Accenture raises goal of skills training program

MANILA, Philippines - Accenture recently announced it has exceeded its original Skills to Succeed  goal of equipping 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. As a result – and to increase its impact in communities worldwide – the company has set a higher goal: by 2015, it will equip 500,000 people globally with these workplace and entrepreneurial skills.

The company surpassed its original goal, which it set in 2010, by working with global and local nonprofit partners that deliver measurable employment and entrepreneurship outcomes at scale. Accenture has already equipped more than 320,000 people with skills that enable them to participate in and contribute to the economy.

“Skills are a key driver of economic empowerment, leading to greater innovation, increased competitiveness and rising standards of living in both mature and emerging markets,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman & CEO. “Through  Skills to Succeed, our people are inspired to put their skills and interests to work, creating sustained impact in communities around the world. This continued dedication will help us achieve our increased goal of equipping half a million people with skills by 2015.”

Accenture is collaborating with nonprofits on more than 200 Skills to Succeed initiatives worldwide, which focus on making a sustained impact around the world. Key projects in the Philippines include:

Passerelles Numeriques equips underprivileged but promising youth with college-equivalent IT education. The ongoing partnership with PN has produced 24 graduate scholars on Systems and Network Administration at Cebu’s University of San Carlos. Almost half of them are now employed as IT specialists in Accenture in Cebu.

 Save the Children helps provide approximately 7,000 disadvantaged and at-risk young people in Egypt, Indonesia and the Philippines with vocational and life skills that assist them in securing lasting employment.

Through the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Accenture’s grant to Bote Central has empowered over a thousand Filipino farmers of ten organized coffee communities across the country in its first year. Through the conduct of business consultations and on-site training programs, and provision for a simplified accounting and inventory system at the community level, the farmers are now able to produce and sell coffee beans not only to their surrounding communities, but also to coffee companies.

To help augment their family income, Accenture funded the training on smoked fish and deboned fish processing for 120 mothers in Anda, Pangasinan.

“We have witnessed the profound effect skills training has on people, businesses, industries, markets and communities,” said Manolito Tayag, Accenture country managing director.

Skills to Succeed is Accenture’s global corporate citizenship initiative, which focuses on advancing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in both mature and emerging markets. 

Additionally, the company offers its people volunteering and pro-bono opportunities and expands its impact by replicating and scaling successful initiatives.

Accenture and the Accenture Foundations will contribute more than $100 million by the end of 2013 to support the company’s corporate citizenship efforts, through global and local giving, as well as pro bono contributions of time and employee skills.