SYFT Institute of Finance and Inclusion

Unemployment is growing at an alarming rate globally. Due to COVID - 19 impact on economy marginalised population are suffering hazards of living. Majority of them do not possess appropriate certified education,knowledge,communication and presentation skills, which are extremely important to make them employable. We can leverage this segment by imparting proper education,training,improving skills and creating opportunity to transform them as an employable citizen.

SYFT(Skilled Youth for Tomorrow) with website www.syft.in providing online education, offline education at our centers,training,skilling through various assessments,certification and employment for entry level jobs in Microfinance and other Companies. We provide opportunity to unemployed youth from rural and urban areas to rebuild them for better tomorrow.

This is successfully implemented on pilot basis in Bhubaneswar,Odisha India and highly scalable in International market focusing on MFI sector and other less explored sectors of economy globally,after the Covid 19 pandemic every one wants to be efficient again to sustain.

Precise problem statement

Majority of youth in India and globally are not employable due to lack of relevant skills and proper certified education. Majority of them do not possess appropriate communication and presentation skills, which are extremely important to make them employable.

Economic growth and financial inclusion requires robust infrastructure development, Digital transformation for the same purpose strengthening of education and skill improvement is highly necessary among young generation.

Why is the problem deep and enduring? 

There is a shortage of high-quality trainers and high-quality content for underprevilaged youth in India and all over the world at an affordable price.

High growth in student population in world specially in rural areas has made current education institutes including online ones focus on teaching student for short-term success rather than strengthening their fundamental knowledge in subject matter and not giving importance on proper training, leadership and management qualities.

Also current digital education platforms worldwide overlook ethics and integrity in education.

Connectivity issue for people residing and working in rural and remote areas.

Connecting people for use of modern technology like AI, ML, Bigdata and Cloud technology. 

Due to widespread use of mobiles among Indian youth we plan to leverage this medium to provide personalized education and skill development at an affordable price, which will be further supplemented by some class room interactions as well if required.

Our aim is to provide effective and personalized solutions through a digital learning platform for students appearing for different national level tests.

In addition, our online learning platform is providing certified courses in different skill training, entrepreneurship and microfinance training to unemployed youth for their all-round skill development.

SYFT (Skilled Youth for Tomorrow) Learn and Excel Private Limited is an education-focused start-up.

Our product modules 

1. SYFT digital learning portal (https://syft.in) developments.

2. Content Development - SBI JA, SBI PO, RRB, IBPS PO, Staff Selection Commission, RBI Grade B Officer, Canara Bank PO, SSB for Defense job and microfinance for unemployed graduates/Credit Officer/Field Officer/Area Managers etc.

3. Video lesson, Power Point preparation, Quizzes and Pie Chart for score.

4.  Mobile application development.

Our training center SYFT Institute of Finance and Inclusion(SIFI)  to impart certified course online and offline training in Micro Finance, skill development, entrepreneurship courses,AI, ML, Bigdata and Cloud technology for unemployed youth and supporting placement.

Our aim is to provide high quality skill development services in a consistent manner at an affordable price catering to the different economic strata of students specially the unemployed and underpreivilaged youth who live in rural areas and can not afford the cost of higher level professional courses, mostly come from economically challenged backgrounds in the age range of 16-30,job aspiring candidates.In this case SYFT is an online platform that can provide adequate educational materials in a rich form of text and multimedia contents.

Addressable Market size : Out of 315 million students in India we assume at a minimum estimation of 0.5% will be graduate who will prepare for the competitive examination.

1. Focus will be on Rural Youth who are disadvantaged due to lack of skill development facilities.

2. Special emphasis on skilling of girl students.

3. Transfer of knowledge and technology in the areas of computer, specialization and agriculture like organic firming and allied activities to rural population for self-employment, partnership with national and international organizations.

4. Arranging funding/scholarships for rural students with special emphasis on women / handicapped and poor students for education.

5. Tie up with leading colleges and universities for learning and skill development. 

Our aim is to provide effective and personalized solutions for students appearing for different national level tests by providing the quality contents in a digital learning platform. In addition, we impart training and support placement in Microfinance Institutions for unemployed youth. 

Promoting our products in collaboration with our technology partners.Creation of digital hubs, Use of latest technology and other modes of communication planning to expand prominent village market centres.

