communities and the unstoppable power of the people that live there. With investments in water, agriculture, skills, women, health and education, we enable ‘livelihoods’ as a pathway to unleashing that potential. Partnering with like-minded corporates, Governments and others, we work collaboratively with communities to solve pressing community problems – empowering local people to be the catalysts and drivers of change. And over almost 3 decades of work, we have seen a complete transformation in the remote geographies in which we work. We are committed to expanding our footprint and impact of our work even further, through partnerships – building many more sustainable, prosperous rural communities, and revitalizing rural India as the backbone of the country.