Enabling youth to realise their potential

In India, for lack of educational and upskilling opportunities and programmes for the underprivileged, there is a serious skills gap in manufacturing. As a growing company, we not only recognise the need for skilled youth to man the country’s burgeoning manufacturing sector, but also understand our responsibility towards closing the skills gap.

With this in mind, we launched the Self-Managed Teams (SMT) initiative in 2002, which has grown manifold in the past two-odd decades. The programme began as an attempt to empower rural youth with relevant skills and thereafter provide them with employment opportunities. Since its inception, SMT has drawn talented youth from rural Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh and provided a platform to realise their true potential through training and defining how good careers should progress.

The programme’s candidates are students who have graduated from the 12th standard, and display the aptitude to benefit from it. They undergo six months of study focused on courses like foundational pharma, business induction, personal development and good manufacturing practices, along with safety training, area-specific skill-building as well as on-the-job training. Upon completion, candidates are placed in different API and Formulation units across our various locations. They also get certified by the Life Sciences Sector Skill Development Council. This certification enables candidates to apply to top educational institutes such as BITS Pilani and GITAM University to pursue higher education. Additionally, the candidates experience community living during these months, where they learn teamwork and self-management.

Over the years, we have hired, educated, skilled and groomed over 4,000 young people, both men and women. Around half of them have been part of Dr. Reddy’s in various roles across the company, and several of them have risen up the ranks to now occupy high-level positions. Many more moved on to other companies like Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Fresenius Kabi, where they work in senior-level roles.

For Mohana Durgarao Kalam, SMT is not just an employment programme, but a life-giving opportunity. “When I got this opportunity, I did not know anything about pharmaceuticals, but today I am proud. I feel equal to my peers who have degrees like B. Pharm and M. Pharm, and I am in a good position thanks to SMT. I will always be thankful to the people who introduced this concept.”

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