Product modules already developed:

1. SYFT digital learning portal (https://syft.in) 

2. Training centre(SIFI) for online and offline courses.

3. SYFT Mobile application.

The advent of new ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) technologies such as affordable smartphones, high-speed fiber/mobile broadband connectivity, web and mobile applications are having a transformative impact on the global economy. As per a World Bank study, a 10% increase in connectivity results in a GDP growth of 1.38% in low - and middle-income countries. Today, it is estimated that the digital economy accounts for up to 15.5% of the global GDP (source: UNCTAD, 2019) and Government of India too has an aggressive goal of growing the size of its digital economy to $1 trillion by 2025 through its vision of an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and forward-looking programs and policies such as Digital India, Make-in-India. However, in order for India to realize its full potential and capitalize on the vast opportunities offered by the digital economy, it is important to rapidly bridge the growing digital divide between urban and rural India due to ICT infrastructure deficits, skills development gaps, training and other socioeconomic barriers. As per a recent TRAI report, although 67% of India’s population lives in rural areas, Internet usage in rural India is ~25% (200 million) compared to ~98% in urban areas. This is especially true for states like Odisha in which the number of rural households accessing Internet are 13.8% less than the national average of 23.8% (source: NSS survey). There is a huge gap in Urban Rural divide in connectivity happering digital learning to a large extent and losing talents.

Trainees after training internship and certification in SIFI

This is a new business model.

Trainees

This is a small impact of getting employement where massive unemployment matters. MFIs are working in all states be it in India or in Globe. Attrition rate is also maximum due to work pressure, low remuneration. But at this stage of World economy a small job in MFI or small banks matter and a great help to sustain with a small job.

Candidates with high qualification are joining and learning and getting employment within a small span of time causes a transformation.

We must encourage for accessibility to micro level our students and youth for getting a job.

For SYFT Learn and Excel we have now 10000 plus subscribers those have learned in site without subscrption. Now we have fixed the subscribtion from Rs.499 t0 Rs.2000 and expecting reveneue. 

For SIFI training, internship, certification and placement we have served only 5  numbers got employment. Due to COVID - 19 pandemic spread every thing affected and now our subscribers started learning. Expecting good number of candidates to join. 

Digital advertisements and social media coverage of our work must yeild good result and  transformation to employment.

Within next year our goal is very optimistc to grow 100 times and in next 5 years it must be 10000 times than now.

Our main barrier is funding. First we have to raise fund for our website development.  Content development and advertisement. Recruitment of talents is first priority including good developer and stars of modern technology. In post COVID senario people will prefer to stay within the country. We have to hire and fire. If we can provide good remuneration defenitely many talented candidates we can hire. We have to see the value based education with best trainers.

Nothing is barrier now a days. You have to set your mind and action. Oppertunities are always there. There is no substitute for hardwork and hard work always pay. World is changing. We have to keep pace with the changing world. Full of technologies, modern technology we have to adhere. AI, ML, Bigdata, Cloud technology and we must acquire all technology with us to grow and let grow.

1. Sunanda Kumar Mitra - Part-time - 917595060400

2. Sasi Dash - Part-time - 919999496391

3. Sarat Chandra Pradhan - Full-tme - 919437857707

4. Rajes Kumar Dey - Full - time - 919874422445

5. Manita Pawar - Full-time - 919010144472

6. Omprakash Patra - Full-time - 918455950047

7. Ayusmati Pradhan - Part-time - +15402828076

8. Pravash Chandra Ganguly - Part-time- 919861316246

9. Barnali Dash - Part-time -+15744400475

10. Biranchi Narayan Rout - Part-time - 918618719914

Our team consists of retired Bank professionals and experience of Microfinance sector and holding portfolio as under:

1. Sunand Kumar Mitra - Chairman(SIFI) Started  career in SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1974 and served in Personnel, Branch banking, Agriculture, SME, and as AGM in Industrial Finance Department of the Bank at its Central Office in Mumbai handling large corporate advances. Then in Axis Bank, served as Credit Head, Branch Head, Zonal Head of the East Zone and ended with the Country Head for Rural Banking and Distribution at the Bank's Corporate Office in Mumbai. Presently copromoting Janakalyan Consultancy and Services, an NBFC-MFI based at Kolkota.

