Global Job Initiative Success

An international initiative to equip 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business has exceeded its target ahead of schedule and will now raise its goal to help even more people.

Accenture, a management and technology services company, commenced the global $100 million corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, in 2010 with the goal of equipping a quarter of a million people with workplace and entrepreneurial skills by 2015.

The global company has announced that as a result of its achievement in surpassing its original goal, it has set a higher goal: to equip 500,000 people globally with these workplace and entrepreneurial skills by the same date.

Accenture says that the Skills to Succeed initiative draws on one of the company’s core competencies – training talent – to help address the need for skills that open doors to employment.

“Skills are a key driver of economic empowerment, leading to greater innovation, increased competiveness and rising standards of living in both mature and emerging markets,” Accenture’s chairman and chief executive Pierre Nanterme said.

“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 Not for Profits on more than 200 Skills to Succeed initiatives, which focus on making a sustained impact around the world.

These include working with Plan International to provide training and career opportunities to approximately 7,100 underprivileged young people in Thailand and Indonesia in industries such as information technology, customer relations, business process outsourcing and electronic repair and Save the Children to help provide around 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

Accenture says it has already equipped more than 320,000 people with skills that enable them to participate in and contribute to the economy.

“We have witnessed the profound effect skills training has on people, businesses, industries, markets and communities,” Accenture’s chief leadership officer Adrian Lajtha said.

“We now have the opportunity to continue combining the passion, dedication and resilience of our people and our strategic non-profit partners to increase the impact of Skills to Succeed around the world.”