2. Sasi Dash an IIT’ian is the Mentor who work honorary as the Chairman of the Company,SYFT Lern and Excel Private Limited, having 35 years’ experience in financial Sector including Banks, NBFC, HFC, Venture Finance and Microfinance. Presently he is working as a Managing Director of a Microfinance Company, GU Financial Services in Bhubaneswar.

3. Mr. Sarat Chandra Pradhan, M Sc (Mathematics) from Ravenshaw College Cuttack, Odisha with CAIIB from Indian Institutes of Bankers Mumbai having 34 years of experience in financial sector and a good academician stand as Managing Director and CEO, SYFT Learn and Excel Private Limited.

4. Mr Rajesh Kumar Dey, M Sc (Physics) from Ravenshaw College Cuttack, Odisha with CAIIB from Indian Institute of Bankers, Mumbai having 34 years of experience in SBI retired as AGM stand as Principal, SYFT Institute of Finance and Inclusion (SIFI).

 Crosslinks Foundation - Crosslinks Foundation is a 5-year old registered charitable trust (80G/12AA certified) with operations in Odisha and Karnataka states. CrossLinks’ mission is to focus on inter-disciplinary social sector challenges and help communities evolve sustainable, inclusive and scalable solutions by harnessing the power of digital technologies. Our initiatives involve a strong community outreach component, use of next-generation mobile and web technologies, and an evidence-based practice through randomized field experiments. Crosslinks has successfully completed two large grant-funded RCT projects in social security across 400 villages in India that were supported by USAID’s  DIV (Development Innovation Ventures) and SIDBI’s PSIG (Poorest States Inclusive Growth) programs. In 2019, Crosslinks also won a $25,000 unrestricted research gift from Facebook for its research project “AnnaData: An Early Warning System for Crop Diseases” under their Computer Vision for Global Challenges initiative. Crosslinks Foundation is registered as a voluntary organization on Niti Aayog’s Darpan portal (ID: KA/2020/0252968). 

SYFT partnered with Crosslink to extend technical support during the implementation process of crosslink project in Odisha.

The applicant SYFT Learn and Excel Private Limited and Crosslinks partner  have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack to jointly develop an early warning system for diseases appearing in rice cropping systems using IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and AI/ML-based machine vision techniques. 

(1) Providing technology, knowledge and learning through digital process and charging affordable course fee as subscription in few courses. 

(2) We plan to provide personalized coaching to interested students at a higher/premium price.

(3) Certificate course in financial inclusion and other sector specific training program to be delivered against payment of course fees.

(4) Online education market in India is 2.7 billion dollar (Rs 20,000 crores) out of which a significant portion is attributed to cater for competitive exams by providing high end quality contents including animated one.. 

(1) Providing technology, knowledge and learning through digital process and charging affordable course fee as subscription in few courses. 

(2) We to provide personalized coaching to interested students at a higher/premium price.

(3) Certificate course in financial inclusion and other sector specific training program be delivered against payment of course fees.

(4) Online education market in India is 2.7 billion dollar (Rs 20,000 crores) out of which a significant portion is attributed to cater for competitive exams by providing high end quality contents including animated one.. 

Our barrier is fund. We once offered funding we can develop our site, more technology and we can reach people easily. Connecting to rural area through digital hubs must bring greater awareness to people at large.

We need partners with educational institutions, Coaching and computer centres and government Institutions. This is for awareness, competitiveness among students and youth to expedite e-learning process.

Unemployement occur more due to deteriotion of education standard of students. There are huge number of non technical colleges in rural and urban areas where shortage of teachers always, even regular classes are suspended and students use to stay at home. Talent teachers and training to teachers required to upskill and use their talents in class. Skill development through opening centres is also of no use unless we get talented teachers.

We need job creation and pull the talents. Talents are not being exploited and remain in dark in rural and remote areas. No electricity, no telephone, no awareness, people are living without sense and without taking part in nation building. We have to broom. Lot of enterprenuers to come, all have the ability to perform but we have to show way. 

AI, ML,BD and cloud technology is need of our. Awareness, studies and researches to be in large scale. Compulsory subjects to be taught in colleges, institutions and regular holding seminars in scientific teams and research to be innovated.

Technology to be exploited, handled with care. Our future is our future technology. We should keep pace in changing world. World is changing very fast.

This COVID -19 pandemic is short lived. It will go. We must win the war with virus and human.